Depends on your definition of a '70. The automatics began production in 9/70. Some of them were titled as '70s, most were probably titled as '71s.

All I gotta say to your pics is WOW! And I'll repeat, what a find! You one lucky son of a !@@#$%! Give the paint a good polishing and drive that friggin thing or I'll ahve to come beark my foot off in yer a33!

Hi All,

not a spec of rust

The car is a 1970 low number car that has the original engine and auto tranny (which I plan to convert to a 4spd.)

I have never heard of a '70 240 with a automatic . I always read and thought the automatics were introduced in '71 .Gary

Hi Gary:

You may have thought that because as Arne pointed out, the Z's equipped with the A/T didn't start production until 08 or 09 of 1970. Or you may have thought that because most of the Automotive Magazines here in the States didn't offer Road Tests of the A/T equipped Z's until later in calender year 71.

With production in Aug. of 70 - they didn't arrive at the Dealerships here until around Oct. of 70. Because traditionally the coming calender years models, of the US manufacturers, were introduced here in the States in Oct. ... it's more than likely that most of the A/T equipped Series I cars were sold/titled as 1971 240-Z's. (they all meet the 71 Emissions and Safety Standards for the US because the standards didn't change 70 to 71).

At the Dealership I bought my first Z from, and later worked at, we were quite surprised when Z's with the A/T started showing up at around Nov. 1970. While we knew the 240-Z was to be offered with the A/T, we were initially told that the plant that was to produce them, simply fell behind on their original delivery schedule.

By late 70 the Dealership had long waiting lists, and many people took a 240-Z with the A/T even if they didn't want the A/T. With a few bolt in parts, it was easy enough to change out.

The A/T was really a reduced size version of Ford's A/T. They were produced by a joint venture between Nissan, Toyo Kogyo and Ford in Japan. At the time it was a $190.00 extra cost item.

We're not sure exactly how many 240-Z's came to the States with the A/T in the Series I cars, but according to Nissan's sales figures here in the States, about 12% of the 240-Z's from the Series II cars forward were sold with the A/T. That would be roughly 18,000 of them for the USA or 19,200 for all of North America. That's not quite equal to the combined sales of 240-Z's to the rest of the world at something around 21,500 units.

FWIW,

Carl B.

Carl Beck

Clearwater, FL USA

http://ZHome.com

Carl,

The data plate and the engine number is: 014389

Hi Mark (everyone)

Thanks for checking on that. So far, the lowest engine serial number we've located that came in an A/T equipped Z, with the "Nissan OHC" valve cover, is in the 011600 range... with a production date of 08/70.

One of the reason's we've tried to gather data related to A/T's and original engine serial numbers - is so that we can get at least an idea of how many L24's were received, that originally had the "2400" on them. The numbers aren't perfect, but it looks like something close to 9,000 Series I cars came to the USA with the "2400" valve covers.

Given that people have been collecting them or saving them for many years now - it would seem that more of the "2400" valve covers are still around than the cars they originally came on.

Not earth shaking, but just another fun item to collect...

FWIW,

Carl B.