36 minutes ago, 240260280 said:

He was capable, knew sports cars, knew Americans and America, knew Japan and corporate Japan. There is no reason to think his roll in the S30 was not significant.

I don't think one can find another such individual in Nissan or even Japan at the time.

So what was Katayama's role in the S30?

And the sentence in bold above is for the birds. Utter nonsense. I could cite any number of names, but the most obvious comparison would be Katayama's colleague and fellow Vice President of NMC USA at its founding, Soichi Kawazoe.

 

SpeedRoo, it was actually a piece of embossed fabric tape adhered to the cover plate.

While we are on the subject, I'm wondering what the BaT 'experts' think when they looked at this particular car's photos (or their 30+ other cars...) and see something like this:

Clue: I'm talking about the two pre-stamped round cutouts (unused) on the firewall jute pad.

"Designed for the USA", right?

Edited January 30, 20205 yr by HS30-H

The other interesting thing about the above photo is the tab at the top of the accelerator pedal for the throttle lever cable to attach to and also the bracket on the bulkhead. It seems you would still be able to retro fit the original components. I wonder when they deleted these tabs and brackets from production for US cars.

1 hour ago, SpeedRoo said:

Quite apart from the not-advisable-in-USA/'unsafe' hand throttle being part of the original signed-off design and making production, I wonder whether more than a very few of the people looking at the (wonderful!) photos provided for this auction wonder what the blanked-off double switch on the right of the rear window defroster switch was originally provided for? 

They are, of course, for the left and right parking light system switches. 

#S30-Series

1 hour ago, 26th-Z said:

SpeedRoo, it was actually a piece of embossed fabric tape adhered to the cover plate.

This particular example looks a bit more professional than that.

The infamous battery drain switch. Go out for the evening, park the Z and put the side lights on. Have a few too many, go home with a gorgeous femme fatale and come back in the morning to find the battery drained!

1 hour ago, HS30-H said:

So what was Katayama's role in the S30?

And the sentence in bold above is for the birds. Utter nonsense. I could cite any number of names, but the most obvious comparison would be Katayama's colleague and fellow Vice President of NMC USA at its founding, Soichi Kawazoe.

 

Show me a photo of Mr Kawazoe racing a car please.

 

Mr Katayama raced car #36 in 1952.

Edited January 30, 20205 yr by 240260280

2 minutes ago, 240260280 said:

Show me a photo of Mr Kawazoe racing a car please.

 

Mr Katayama raced car #36 in 1952.

I chose Kawazoe (I could easily have thrown Soichiro Honda into the ring) because Kawazoe was working RIGHT NEXT to Katayama, was a qualified engineer, and - in answer to your preposterous (Katayama) "knew Americans and America" (when he'd had a wander around for a few days while his ship was in port?) - Kawazoe had graduated from the University of Dayton with a B.S. in Mech. Engineering and from M.I.T. with an M.S. He was a key player in the success of the company.

He was fluent in English, knew plenty about America and Americans (as well as plenty about China, having been a POW there for 8 years) and knew how to make and repair cars and trucks - especially GM and Ford products. Katayama, in contrast, knew how to sell stuff. He was - clearly - very good at selling 'Mr K.'... Most of the things you put in your list were not the sole responsibility of one man, and yet you credit him with them.

I originally asked "what exactly are we crediting Katayama san with?" in relation to the S30-series Z (transl. "the 240Z"). How was the fabric and detail of HLS30U/HLS30UN/HLS30UV variants influenced DIRECTLY by Katayama?  Did he choose the gear ratios? Did he choose the spring and damper rates? Did he choose the seat fabric colours? Exterior paint colours? Did he tell Nissan not to bother offering fully integrated factory aircon?

Why is it "thanks Mr K.!" and not "thanks everyone at Nissan"?

 

5 minutes ago, HS30-H said:

Why is it "thanks Mr K.!" and not "thanks everyone at Nissan"?

Certainly not all employees at Nissan were involved in the development of the Z... 

2 hours ago, HS30-H said:

This particular example looks a bit more professional than that.

That is exactly what came out of 26th and 27th.  Its not cheapo-flimsy tape.  It is an embossed vinyl fabric, but it is glued into the cover plate recess.

8 hours ago, HS30-H said:

 Can I ask, what makes you say that Katayama san "made it a success in the states"? I'm interested to hear how you think that happened, or how it played out. What did he do to make it a success? I would have thought that the main factors in making the 240Z a sales success in North America were:

What exactly are we crediting Katayama san with?     

 

 

 

Well then if he wasn't so important for Nissan or the S30 succes in the US according to you, explain this then:

https://www.automotivehalloffame.org/honoree/yutaka-katayama/

https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/HERITAGE/LEGENDS/LEGEND_02/index.html 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/23/national/former-nissan-executive-known-father-z-sports-car-dies-105/#.XjM7hkBFzIU

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15357465/yutaka-katayama-father-of-the-datsun-z-dead-at-105/

 

So your saying all these sources are lying ?