HLS000048 For sale in Ontario Canada

[Unkle]

538 has the brow .

[AZ-240z]

538 has the brow .

That is very interesting. My car, hls30-20419, one of the very last of the series 1 cars, came without the brow, and did not have the vertical diffuser bars in the center air vent. I remember replacing those items not long after purchasing the car with the later modified items, not caring about originality in 1972.

Dan

[26th-Z]

Dan,

Just the other way around...26th and 27th have the brow. And back to the build date thing, 27th has a door plate date of 10/69 with an engine number of L24-2162. 26th is dated 11/69 with engine number L24-2338. Your engine number is fairly high, Gab. Who said it was right in line with production? NOT! HLS30-00048 should have an engine number in the 2200s at most. But look at the engine numbers of the cars around your serial number. It's the same range.

Edited November 11, 2008 by 26th-Z

[geezer]

Chris, I don't find the engine numbers on Gab's car or your 26th to be anything unusual. Let me explain my reasoning and you can take it for what it's worth. I know that you have assumed that 26th was delayed because of an engine change. The 11/69 build date could be attributed to something other than an engine change. With only the month & year on the door plate, it is a little difficult to narrow down a time frame, to determine the amount of time stagger between 26th & 27th. We are talking very early production with pre-production cars in the mix, in which case it could be likened to shuffling a deck of 52 cards. Back to the engines, which are assembled in a different plant or facility and then shipped on large racks which hold many engines. These racks in turn can be stacked a half dozen high, several deep and who knows how wide. There probably also were different variations/engines for other models/markets, but that isn't relevant for the purpose of this discussion. Early on in preparation for the launch all the parts needed were jammed into the plant which would be bulging at the seams until full production levels were reached. Don't forget this is long before the inception of "just in time stock systems". In all likelyhood much stock, engines included were buried in behind and under incoming stock and not used in the order that came into the plant. This is why there is so much discrepancy in what turned up in our cars.

Edited November 11, 2008 by geezer

[#48]

26th-Z,

Before I bought the car, I received the following data from someone way more knowledgeable in early Zs than I and even though this data was collected almost ten years ago, I think it illustrates my point on why I would consider my car as being assembled in 11/69.

I've never been able to confirm this as I've never come across that specific kind of information on the early production of the 240Z.

If you have such information, please don't hesitate to share it with everyone.

BTW, My car did not have the brow.

Thank you,

Gab

Edited November 12, 2008 by #48

[Mike B]

Dan,

Just the other way around...26th and 27th have the brow.

Chris, I think Dan is correct. If the maplight for 26 and 27 have the hood or "brow" then they must have been replaced. The maplight hood was added as a series 2 change. See #3 under Body Electrical http://zhome.com/History/New71Late.htm. Are the hooded maplights for 26 and 27 grey? Here is a picture of the maplight and other grey plastic items from #32.

Also, here are another couple of data points for engines in early cars #32 - 2130, #237 - 2848, #331 - 2585.

-Mike

[MikeW]

Before I bought the car, I received the following data from someone way more knowledgeable in early Zs than I and even though this data was collected almost ten years ago, I think it illustrates my point on why I would consider my car as being assembled in 11/69.

Considering that the author of that 10 year old information has already contributed multiple times to this thread I see no reason to doubt it. Perhaps he has an updated version somewhere. The mere fact that it's HLS30-00048 is a good enough reason to claim that it's an '69 car. The fact that it was delayed somewhere just makes it interesting. One could argue that the last day of November 1969 to the first day of February 1970 is really just a 2 month delay. Since we don't know the actual days of the month that's pure speculation.

[26th-Z]

There's something wrong with my prescription, evidently. I apologize. You guys are right. The brow is for the later years. 26th and 27th don't have brows. Boy! Did I ever just blow it! Sorry.

Yea, strike my comments above about the engine numbers also, please.

Edited November 12, 2008 by 26th-Z

[zpizzaman20]

And check Kats site:

http://www.geocities.jp/datsunz240zsports/1969heaterpanel.jpg

[kats]

Hi Gab,

Thank you for your sharing the story for us.I enjoyed reading all.

I hope you keep all the old/original parts which are pulled during the restoration in your boxes.Even they are dirty, they are treasure for you.

If the old harnesses are still remaining date tags, it will be great references.

If your car would have stuck at a final inspection, the car could have been installed all the unique earliest parts.

On the other hand, if the car would have stuck at somewhere in the middle of assembly line, let's say at an engine installing section in Oct 1969,the car could have mixed parts.Early engine associated with early engine room parts could have been combined Feb 1970 parts such as an steering horn basement dated " 45 2 ## (1970 Feb ##)", non-red dot mirror,white Z emblems, fuel door knob locked at east-west e.t.c. However those are all my guesswork. Generally speaking, when instruments/interior items are placed? How about emblems? Can anyone give me a good explanation?

And unusual engine number with chassis number, there is a good example in Japan.

Mr.Yoshida's Z432 is PS30-00347 (12/70) and has S20-000074!! My Z432 is PS30-00088(01/70) and has S20-000884.

Z432 shared S20 with Skyline GTR, however 000074 is extremely unusual even his car is later than mine. I think if PS30-00001 could have got S20-000600 to 000700 range is natural.

Until the end of Oct 1969, 58 240Zs(HS30 and HLS30) were made.It depends on how many HS30s were made in that period, anyway HLS30-00048

would have began its road trip on the assembly line in Oct 1969 or early Nov 1969.

How about my guesswork?

kats

[deadflo]

Chris, I think Dan is correct. If the maplight for 26 and 27 have the hood or "brow" then they must have been replaced. The maplight hood was added as a series 2 change. See #3 under Body Electrical http://zhome.com/History/New71Late.htm. Are the hooded maplights for 26 and 27 grey? Here is a picture of the maplight and other grey plastic items from #32.

Also, here are another couple of data points for engines in early cars #32 - 2130, #237 - 2848, #331 - 2585.

-Mike

Some of the last series ones actually have that "brow" over the map light. Mine does,(HLS-20390) and I have seen some other ones that did.

[#48]

Kats,

Interesting about the Z432 numbers, just goes to prove that it must of been a very exciting time producing the early cars.

About the all solid metal emblems, Michael Hollander writes in "The Complete Datsun Guide" the following wrt the early car features:

"Through approximately the first 2,200 cars, these badges were completely chromed with black accents. At that point, the letter "Z" on the badge was changed to a white inlay. Other markings remained the same. Thus the very earliest cars can be spotted by the chromed-colored "Z" on the badge."

Not sure how accurate this is but it would be interesting to hear from anybody with a VIN below 2,200 and see what emblems they have.

BTW, love your site,

Gab