Hi all,

Some of you may know that I was in Japan last week, and attended a couple of events while I was there.

The most exciting of these ( for my part ) was being allowed to see Nissan's large store of more than 400 old cars at their now-closed production facility in Zama, near Yokohama.

Its always been frustrating to know that almost all the other Japanese car manufacturers have their own museums in Japan, but that Nissan were lagging behind and had no concrete plans to put a proper museum together, despite using references to the company history and 'DNA' of their product whilst advertising and selling new cars. This was especially frustrating in the knowledge that Nissan have for many years held a vast store of old pre-production, show, concept, landmark models and old race cars.

I have been trying to get to see these cars ( and one or two of them in particular ) for roughly the last 14 years - even while I lived in Japan in fact - but Nissan does not open the doors of this store to the general public and it is pretty much an 'invitation only' situation.

As part Nissan's "70-year anniversary celebrations", May 2003 has been marked by some special events in Japan. Some of Nissan's collection of old race cars were put on display at the company HQ in Ginza, Tokyo. These looked fantastic, and drew large crowds of office workers from nearby buildings at lunchtime ( making it hard to get a clear photo opportunity! ). There was also a small display to mark the retirement of Factory race driver Kazuyoshi Hoshino, and a series of films in a temporary theatre setup.

Throughout May, Nissan have also been inviting selected Nissan-related car clubs to view the contents of the storage warehouse at Zama. My chance to see the contents finally came when CLUB S30 were invited to visit on the morning of Sunday 18th May, and as a member I was finally allowed access to this holy shrine of Nissan history.

There had to be a catch, and sure enough here it was. Basically, only two hours max for the visit and no electrics in the building ( natural light only - as the electric is currently disconnected to the warehouse while redevelopment takes place! ). This made taking photos very difficult indeed, as only gaps in the clouds made enough light flood through the skylights - and the gaps were few and far between. This was going to be a big test for my little Nikon digital, its small flash and its limited battery power.

To be honest, I could have spent the whole two hours on just ONE car ( guess which one that was? ) but the place was chock FULL of interesting stuff and I tried to take in as much as possible. There's no knowing when I'll be allowed back.................

The good news is that I finally heard official confirmation of a rumour that had been circulating amongst interested parties; Nissan are currently putting plans together for a PROPER heritage museum - so we will be able to have a place to make a pilgrimage to after all. More news on this as and when it comes...........

For those that share an interest in this kind of thing, please take a look at a few pics that I've posted in the Members Gallery section. There are a mixture of pics from the Ginza, Tokyo HQ exhibition and the inside of the storage warehouse at Zama.

Link to my gallery:

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=2116&thumb=1

If anyone has any specific questions, I'd be pleased to answer them if I can ( just post questions on this thread ).

Hope that you enjoy them.

All the best,

Alan T.

Added some more photos.

Will gradually add more as I sort through them.

Found out I left a 64mb memory card for my digital camera in my hotel room ( wondered where that went to... ) but they are very kindly posting it back to me.

What kind of stuff do people really want to see most? I've been surprised at the number of hits that some of the pics are getting; they are more than I would have thought in certain cases. In contrast, some of the stuff that I thought was most interesting gets comparatively less hits. Strange that.

Alan T.

That baby $h!t brown 432 looks great even the color I don't mind. It looks great thanks for sharing that with us.

Alan did you manage to get any shots of the rally cars interiors or engine bay?

Shame about the Gnosed 2+2 would be great to see more photo's of it. I've only ever seen the one angle of that car really curious to know what it looked like in a clearer photo.

I really enjoyed the photo's thank you.:classic:

Ok Gav, I've uploaded some engine bay and interior shots of the rally cars for you.

It will take a little while for them to come up, as they have to be 'approved' first.

I think I have some Tokyo Motor Show pictures of that 260Z 2/2 prototype with the G-nose on it, so I'll have to dig them out and scan them up for you. I'll see what I can find.

Alan T.

Thank you Alan I really appreciate it.:classic:

Alan San

What about that 300zx, a rally car ? never seen it, any more info about this beast ?

I wish I could be a virtual worm browsing in your Hard disk ...

and no it's not a proposal :classic:

Alan,

Thanks much for the pics' ! I noticed the rallye cars used a cable for the throttle instead of the Rube Goldberg design we find in our S.U. powered cars. Seems a better way to do it, better off idle progression I would think.

Again, thanks

Dave

Regarding that 2+2 G-nose @ the '73 Tokyo motor show...

I've got a couple of shots of that car if anyone is interested. They're from a 1974 'Motor' magazine that I picked up at a swap-meet last year.

There are also shots of the 'new' 610 SSS & one of the Safari 240Z's too

Originally posted by Caen Fred

Alan San

What about that 300zx, a rally car ? never seen it, any more info about this beast ?

Hi Fred,

Well, its not really my specialist subject - so I'm a bit weak in that area ( even the S130 is past my 'era', let alone the Z31..... ) but I found a little bit of info about the car.

It was a Japanese championship car, usually driven by M. Kamioka ( I forget his first name - is it Masujiro? ) who of course became more famous recently as a Desert Raid type of event driver. I think it was the '85 or '86 season when he did particularly well.

Found a photo from the Tour De Kyushu event of 1985:

Alan T.

NISMO built a full "Group B" Z31 300ZX.

Here's a pic:

Originally posted by 59ghia

Alan,

Thanks much for the pics' ! I noticed the rallye cars used a cable for the throttle instead of the Rube Goldberg design we find in our S.U. powered cars. Seems a better way to do it, better off idle progression I would think.

Again, thanks

Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the encouragement about the photos.

Yes - almost all of the Works-built circuit race and rally cars that I have seen pics of, or seen in the metal, have been fitted with a cable type throttle linkage.

Of course, the big advantage of this is that its so easy to alter the 'feel' of the throttle pedal, as well as alter the ratio between pedal travel and throttle actuation.

This is especially good for a rally car, as the rough terrain makes it difficult to modulate the throttle accurately with a foot that is bouncing around a lot. Most rally cars seem to use a particularly long throttle pedal travel, which I'm sure makes it easier to avoid unwanted input caused by outside forces.

Alan T.

Has anyone prepped & rallied a Z32?

Now that really WOULD be like trying to teach a pig to dance.

I've never seen or heard tell of one. Of course, now that I've said that I suppose one will turn up!:cross-eye

Alan T.