How many Series One 240Zs are left??

[deadflo]

Don't forget some of the series 1's were actually built in Jan of 1971, and so are truly a 71 model. Mine is HLS 20390, built 1/71. The Nissan data indicated the series 2 starts with serial # 21000:)

Closer to 20,000 total for the North American market. The '70 vs. '71 question is indeterminate because many states back then allowed cars to be titled as either model year, year sold or year of build date. So we have oddities like cars titled and registered as 1969 240Zs, or cars built in 12/70 (with 1971 emissions stickers) registered as 1970s.

Traditionally, we here in the USA would consider cars built 9/70 or later as '71s, which matches what Nissan did with later year splits. If you use that break point, then there were somewhere around 8-9000 as 1970 models for North America, and another 11-12,000 as 1971 models in the final 4 months of the year.

As to how many are left - that really hard to say. Here out West I see them not infrequently. But even here, most of the remnants are quite rusty. I'm sure that the majority are long gone. Rough wild guess? There may be as many as 25% hidden around, but probably not.

[Carl Beck]

HLS30 00110 is currently registered,

...snipped......However, it is not on anyone's list, yet.

It's on my list Lonny!

I've been keeping records for every Datsun 240Z that I could gather more or less complete information on - for about 20 years now. If I could get the Build Date, the Original Engine Serial Number, original Color along with the VIN - or any combination complete or not - I recorded the VIN on my own private listing.

My goal was simple research - I wanted to see how the VIN's lined up with the Build Dates, and now the Build Dates lined up with the original engine numbers. I also wanted a statistical sample to work with...

So far I have just over 400 Series I cars listed... Some are on the Public Register, but most are not.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[Bonzi Lon]

I took 'Registered' to mean Registered with the State as a driver or sitting in a garage paying taxes on it, either way the State knew you owned it.

For your VIN and build date reasearch, this is an odd one. For such a low VIN, HLS30 00110, it has a build date of 12/69, rather late in the line. It came with engine #L24-2796, rather high number for the VIN sequence on the list.

The best part, its the rare 908? blue exterior with a blue interior, now painted black. In your extensive lists could this be the first 'known' / 'lowest VIN' blue/blue 240Z? I looked at the Zhome list and counted the blue/blue cars, (they had to be listed as blue/blue to count) including mine there were 4 from VIN 110 to 4000, none before 110. You may have some on your private list.

The block and head in it now is from a 260, It still retains its original intake, no drain carbs, air cleaner, exhaust manifold (no heat shield holes), grapefruit alt. However, I have engine #L24-4621 from a 1/70, just 1825 apart, 'period correct'. The engine has the correct patched oil pan, E31 head and 2400 valve cover. I was told it had the 6 counterweight crankshaft, but acording to another thread the engine number is a bit too high to have one.

Bonzi Lon

[jmortensen]

After two years on jackstands the car is no longer counted. After four years the car is considered extinct... :-)

It's not on jackstands. Rotisserie baby!!! This baby can do 2 maybe 3 rpm...

For the sake of discussion, let's consider "surviving series one 240Zs" as intact cars more or less as Nissan made them. That is a L24, L26 or L28 engine and ORIGINAL chassis. Most were modified in some way over time anyway (different tranny, interior parts, body parts, etc). I would not consider a series one car severely modified into another type of car entirely, as described above. That simply is NOT a 240Z any more.

So fast ones don't count then... bummer.

[iron260z]

I have 20067 she was on the road all summer after she sat 1998 in p/o garage

[Carl Beck]

I took 'Registered' to mean Registered with the State as a driver or sitting in a garage paying taxes on it, either way the State knew you owned it.

Yes - and then you said "however not on anyone's list yet"...

For your VIN and build date reasearch, this is an odd one. For such a low VIN, HLS30 00110, it has a build date of 12/69, rather late in the line. It came with engine #L24-2796, rather high number for the VIN sequence on the list.

#87 and #89 are also 12/69 build dates.

Engine numbers in the 69 Z's found so far range from L24-2079 to L24-3198. The engines seem to be pretty well mixed among the VIN's.

Keep in mind that the L24 was also used in other sedans, even before the 240Z.

The best part, its the rare 908? blue exterior with a blue interior, now painted black. In your extensive lists could this be the first 'known' / 'lowest VIN' blue/blue 240Z? I looked at the Zhome list and counted the blue/blue cars, (they had to be listed as blue/blue to count) including mine there were 4 from VIN 110 to 4000, none before 110. You may have some on your private list.

I have #79 as the earliest listed with Blue/Blue.

Of course we only have about 160 of the first 500 found so far.

I was told it had the 6 counterweight crankshaft, but acording to another thread the engine number is a bit too high to have one.

According to Nissan TS70-28 the switch to the eight counter weighted cranks took place at L24-3607.

FWIW,

Carl B.

Edited December 6, 2009 by Carl Beck

[Bonzi Lon]

Thanks Carl, everything is crystal clear.

I'm counting the days till Nashville.

Bonzi Lon

[zcar70]

So let's see how many series one cars we can get to Nashville! #3833 will be there!

[motorman7]

I would really like to get #2614 there. Looking for a trailer as Nashville is pretty far from San Diego.

Rich

[Bcalvosa]

Using US registration data (where available) and historical export figures accounting for historical percentage that falls off each year (where registration data is not available), the attached projects the number of Z cars on the road by year. For 1974 and newer vehicles, the registration data is compiled from state records by R. L. Polk. Estimated quantity of older Z's is derived from assumptions noted in the file. In my experience, these assumptions have pretty accurately forecasted future vehicle populations, so they should be pretty sound for historical populations:

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=32488&ppuser=4388

I own a 1971 240Z, so from this data it is one of roughly 34,000 produced, and 2000 left on the roads. It is also a Series 1; it is much more difficult to project how many of the 1971 produced models were Series 1's, since dealers had some ability to decide what year to title the car as. Since the change happened in early 71, it is obviously less than 3,000 and more likely between 1,100 - 1,400 Series I 240Z's still registered.

Thanks,

Bob

[Arne]

I wonder about that 2000 number for 1971. I suspect there are more than that left. Those types of statistical exercises don't always reflect reality for special cases. And a 240Z - for many owners - is and was a special case. I'd wager that the yearly attrition percentage is lower for sports cars than for normal cars.

[zcar70]

Using US registration data (where available) and historical export figures accounting for historical percentage that falls off each year (where registration data is not available), the attached projects the number of Z cars on the road by year. For 1974 and newer vehicles, the registration data is compiled from state records by R. L. Polk. Estimated quantity of older Z's is derived from assumptions noted in the file. In my experience, these assumptions have pretty accurately forecasted future vehicle populations, so they should be pretty sound for historical populations:

I own a 1971 240Z, so from this data it is one of roughly 34,000 produced, and 2000 left on the roads. It is also a Series 1; it is much more difficult to project how many of the 1971 produced models were Series 1's, since dealers had some ability to decide what year to title the car as. Since the change happened in early 71, it is obviously less than 3,000 and more likely between 1,100 - 1,400 Series I 240Z's still registered.

Thanks,

Bob

Very interesting analysis Bob! I may question the source of the data, but it makes numerical sense and the final figure falls into a range that I would assume to be reasonably accurrate.

It also shows how rare and valuable series one 240Zs are becoming!

Nice job!

Edited December 12, 2009 by zcar70