Series 1 Carpet Help

[chuck r]

Hi Everyone,

I hope some of you early Z gurus can help me. I'm chasing my tail trying to figure out the original configuration of the carpet/jute/mat in the hatch area of my car.

The car is a 6/70 car, VIN 6040, and I'm trying to restore it very close to original.

What was in the car when I bought it was a heavy rubber mat glued to the trunk floor. A loose jute mat was on top of this and carpet (without insulation/jute) was on top of this. The trunk floor had remnants of glued velcro towards the rear on either side. The carpet also had velcro sewed to the bottom of the carpet in the same locations. Pictures of these pieces are attached.

My confusion is that the velcro serves no purpose if the rubber mat is between the mating surfaces and because the series 1 carpet kit from Classic Datsun (represented to be very original) has jute glued to the bottom of the carpet. Also, the mat seems to be overkill with the jute and carpet.

So. . . to skip past all the details, is their a consistent way that Datsun finished the hatch floor in the early cars? Thanks a bunch for the help.

[jfa.series1]

My 12/70 car had a only a jute pad between the metal body and the carpet (looped). The carpet did have velcro at the rear corners with corresponding velcro on the metal body to keep the carpet corners secured. Hope this helps.

Jim

[redzedsled]

Images of original jute padding that goes behind your seats for early Series I 240z.

Edited July 7, 2012 by redzedsled

[chuck r]

Thanks, this helps. Was the jute loose? The mat is confusing to me; it sure looks like an original piece but I'm wondering if some previous owner took it from a different Z. In general, the floor coverings on this car are a mystery. The footwell only had Datsun mats and no carpet. I'm wondering if it ever had carpet as the mats have snaps that match up with the firewall insulator.

Thanks also for the pics of the jute behind the seats. Mine are pretty destroyed and these give me a good example of what they should be. BTW, my car has a short stamped support at runs between the two rear seat mounts. I've seen pictures of other Series 1's without this. Anyone know when Datsun started using these?

Chuck

[Mike B]

Hi Chuck,

I'm also in the Seattle area and have a few early (1969 production) 240Zs. The rubber deck mat you have is original to the very early cars in North America, although I am a bit surprised to see it with a VIN as high as yours. They were also standard on the base Fairlady Z in Japan. There was a complete set of five mats from the factory (2 in front of the seats, 2 behind, and the rear deck mat), although it seems to have varied as to what combination of mats/carpet the dealers chose to leave on the cars when they were delivered to customers. Here is a thread with some info on the mats http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread30706.html and another on some of the carpet variations and available reproductions as of a few years ago http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread29317.html.

It looks like a prior owner cut a hole for access to the spare tire well in the rubber deck mat you have and glued it to the floor. I would be interested in seeing the other mats you have, if you can post pictures of them. If you have mats in the footwells that say 'Datsun' and have snaps that match up to snaps on the firewall insulation it sounds like they are the original from mats that are part of the set. Do you also have the rubber mats that go behind the seats? Hopefully the information in the two threads I linked to will give you some information that may be of use to you.

-Mike

-Mike

[chuck r]

Great info. I suspected at some time in the cars past someone had used a mixture of parts. I'll post pics of the floor mats but might be a day or two. Car doesn't have the rubber mats that go behind the seats- just really worn carpet that doesn't seem to really fit around all the mounts, brackets, etc.

Chuck

[26th-Z]

I agree. You have an early floor mat that has been cut out for the spare tire, early jute and early (style) carpeting. The carpeting should velcro to the spots on the car and the jute should have cut-outs for the velcro to attach the carpeting. Shame that the floor mat was cut. Would love to see pictures of the footwell floor mats. The snap connection to the firewall insulation is the correct connetion for either the floor mat or carpeting.

Edited July 8, 2012 by 26th-Z

[chuck r]

Here are top and bottom pics of the floor mats. Thanks again for the info. Its interesting to wonder what situation led to these mats being in the car.

If anyone else wants to chime in on the mat/jute/carpet question I'd be interested in hearing. I'm trying to gauge whether things were pretty consistant or whether somewhat variable.

Edited July 9, 2012 by chuck r
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