Congrats on car of the month! Your car is one of my favorites on the site. Everything works well together. Nice package and presentation.

steve77

I would like to add my congrats to HS30-H for diservingly becoming the ride of the month!!! Well done, the level of presentation on your car is second to none.

I would love to see in real life some of the factory specials. As Alan's car shows, they are really something else!!!

Once again congratulations to Alan.

Cuong Nguyen.

RB26DETT '73 240Z

Well done Alan, she does look great and I agree she is the nicest I've seen also. I look forward to seeing her some time and chatting Z's with you.

Great looking car, and a lot of good history on the Z cars. Have been reading up on the rally racing thread for some time now.

Keep up the good work.

BTW, I like the mirrors on the fender if no one else does;)

I'm not normally a fan of headlight covers on Z's OR off-colour flares, but I really like h30's car. It just works. Is that an original colour?

Another question H-30: I was surfing ZCLUB.net today and in the classifieds there were some strange combinations of numbers. Over here, when somebody puts an ad in the paper saying they have a "1983 280z" we know it's a typo, but I know there were other things available internationally. On the first page there is listed a '75 260 and a '74 240. Is that for real?

steve77

Thanks for the kind comments about my car, and I am very flattered to have it chosen as Car of the Month. Thank you.

Just to re-iterate; the body shape and paint colour of the car is EXACTLY AS IT CAME FROM THE FACTORY in late 1971. The body type is the "HS30-H" Fairlady 240ZG, which was a limited-volume Homologation Special for the Japanese home-market only ( it was put on sale to the public in order to allow the factory race team to use the aerodynamic parts and the "overfenders" for domestic racing ). The ZG was only available in three colours; Grand Prix White, Grand Prix Red and Grand Prix Maroon. My car is Grand Prix Maroon and the factory paint code is 116.

As an aside - here is another piece of trivia; the colour name "Maroon" was one of those typically-Japanese mistakes; it was actually meant to be called "Marron" ( the French word for a chestnut, or chestnut brown ) but it got lost in the mix at Nissan's advertising agency and has been known ever since as "Maroon". When you see it in natural light, it is most definitely brown and not the reddish hue of maroon.

Many many people ( even Z enthusiasts ) have no idea what my car is, and I have become accustomed to uninformed comments and taunting from people who really ought to know better. Standing near the car at car shows or events, you will soon hear comments such as "why the hell did he pop-rivet those tacky flares to the car?" or "fancy painting your car brown!?". The best one so far was "those Ferrari 250 GTO body kits are not very good are they?.........". It's OK to hear this from non-Z people, but it really starts to grate when so-called Z enthusiasts try to tell me that I have "ruined" my car by putting a stupid body kit on it! THATS HOW IT LEFT THE FACTORY, EINSTEIN!

Most of the accessories / option parts on the car are original Nissan factory items of the period, or are well-known aftermarket options of the period. I have a 3.1 litre engine under long-term construction here at home, which will stretch the "period" theme a little thin - but it should look quite "old-timey" at least. This is fighting for attention with my other car project ( a 432-R replica ) which is sucking up quite a lot of money and time at the moment.

Regarding those questions from Zvoiture - we actually had the "260Z" here in the UK from '75, and the "240Z" was still on sale in '74. The model terminology and chassis designations crossed-over quite confusingly, and it was particulary difficult in the Japanese market. Here in the UK we never had the "280Z" at all - we went straight to hell with the 280ZX.

For further info, I suggest the best source of information as Brian Long's excellently researched book "DATSUN Z - FAIRLADY TO 280Z" published by VELOCE. ISBN 1-901295-02-8. This is the most accurate book on the early Z cars, and takes a worldwide rather than single-market based approach.

Thanks again for the nice comments. I know my car is not everybody's "cup of tea" - but I always use the defence that if the factory made it then it can never be "wrong".................

Alan.

"a limited-volume Homologation Special"

...at least now we know what HS stand for....

steve77

Zvoiture, you are looking a little pensive in your new avatar. Is there something troubling you, or is it just the moody lighting?!

Don't start re-allocating new meanings to Nissan's chassis numbers, even if you are joking. You will start a fire that we can't put out!.................."Homologation Special" indeed.......

"H" prefix = L24 engine code ( same as on your HLS30 ).

"S30" = The first Z base model code ( same as on your HLS30 ).

"H" suffix = Factory code for the ZG.

They never did anything as logical as giving acronyms for chassis codes and designations. That would be too easy.

However, they DID try it a little; did you know that the chassis number suffix for the 432-R was "SB"? ( PS30-SB ). They said it stood for "Sports Bersion".................... Yes, its that old Japanese pronunciation gremlin again - mixing up B with V.........

Vye for now,

Alan.

Well done Alan,

Are you taking her to Billing next month ???

Hi 240znz and mperdue,

mperdue - you are another member who is looking a little out of sorts in your avatar. Are you living in Fairyland?!..........

240znz, thanks for the kind word. I might well go to "Billing" this year ( after missing it last year as a conscientious objector ) as long as it does not rain again. My car tends to blend into the mud, and you can't see it...............

For all our non-UK correspondents out there, the "Billing" that we are talking about is a yearly meeting called the "Japanese Auto Extravaganza" at Billing Aquadrome in Northamptonshire. That's fairly close to the Silverstone race circuit if you are wondering where Northamptonshire is.

It started out some years ago as a small event for Z cars only - with some other Japanese clubs as guests. It grew like Topsy, and now it is one of the largest Japanese-car only events in Europe. I have found that it has degenerated into a bit of an audio sound-off and who's-got-the-largest-diameter-wheel-rims contest lately, but you still do see the odd car that makes you pleased you attended. Things do get a little fractious sometimes with club-against-club and type-against-type cold wars ( I had some potato chip wrappers stuffed up my carburettor trumpets a couple of years ago, and found that my car does not like Cheese and Onion flavour - its more of a prawn cracker fan ). Still, boys will be boys and there seems to be no place for the "Right Crowd, and No Crowding" type of events these days. More's the pity. I have tried to have my own one-man events lately, but I find that the conversation does not flow so well ( he's a bit of a pedantic trainspotter )........................

If you go 240znz, I hope that you will go in an S30-series Z and keep the numbers up. No doubt you will spot me with the white plastic garden furniture and picket fence around my car ( only joking ), and will say hello. You can have a sit in the "brown Ferrari GTO replica" and pretend you are Nick Mason.

Here's praying for a blue sky ( they don't call it Billing AQUAdrome for nothing............... ).

Alan.

"Zvoiture, you are looking a little pensive in your new avatar. Is there something troubling you, or is it just the moody lighting?!"

"Sports Bersion".................... Yes, its that old Japanese pronunciation gremlin again - mixing up B with V......... "

The new avatar is a pic I smapped of 'My Little Ball of Hate', ala my 18 month old daughter...

One of my favorite screen names is 'Yerrow Dog'....

Have you seen the History Channel's Z documentary? When they are showing various design predesessors of the Z, I think they show a very close version of your HS for a split secone....I will check again.

steve77

I'll add to the chorus, that is a really nice ride HS30-H! No matter what people say I recon' it looks pretty cool with the bolt on flares and G nose.... Well Done!

As an aside one of Australia's most popular muscle cars from the '70's has the bolt on flare look, the A9X Torana. It has a cult following so I must say, the idea of bolt on flares does incite the feeling of power and makes almost any '70's sports/muslce car look mean.

It gives you something that 99% of modern cars just can't muster. Road presence.

R.