Can someone please help me figure out the build date?

[Spridal]

Hi all,

I would appreciate if someone could tell me the build date of a Z car that has HLS30 09603 for a vin number. Also, would this be considered an early car?

[MikeW]

I would appreciate if someone could tell me the build date of a Z car that has HLS30 09603 for a vin number. Also, would this be considered an early car?

The most likely build date (month) is 9/70. Whether that's early or not is subjective.

[Spridal]

Thanks for responding. I was hoping that it was truly a 1970 and not a 1971

By the way, where did you get the spoiler in your avatar?

[Arne]

The "official" build date should be stamped on the door jamb data plate.

That said, if you look at the rergistry at zhome.com it looks to me as though that car would most likely have a date of 9/70. As to whether you call it early or not, depends on your definition of early. It is definitely a Series 1 car, about mid-way through the Series 1 production run, number-wise.

Whether or not you consider it a '70 or '71 model year is also open to debate. In many states, the dealers had a bit of leeway back then as to what year they titled a car as. For the early 240Z, the more important part seems to be whether it is Series 1 or not.

[MikeW]

Thanks for responding. I was hoping that it was truly a 1970 and not a 1971

As Arne has already mentioned the "model year" varied according to the dealer; you'd really need to look at the title.

By the way, where did you get the spoiler in your avatar?

Urethane Air Dam, With Brake Cooling Ducts

[Spridal]

Thanks! The title states that it is a 1970! I also found out that it is a matching number car... the bummer is that it is an automatic

[MikeW]

Thanks! The title states that it is a 1970! I also found out that it is a matching number car... the bummer is that it is an automatic

Unlike domestic American cars of that era it's not really possible to determine one way or another what the car came with because nothing like that is encoded in the VIN or available on a factory build sheet. If you swapped it out for the appropriate 4-speed no one would be able to prove that it wasn't original to the car. Many others have made this switch.

[Arne]

Unlike domestic American cars of that era it's not really possible to determine one way or another what the car came with because nothing like that is encoded in the VIN or available on a factory build sheet. If you swapped it out for the appropriate 4-speed no one would be able to prove that it wasn't original to the car. Many others have made this switch.

Yes, but...

Some cars that were built as automatics did have one noticeable difference - some of the automatic cars did not have the spot-welded bracket on the right frame rail for the clutch line. This would be a fairly easy thing to look for to see if a car had been converted from automatic to manual (as my car has been). I've found no rhyme or reason to which automatic cars had the bracket and which didn't. Mine (12745, 10/70) did not. At the Canby show I noticed that a very similar car belonging to funz1z did have the tab. Her car is only a few numbers earlier than mine (12403, also 10/70).

The automatic cars have a bracket spot-welded to the firewall for the kickdown switch as well. I don't know for certain (as I don't have a true Series 1 manual car to compare to), but I suspect that there differences to the tunnel as well. The automatic selector mechanism bolts to the top of the tunnel - I doubt those holes and captive nuts exist on the true manual cars.

And having done this conversion myself, another thing that is different that seldom gets changed is the wiring harnesses. Both the dash and engine harnesses for automatic cars are different than for manual cars.

So if you are really concerned about originality, be aware that converting to a manual in such a way that no one could possibly know is harder than it sounds.

On the other hand, if you are not planning to restore it to concours original quality, converting an early car to a manual transmission is not hard. I wrote a tech article on the process after I did mine - Series 1 240Z auto to 4 speed swap

[Spridal]

Man you guys are great with the feedback

I am not planning on restoring to full concorse but wanted to keep the car somewhat original. Also, I was told that there were less than 300 automatics produced during the first generations so maybe I should leave the automatic in... dunno what to do.

[Arne]

I'm not sure where that 300 number came from (I've seen it too, mostly on eBay I think), but I know that I personally have encountered 4 of them in the past 9 months. So I suspect there were far more than 300 Series 1 automatics.

I can guarantee that whatever the number was, it is one fewer now, as my car has a Type A 4 speed in it now (which is the proper type 4 speed for an early car).

[Mike B]

I was watching the auction for the car you are describing (blue 240z) on ebay the seller ended the auction early because he sold it offline. I had also seen it listed on craigslist for $6850 a few days before it was put on eBay. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/car/178071024.html

Were you able to buy it Spridal?

[Spridal]

Link does not work.