What can I say' date=' We made the top 10.:tapemouth[/quote']

"We"? I don't own a '59-'70 roadster....

Fortunately Nissan saw the error of their ways and named the EXPORT S30 as they should be . ie 240Z etc. etc.

They realised FAIRLADY wasn't macho enough to sell in the very competitive overseas markets. Mainly USA which was their number one focus, with such a vast market.

Ironic then that the "macho" north American market 240Z was given the softest, squishiest suspension, slowest steering rack ratio and decidedly non-sporty wide ratio gearing.

I think you'll find that Nissan's "number one focus" has always been the Japanese home market.

Urban legend? Nova does mean "doesn't go" in Spanish and that's all I was saying within the context of this thread.

No, it doesn't. 'No va', means 'no go'.

Nova means 'new'.

An astronomical event- a star (latin).

Sorry, missed steve's post.

Edited May 13, 201113 yr by Willoughby Z

Ironic then that the "macho" north American market 240Z was given the softest, squishiest suspension, slowest steering rack ratio and decidedly non-sporty wide ratio gearing.

I think you'll find that Nissan's "number one focus" has always been the Japanese home market.

Not ironic at all. Nissan gave the North American Market what they thought they would want. Macho name and a soft ride. The sales in US proved them correct.

My stratement of 'number one focus' was in the same paragraph as 'overseas exports' to US. Correct me if i'm wrong, but I have always believed that the US was the largest overseas market of the S30.

Edited May 13, 201113 yr by Arne

Not ironic at all. Nissan gave the North American Market what they thought they would want. Macho name and a soft ride. The sales in US proved them correct.

We will have to disagree then. I find it ironic.

Are you saying that Nissan would have sold measurably less HLS30-U model 'Datsun 240Zs' in the north American market had the car been badged as a 'Fairlady Z' then? If so, then would you care to quantify that?

I say that it would have made little difference. Key points were the bang-for-buck, the image / styling, and the letter 'Z'.

My stratement of 'number one focus' was in the same paragraph as 'overseas exports' to US. Correct me if i'm wrong, but I have always believed that the US was the largest overseas market of the S30.

Yes it was, but that was after the fact. Nissan's "number one focus" has always been - and certainly was in 1969/70 - it's biggest single market, Japan.

Nissan's salesmen might very well have been focusing on the north American market as the single biggest export market for the S30-series Z ( just as had the salesmen at MG, Triumph, Jaguar, Porsche, ALFA Romeo, Ferrari et al ), but this was not the single focus of the designers and engineers. The proof of that is in the cars themselves.

Alan T.

I agree with Alan on this. If the NA market had been the primary focus, there would not have been any need to build such models as Z432R, ZG, etc.

Why did we get the the car equipped as it was? It was simple to market that way. Nissan equipped the HLS30-U to the lowest common denominator. They knew the car needed the bigger L24 motor to be compelling over similar priced competition, so we got that. But past that, in case the car became popular and high volume, they wanted them all to be the same to simplify marketing and logistics. So no factory options. Simple. Pick a color and buy it. Did the US car need a 5 speed to compete well? No, so we didn't get it. Softer suspension and slower steering will widen the appeal, so we got that. But since there were no options, that's ALL we got.

I seem to recall seeing early documents that indicated the possibility of a "Sports" package for the US. Would have had the 5 speed, triple Mikunis, probably the firmer suspension, etc. That possibility died as soon as the waiting lists for the base model formed.

In the mean time, in Japan there were different models, and a vast array of factory options available.

While the 240Z was an important car to Nissan USA both in sales and in halo effect (getting new customers into the showrooms), the S30 line was just as important (if not more so) in the home market. It was the "image" car for Nissan in Japan.

Edited May 14, 201113 yr by Arne

I stand corrected.:classic:

Is Datsun gay or what?

Now you want a bad name for a car company? How about Citroën, which almost spells "lemon" in French. It would be somewhat like an American car company called "Lemoen." But then again, a person has only to look at almost any French automobile to understand that nobody in that country would actually care.

Edited May 14, 201113 yr by FastWoman

I've always gotten a chuckle out of the Ford Aspire.

Aspire to what? Being a car?

Also the trend to tagging cars with seemingly random collections of letters:

CR-Z EX

TL SH-AWD

and in a particularly awful example:

MX-5 PRHT

"That's right, I drive a Prrhttthhh." Nice little car, but, jeez, the name.

iChris

The sales in US proved them correct.

I see this argument all the time and it violates the basis of simple logic. Sales happened after the fact, in this case the intention. The intention, therefor, cannot be supported this way. Furthermore, it is well documented what the sales projections were and they do not support the intention of a primary US export market either. Although it is true that a specific configurtation of the S30 model was targeted for export to the North American market, it was not initially considered a primary market. In the very begining, I suspect the only one with grand expectations was Yutaka Katayama.

WGAS what they call it, the S30 is still one of the coolest cars of it's era. I love my Lil' Lady.