Why Zed?

[McZ]

Sorry for the dumb question, but why do you call them Zeds? I never caught the reason.:stupid:

[EScanlon]

In other English speaking countries, meaning "old" English, or the King's English in yet another moniker, the last letter of the alphabet is ZED. That is how it is pronounced. Americans pronounce the Z as Zee.

As to why the Datsun Z was named the Z, there are several stories. The most prevalent is that that was it's production Code while being designed. Another is that the letter Z in Japanese has a hieroglyphic or whatever they call their printed letters that is also the symbol for "Ultimate". Yet another is that Mr. K and the other engineers felt that American men would not identify with a car named "Fairlady" (which is what the car was named in Japan) and that they would identify better with a car with initials, like the Jaguar XKE, the Aston-Martin DB-5, and the MG, to name a few.

The best research I have found on the subject comes from zhome.com and there the story is generally accepted that it was because the project was designated Nissan Design Project Z because that was the next letter in the sequence they were using. The Fairlady story is also true. The 240 comes from the engine size as the engine size is 240 deciliters or 2400 cc.

So, in sequence, Mr. K felt that Fairlady was too effette a name for the American public. He decided to use the engine size and the Project designator in the US.

By the way the story behind the Fairlady name is that one of the upper level engineers or vp's for Nissan had seen the movie My Fair Lady and was so impressed with the story line that he felt it was an appropriate "theme" for the car. i.e. from the lower elements of society a true Fair Lady arises. Don't forget Japan was just 20 years past WWII.

[grantman240z]

i think i read somewhere that the Z had something to do with Zenith (pinnacle). Something about the Z-car being the pinnacle of sports cars or something...dont quite remember

[guy_geo]

Hey, come on, guys, everyone knows that the letter Z is pronounced ZED in FRENCH... Well, almost everyone!!!!

[McZ]

Thanx for clearing that up for me guys. As far as why they used Z I read that Z was the japanese charater "mugen" meaning unlimited or the like.

[Zvoiture]

...dubla-vee, icks, egrec, zed.

steve77

[240znz]

Come on you guys...face up the real reason...it's because they like to use the Queen's English...Zed not Zee.:stupid:

:classic: :sleepy: :devious: :cross-eye :cheeky:

[guy_geo]

Queen???

Which queen????

[HS30-H]

McZ is right about the "mugen" connection, but it has been turned on its head by time and hundreds of tellings. Actually, there is no single Japanese character that reads "Mugen" ( even in Hiragana - the simplified version of Kanji ) and it seems that in the past there was a misunderstanding about the derivation of the "Z" name for the S30 range......................

In explaining the idea of the meaning of the "Z" name, somebody tried to connect the abstract feeling of the "Z" letter of the alphabet ( implying "the ultimate" or "unlimited" ) and attempted to put this idea into Japanese. That's where the "mugen" legend came from; the word mugen could imply "no limit" or "unlimited" in connection with time or power in the Japanese language. Therefore, it seems that the derivation of that particular explanation was from the attempt to explain the abstract meaning of the letter "Z" into Japanese, rather than translating something Japanese into English. There is no single Japanese character that says "mugen"..............

From the beginning of the project it had been nicknamed "Z", and Yutaka Katayama was trying to stir up some spirit in the design team - headed by Yoshihiko Matsuo. Mr Katayama sent a naval signal flag ( denoting the letter "Z" ) to Mr Matsuo, and asked him to swear allegiance to the flag as a declaration of the spirit and will to succeed of the team working on the project. Mr Katayama posted the flag to Matsuo in Japan. Mr Matsuo and his team duly did so, and posted the flag back to California. The original flag is ( I hear ) still on display in a frame at the Californian offices where Mr Katayama used to be based.

The "Z" naval signal flag is yellow, red, black and blue in triangles. I have enclosed a picture below.

Unfortunately, these naval signal flags have more than one meaning. It can be used in conjunction with other letter flags to spell out a message or part of a message, but used on its own it means "I require a Tug" - usually used by a vessel that cannot move under its own power because its engine has died. Oh dear!

Alan T.

[EScanlon]

This is the URL for the synopsis of the early history of the 240Z. This was written by Carl Beck whom many consider to be one of the authoritative figures when it comes to Z information.

http://zhome.com/History/history.html

<a href="http://zhome.com/History/history.html"> Z History </a>

In there is where I got the information regarding the Project Z story.

[HS30-H]

I still think the definitive version of all this is yet to be written, at least in English anyway. No disrepect to Carl Beck, but there are some errors in his article too.

Alan T.

[Zvoiture]

Hmmmm...I'm trying to come up with a really crazy paint motif for my new project...this gives me some ideas...I like the idea of the front fenders being flat black--easy touch-up. Where would the rest of the colours be.....?

steve77