Datsuns at Bonneville

[Mike B]

One of the activities at Zcon this year was a trip to the Lane Museum. Apparently they regularly have cars from Nissan North America's collection on display. The only Datsun currently on display, and the most interesting car to me, was the 1970 240Z that set the F/GT production class land speed record at Bonneville in 1976. Beginning in 1974 a small group of Nissan USA employees built a Datsun B-210 that set the I production class record. Then in 1975 they built a 280Z 2+2 that set both the F and G production records. This was all done in their spare time using Nissan parts and surplus vehicles that were scheduled to be scrapped by Nissan.

A couple of months ago I won an ebay auction for one of the original Moon wheel covers used on the Bonneville cars, a plaque presented to D. Roberts in 1975 as part of the 280Z 2+2 team (he was head of the Nissan Comp Department at the time), a group photo of the B-210 team in front of the old Nissan USA headquarters building, and a Nissan USA employee newsletter almost completely devoted to coverage of the Bonneville cars.

[Mike B]

The VIN on this car is HLS30-05834, which would make it a June 1970 production car. The interior is in near perfect condition, with an uncracked dash, and perfect door panels, vinyl, console, etc. The odometer shows 2329 miles and I wonder if that might be the total miles on the car, based on how nice the interior is. Eiji and I had a close look at the g-nose and it looks to be original. I think those might be the same seats used in the Z432-R. Maybe Alan or Kats can comment on that. It was interesting how the driver’s seatback and headrest were mounted to the roll bar. Even the upper portion of the rear deck carpet and all the plastic interior panels were left in the car. I was most surprised that all of the glass in the car is the clear glass used on the very early North American cars and the base Fairlady Z. The hatch glass has no defroster. I wouldn’t expect to see those things on a June car, since US cars had tinted glass after the first couple of hundred cars and the rear defroster was also added by Jan 1970 I believe. The car even has the original Koito headlights behind the G-nose headlight covers.

-Mike

Edited August 8, 2010 by Mike B
Correct headlight brand typo

[Mike B]

Here are a few more pictures. It looks like the gas tank is also the non-emissions version without the vapor tank. I noticed a few errors on the display sign (year this car set the record, driver, speed), so I sent an email to the Lane that pointed them out and included a scan of the newsletter to support the needed changes. The display sign even incorrectly noted that production of the 1st gen of Zcars (S30s) ran from 1969 through 1979 (instead of 1978).

-Mike

Edited August 8, 2010 by Mike B

[HS30-H]

I think those might be the same seats used in Z432-R. Maybe Alan or Kats can comment on that.

Great pictures and data, Mike. I've seen pics of that car in a few publications, but never in such detail. Thanks for posting them.

Yes, they are the Ikeda Bussan-manufactured seats as seen in the 432R and in factory works circuit race and rally cars. They are simple ( thin! ) FRP shells with thin foam padding and 'office furniture' grey hopsack wool blend cloth covers. Ikeda Bussan was an office seating manufacturer...

Furthermore, the car has a very rare 'Mach' brand Nissan Sports Option steering wheel, as far as I can see. It looks like the version nicknamed the "Ura Mach", as the 'Mach' engraving was on the rear of the centre spoke rather than on the front, as in some of the other models. The leather has dried out, so it has turned a funny colour. Originals change hands for quite serious money in Japan these days, and replicas are now being reproduced. Great to see an original on the car. I was lucky enough to get an original myself a couple of years ago. Looks like somebody liberated the gearknob....

Those will be 'Koito' brand headlamps. The Z-Std / early HLS30U clear glass is interesting. I can't think of any performance advantage to be gained there, so maybe it's a clue to the origins of the car and/or some of the parts on it?

Fascinating!

Cheers,

Alan T.

[Mike B]

Thanks for the additional information Alan. I thought I had heard that those seats were made by an office chair manufacturer before, but I am glad you can confirm that. They definitely have that look.

Sorry about the headlight brand typo, I went back and updated my post.

What do you make of the hood? Have you even seen one like that before? Its too bad that the hood was closed. I would have been interested to see what the engine bay looked like.

I noticed the missing shift knob, but I wondered if the museum might have just removed it for some reason? I also noticed that there is no rear exhaust. I wonder why that was removed. I wouldn't think they would have run it like that.

Here is another shot of the steering wheel. It was interesting to hear more information about it.

I wasn't sure what to make of the clear glass. I was surprised that it was actual glass all around and not plexiglass as I was expecting. It must have been a requirement for the production class they ran the car in to have glass, but I can't see the benefit to switching out the tinted glass for clear, if that is what happened.

-Mike

Edited August 8, 2010 by Mike B

[Marty Rogan]

I wonder what performance mods they did to the car to get it to go 160+.

Marty

[Walter Moore]

I wonder what performance mods they did to the car to get it to go 160+.

Marty

I wondered the same thing when I was looking at the car. Is the red tank for NOx, or a fire extinguisher? I couldn't tell from outside the car.

[26th-Z]

I suspect this makes you the resident "expert" on the land speed record cars, Mike. Very little is ever mentioned about them. Thanks for all the pictures and info. Is the segment on the DVD from an actual run?

I would say that the red bottle is a fire extinguishing system.