What is a "Wide Body"?

[jayhawk]

Did Datsun/Nissan manufacture a "wide body" variant of the Z, maybe for the 280Z series? This ad in eBay claims it has a "rare" wide body from 1975 installed on a 1973 240Z. Or was this just some aftermarket body/fender kit?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-Z-Series-datsun-240z-DATSUN-240Z-WIDE-BODY-HARD-TO-FIND_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6187QQihZ005QQitemZ150082298455QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

(I'm not interested in the car, but looks like it might be an expensive way to get a good 1973 dash!....:-)

--Jayhawk

[boyblunda]

Jayhawk

I have not heard of a "widebody" Zed before but that is not to say that there is not a kit or modification of some kind that may have been popular somewhere. Alternatively the term may be used in some circles to describe a particular modification or variant.

There has been some discussion on body dimensions in the past which can be found in

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?p=165318#post165318

Different references do quote different dimensions for the same Zed cars. However, it did seem that there was agreement that the 2+2 had a wider body than the 2 seater although again the references I have read varied in describing the difference in width from 0.9" to 1.2".

I do confess to not being at all clear on what the seller was actually saying by the time I finished reading the listing - at least I did not "get" the mix of 1973 1975 and 1976 parts and dimensions quoted in his description.

Dave

[Mr Camouflage]

I wouldn't call that a "wide-body" not in the terms of more moder wide body style kits. I'd say thats just a z with wheel arch flares.

A wide-body z is more like the California Z kit (well the rear at least). Wide body kits generally enlarge the whole of the guard, not just the wheel arch. like this http://z31.com/~morgan/nd/z/awds30.jpg

[Sailor Bob]

Tha Scarab may also be an example of a wide body, but as stated earlier it is definately aftermartket.

Check this link: http://zhome.com/rnt/Scarab/Scarab1Lpub.jpg

[26th-Z]

Nissan produced various body modification parts during the early '70s for racing homoligation purposes and the term "wide body" is used in American slang context. In all probablity, the ebay car is made up of aftermarket parts. To some extent, our cars are so old that aftermarket parts are considered rare. Let me share what little I know about the real Nissan stuff.

At the time the Z was introduced, a series of "Sports Option" parts became available and were published in Sports Option catalogs. In America, the sports option parts were sold through the Datsun USA Competition department. The earliest Datsun competition catalogs date back to the roadster and 510. The Nissan Sports Option catalogs included many items for the S30 - Z - exclusively including engine and transmission parts, suspension parts, seats, roll bars, you-name-it, and body parts such as fender flares, spooks and spoilers.

I most usually associate the fender flares on the ebay car with flare kits Nissan sold for the HS30-H. Those pieces included fender flares and front spook / air dam components. Fender flares from Nissan came in two sizes and I think MSA sell pretty good repros of the smaller flares. All of the authentic Nissan pieces I have seen are made of the FRP material we know from the early headlight scoops and were mechanically fastened to the body with rivets, screws or bolts.

Having said all this, let me point out that there are many threads on this site discussing this very subject and the guy with the most information is "HS30-H". A search through the archives should reveal a wide range of discussions and has been the source for all the information I have collected. Other references I might suggest include Pete Evanow's book; "35 Years of Datsun's Sports Car" and Brian Long's; "Datsun Z".

[Mr Camouflage]

Tha Scarab may also be an example of a wide body, but as stated earlier it is definately aftermartket.

Check this link: http://zhome.com/rnt/Scarab/Scarab1Lpub.jpg

That scarab has the body kit that I know as the California Z kit (whether that's actually what its called or not I don't know, but have seen it described as such)

[veritech-z]

The California Z widebody kit is still available from a company called Jim Cook Racing. The car in question was built by a member of www.hybridz.org, I don't remember his screen name. He also put together a silver car with less dramatic flares that was pretty nice. These super wide flares are aftermarket (actually, it looks like the seller made them himself in the q&a section of the listing). They aren't as wide as some that are out there, most of which are replicas of racing packages like the IMSA kits, but I've seen people adapt all kinds of crazy stuff (volkswagon beetle fenders for instance) to get the widebody look.