Here is a photo comparison of my original with the new ones. Hope this helps.

I hope you guys can work out a decent font for these because the ones pictured just won't do.

Adam, can you explain your concerns with the font as attached in post #106?

The end goal from the very beginning has always been to reproduce a very popular period accessory for S30 cars here in the USA and Canada. At the beginning of the process we were working with the belief that all of the original dies and stencils still existed and were useable. As we progressed, neither has been the case. The manufacturer has been great, even though his quote was based on using existing tooling, he has worked with me far more extensively than planned to re-create the needed tooling, at the original quoted price. Neither of us expected this project to be as time intensive as it has become. We are still open to modifications at this time, but since most buyers have expressed an interest in these being as close to original as possible any modifications would need to be small tweaks, as most people I've conversed with seem to feel that the latest iteration are very close.

If this is not what you had in mind for the pair that you ordered and paid for, I will happily send you a check back and return your reserved parts to the available pool.

Sorry Arne, the coment was actually based on Datsun example in post #98. Unfortunately I did not see that there was another page of posts with an update on the font design (post #106). That's what I get for viewing this from my PDA when I should have been working....This is also the reason why the comment was so brief, and sadly why the emotion and smiley wink at the end did not come across. I certainly appreciate the effort you and your vendor are putting into this and I do not wish to rescind my order at this time.

My concern with what I saw in post #98 was that the font for the Datsun example was too skinny for my tastes, but the example in post #106 looks much better, assuming that the thickness and size of the font used for the Datsun version will be the same relative to that displayed for the 240-Z version so far. I don't know what the original Datsun version looked like, but I like the design and font size used for the 240-Z version much better, and look forward to the seeing the final design.

Edited December 11, 200915 yr by =Enigma=

Understood, Adam. No problems. The final version of the DATSUN shade will have the same thicker, extended font as the 240-Z version.

Both I and the manufacturer recall that there was a DATSUN version way back when, but neither of us can find any pictures of the original to compare to. He is certain that the same typeface was used for all of them, so that's what we are basing this on. Trying to duplicate the known look of the 240-Z shade and then using the same font, weight and kerning settings for the DATSUN one.

Here is what I did from my original shade. Hope this helps. I will work on the Datsun as soon as I can.

Arnie here is my take on the Datsun one, hope it helps.

Mike, it looks like you condensed the font in height a bit, is that so? Did you note a percentage?

Here is what I did from my original shade. Hope this helps. I will work on the Datsun as soon as I can.

These are easily the closest yet. To do a proper nit pick, the zero's need the very slight upper and lower radius. I can't tell in the photos, does the '2' needs a smooth radius transition between the curve and flat (on inside of angle)?

Still, nit-picks aside, those are very good.

Arnie and Cam guy, I actually took my 280-Z picture and made it fit to the 3 7/8 inch height and held the ratio of height to length. I then used those to create the 280-Z on top of it in Photoshop. So the 280-Z is as close as I can get to a copy of mine. I then used that to create the 240-Z, the only number I had to recreate from scratch was the 4. I kind of guessed on it because if you make it the same width as the 8 it looked to wide, so I narrowed it down about 1/4 inch.

For the Datsun I just guessed, I kept the length of the Datsun the same as the 280-Z.

Cam Guy do you mean that the outside radius is to large, I agree that is could be a little closer to the top radius of the 2. It also looks like the 2 needs a small radius inside the bottom straight.

I can look at this on monday when I get to my studio.

I know we can get this so close that you won't be able to tell the difference.

What makes mine hard to use is that the numbers have shrunk a little and there is a ragged edge around the numbers about 1/16 inch.

Edit - More reservations today, been a good day. Going fast, and not many left. Still time to add more to the order if demand continues, but the deadline for no further increases is rapidly approaching.

Updated availability stats (12/13/09):

Item       |  240-Z  |  DATSUN  |  Total  |
-------------------------------------------
Ordered    |   40    |    24    |    64   |
Paid for   |   36    |    21    |    57   |
Pending    |    3    |     2    |     5   |
-------------------------------------------
Available  |    1    |     1    |     2   |

I can look at this on monday when I get to my studio.

I know we can get this so close that you won't be able to tell the difference..

Michael, what you've done so far is great. When you get it as good as we think can be done, will you be able to send me a full-size image that I can forward to the manufacturer?

I grabbed the 240Z sample and tweaked it in Paint. I only changed what I was trying to describe in my first post. I don't have photoshop here at home but you get the idea. It's very subtle, which is why I tried to emphasize them as only nit picks. I'd still rock it