Mikewags and Mike B

I am curious if when you finally got the dash out if you found any Japanese Kanji (script) on the bottom side of it? When I did my dash a couple of years ago I found it in my car. I understand it was common for assembly line personnel to do this. I had mine translated and it meant "Spring Time". Here is picture of it.

I hope everything goes well on the re-install.

From the 10/70 build date dash that was in car Vin # HLS30-12142 that I purchased with the help our member Gary  @beandip 10 years or more ago.

 

This un-cracked dash will go into my restoration of a 7/70 build date 240Z-----Vin # HLS30-07032.

I affectionately refer to her as "BUTTERCUP" since she is painted in her original buttery 919 yellow .

Wouldn't it be cool if the translation is "Buttercup" or "Yellow Lady"?? The kanji looks like a "B" with cow horns.

1 hour ago, Zup said:

Wouldn't it be cool if the translation is "Buttercup" or "Yellow Lady"?? The kanji looks like a "B" with cow horns.

You're in luck. That's not a Kanji character. It is indeed a - very nice - capital letter 'B'.

9-70

Another One! I believe it stands for strength

My neighbors project 240    HLS30 19270

 

 

 

10 hours ago, HLS30 said:

Another One! I believe it stands for strength

It reads as Kanji 'Chikara', or a Hiragana 'Ka'.

31 minutes ago, S30Driver said:

My neighbors project 240    HLS30 19270

 

That's an unusually esoteric example, and done with a very wide marker. A bit of a calligrapher, this guy.

It's a Kanji 'Uwasa' ('rumour'/'gossip'), but could also be read as 'Son' [pronunciation: as in 'Sondheim'] ('loss').

Seems likely to be another example of workplace shenanigans and/or 'banter' between workmates. Other examples have shown true relevance to the product/variant/destination (as in the 'Igirisu' and 'ENG' etc versions) but when dozens of same product/variant/destination examples were going down the line like a sausage machine I guess there might have been space and opportunity to break the boredom with some coded messages between workstations. Been there, done that...

For reference, Kanji 'Uwasa':

 

A nice example of Katakana 'Igirisu' ('England') seen here in England recently: 

 

I might as well chime in with my dash discovery

52 minutes ago, jfa.series1 said:

I might as well chime in with my dash discovery

It's inverted, but it is the Kanji 'Ji' (pronounced as in 'Jeep') which translates as 'letter' or 'character' as in 'Kanji' or 'Romaji'. 

@MikeB previously suggested some of these could be part of 'Burma Shave' type messages, and this example is a prime candidate for being part of a message made up from several dashes. On its own it makes little sense (to us, at least...). 

Seeing as I'm just finishing up my dash restore ...

9 hours ago, foosman said:

Seeing as I'm just finishing up my dash restore ...

Again, 180 degrees inverted. Generally speaking the writing is the 'right way up' with the back side of the dash laying flat on a surface. I believe they were written whilst the dashes were sitting on an assembly frame or bench, or - later - on a fixture in readiness to be put into a car on the production line.

Yours is a single Kanji character for 'Kusa' (pronounced as in 'Cusamano') which translates as 'Grass'. In early 1970s Japan that was more likely to be the common or garden variety of grass rather than the Cheech and Chong type...

I don't know if it was in common use in Japan at that time, but nowadays 'Kusa' is also a slang term roughly equivalent to 'Ha Ha!' or 'LOL'.