A search of the Toronto Star newspaper's archives will be needed to verify this but, having lived in/around these parts all my life, I find it very hard to believe that there was any kind of major auto show happening in Toronto in the spring or early summer.  There have traditionally been only two times of the year for auto shows in Toronto:  the big show, held in mid-winter (say, Jan-Feb), and the secondary show, held at the end of the summer (Canadian National Exhibition - two weeks leading up to Labour Day).  The 510 purportedly being air-shipped from Vancouver to Toronto in May 1970 could just as easily have been on its way to a dealer or media launch event (as opposed to an auto show, c/w roof-collapsing show models).

Very interesting topic and I hope you get to the bottom of these long standing questions you pose.

Thought maybe I could help answer a few??

First, I am the current owner of HLS30-00008 and have been for the last 26 years since I bought it in 1991 after it ran its last professional race, the 1990 24 hours of Daytona.

Some of the photos posted in this thread I took when I was restoring the car after it raced for 20 years and was very tired. It had several paint jobs through the years as a race car. I knew some of the history of the car and as I began the restoration I wanted to document the paint jobs both as a race car and its previous life as a show car so I hand sanded the roof of the car and photographed the results. I was able to document most of the race paint but couldn't really find any that were similar to the paint from the factory. I spoke to Bob Speakman's wife and she sent me this handwritten note...

 

So you can see the car likely was a few different colors during its time as a show car and I was not able to find any of the early paint since it had already been stripped off by the Speakmans.

If I remember correctly, Bob told me the car was silver when they received it.

Hope this helps??

BTW, Dave Stone owns the second Z race car Bob Sharp built (not 00008) and the 00009 260Z that was built into a GTU car.

Edited January 23, 20178 yr by vintagezracer

Many thanks vintagezracer.

That helps a lot!  Wow that is one interesting car you have! 

The letter is great. The 2 or 3 colours of paint before they received it may explain a lot but it will be challenging to track in photos if it was re-painted during the first year in the USA!

I wonder why and when Nissan did this? I hope it was at the factory and the car remained silver for the first year here.

 

These are possible photos of your car (silver) in 1969 and early 70:

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Speakman mentions it was at the '70 Run offs. Did it race at the '70 Run offs do you think? Maybe Fitzgerald's or Scoville's ride?

 

 

Edited January 23, 20178 yr by 240260280

Nothing from my friend in the archive yet but I have HLS30-00006 racing on May 17, 1970. That is a month and a week after the NYC International Automobile Show.

If he asked for a Z at the New York show then he received it quickly.  If he received a car that was damaged in Canada it would have been previously damaged earlier in Montreal.

 

Bob Sharp passing a Porsche and finishing 2nd at the Cumberland Maryland Races. May 17, 1970.

 

There is a red 240z in the background of this photo at the races. No decals on it. HLS30-00007 cheering on the event?

 

 

 

Nice photo find - May 17, 1970.  Bob Sharp raced his 240Z at the SCCA National, Summit Point, West Virginia to 2nd place on April 12, 1970.  He also ran an SCCA National at Bryar Motorsports, New Hampshire, June 9, 1970.  He dnf'd with a blown engine.  http://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/archive/Bob-Sharp-USA.html

Rude reply to the "from the horses mouth" post to follow.

The site http://www.racingsportscars.com/ is good but it is missing a lot of information and some of it seems incorrect. For example here are the North American 240z appearances in 1970.

It shows Morton in a BRE Z at VIR 1970-4-26 however he raced a 2000 roadster then (photos below showing Morton in a 2000 [CP Class] at the VIR race on April 26.).

Likewise the BSR-Z racing on April 12 is suspect as the NYC International Automobile Show is on then and it is too early for HLS30-00006 to be prepped if Bob just requested it at the show..

The racingsportscars.com data base is also missing any data on the Cumberland May 17th races apart from course and date.

Ultimately all of this helps paint a clearer picture.

 

You see, Philip; Bob Sharp DIDN'T get the car after the New York show.  That information just doesn't jive!  John Morton is campaigning a Datsun roadster (in C Production as a "240Z") because he didn't have a 240Z at the time and Bob did.  That's what this is all about.  You have data and pictures from the Cumberland race.  Why don't you submit the photos to the archive?  That archive is based on user contributions.  They just don't have any information about the Cumberland race. The point is that it wasn't the first outing with the car.

Edited January 26, 20178 yr by 26th-Z

On 2017-01-26 at 8:30 AM, 26th-Z said:

You see, Philip; Bob Sharp DIDN'T get the car after the New York show.  That information just doesn't jive!  John Morton is campaigning a Datsun roadster (in C Production as a "240Z") because he didn't have a 240Z at the time and Bob did.  That's what this is all about.  You have data and pictures from the Cumberland race.  Why don't you submit the photos to the archive?  That archive is based on user contributions.  They just don't have any information about the Cumberland race. The point is that it wasn't the first outing with the car.

I don't know enough yet to agree or disagree.  He says he did not have one when he was at the NYC show in a few interviews and it is also stated on the Nissan web site; so unless he is pulling our legs or never corrected a misquote then one has good reason to believe him as seeing a Z for the first time and then acquiring one are both very memorable experiences.

For me, the first time I noticed one was Dec. 1979 just before Christmas: A bright yellow one with BSR wide body kit going down the main street in Stephenville, Newfoundland... plowing through snow and rumbling.  The first time I purchased one was early July, 2003..... great memories

July 2003, J, Blue77, & Me.  It was an informal Z lawn party gathering by a 300zx  enthusiast with a couple of the new 350z's dropping in from  the dealer. A 240z and my 280z were the only early types.  We started the Atlantic Z Car Club that day.

Edited January 27, 20178 yr by 240260280

From Bob via GnoseZ:

Bob received his green 240z car in late January / early February after the roof was crushed at a car show in Canada. It was brought from Canada.to NJ for him to retrieve there.

So the green car with Goertz at the NYC show with the over-rider bar was a replacement on the show car circuit.

 

BIG THANKS TO (GNOSEZ) THE DESIGNER AND MANUFACTURER OF BADDOG FRAME RAILS FOR Z'S!

This would be Bob's car. Note the white wall tires like on the red 240z at ARRC and also on the silver 240z on R&T Jan.

HLS30-00006

HLS30-00007

 

HLS30-00008

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 20178 yr by 240260280

Flogging the horse:

Here is a photo of the 240z at the Jan. 1970 Montreal car show along with a blurb from the article.

 

Also included is a photo of a model on a car at the same 1970 Montreal Car Show next to the Honda and Toyota displays.

 

Now you know the whole story of Bob Sharp's crushed roof Z HLS30-00006!

 

"...the Datsun rep told us that they had to borrow the show car from Datsun USA"  answers one of my big questions.  Good find!

Glad to help!  I bought the digitized version of Canada Track and Traffic Traffic. The photo is from Feb 1970 issue.