February 26, 201510 yr comment_464450 Yeah, but the Z has 60 years of history. Who's James Gardner? That one photo has "Gardner" in it. Edited February 27, 201510 yr by TomoHawk Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464450 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 26, 201510 yr comment_464454 Watch the movie Grand Prix: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Garner Mr K was a bit like Mr. Yamura http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060472/ Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464454 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 26, 201510 yr comment_464456 I have that DVD, but Toshiro Mifune is a thing in himself. Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464456 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 26, 201510 yr comment_464458 Yeah, but the Z has 60 years of history. Who's James Garder? That one photo has James Gardner init.G-A-R-N-E-R...........How does the Z have 60 years of history? Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464458 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 27, 201510 yr comment_464464 The filename of the photo is: Bob_MrK_Gardner.jpg In Mr K's book, he states that he came up with the idea for the American sportscar in 1959. Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464464 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 27, 201510 yr comment_464480 Mr K was a bit like Mr. Yamura http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060472/ Except that he wasn't. The 'Mr Yamura' character in the film 'Grand Prix' is a composite of the real-life Yoshio Nakamura (Honda Grand Prix team chief) and Soichiro Honda himself. The fictional team 'Yamura Motors' is clearly based on Honda, and the Yamura GP cars carry Yamura's name on them. Both Nakamura and Honda were engineers. Katayama was not an engineer, a designer, 'stylist' or product planner, and the cars we talk about here are not called 'Katayamas'. So, Mr K. was not a bit like 'Mr Yamura'. Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464480 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 27, 201510 yr comment_464483 This thread is for Mr. K. Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464483 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 27, 201510 yr comment_464486 I can appreciate your point, Blue. Mr K was a no-frills type of guy, with the way he would go it alone, against the way of Nissan's upper management to get personally involved, and he had a strong voice, just not as deep as Mifini-san's. In the movie there are other things parallel to real life, like Mr. Manetta, who was in charge of the Ferrari team, and signified Enzo Ferrari, and the other race drivers, Jean-Pierre Sarti, Scott Stoddard, Nino Barlini, and even Hugo Simon, all had their real-life counterparts Edited February 27, 201510 yr by TomoHawk Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464486 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 27, 201510 yr comment_464487 This thread is for Mr. K. And so am I. Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464487 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 27, 201510 yr comment_464492 I can appreciate your point, Blue. Mr K was a no-frills type of guy, with the way he would go it alone, against the way of Nissan's upper management to get personally involved, and he had a strong voice, just not as deep as Mifini-san's. In the movie there are other things parallel to real life, like Mr. Manetta, who was in charge of the Ferrari team, and signified Enzo Ferrari, and the other race drivers, Jean-Pierre Sarti, Scott Stoddard, Nino Barlini, and even Hugo Simon, all had their real-life counterparts Thanks Tomo, I was thinking of an even simpler and beautiful parallel.... a guy that "could", taking a big risk and helping out a broken F1 driver hard on his luck. In the end the risk paid back many fold for both. Edited February 27, 201510 yr by Blue Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464492 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 27, 201510 yr comment_464500 It would be nice to see a tribute car.50th anniversary of his S30 in 4 years.... fingers crossed.I've already described it on Nissan's facebook page. It's a real 240Z 2600# advanced composite body with 2.4 L supercharged six cylinder engine. Nissan could make a screamer out of it. They could even make a Special K Edition. Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464500 Share on other sites More sharing options...
February 27, 201510 yr comment_464501 I've already described it on Nissan's facebook page. It's a real 240Z 2600# advanced composite body with 2.4 L supercharged six cylinder engine. Nissan could make a screamer out of it. They could even make a Special K Edition. Link to comment https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50989-yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-z-nissan-sports-car-dies-at-105/?&page=7#findComment-464501 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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