Z's on BAT and other places collection

[Carl Beck]

9 hours ago, bartsscooterservice said:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-datsun-240z-236/

It seems many people back in the day thought the frame rails was a good jacking point....🤭

 

Yes, and several others found out that you can not drive a 240Z over the concrete parking stops at the shopping mall or grocery store. (without getting hung up or damaging the frame rails).

 

[26th-Z]

The date on the Tennessee title is January 14th.  Wow, I'm impressed.  26th wasn't titled until April 1970.  20th made it all the way to Tennessee, and titled, in such a short period of time.

[Persimmon240]

Perhaps the dealership kept, what was probably their first one, in the showroom to garner foot traffic?

[Carl Beck]

6 hours ago, 26th-Z said:

The date on the Tennessee title is January 14th.  Wow, I'm impressed.  26th wasn't titled until April 1970.  20th made it all the way to Tennessee, and titled, in such a short period of time.

I bought my first 240Z 14 March 1970, in Spokane, Washington - HLS30 01777.  Had to leave it on the Dealer's Showroom floor until May 1970 when they started to actually get their first "supply" of 4 240'z. (all of which had been pre-sold). Then the last guy on the list had to leave his there..for a while.

[Reptoid Overlords]

Some free 4cyl blocks, parts and head

https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/pts/d/lynnwood-free-datsun-nissan-motors/7535031653.html

[kats]

6 hours ago, Carl Beck said:

I bought my first 240Z 14 March 1970, in Spokane, Washington - HLS30 01777.  Had to leave it on the Dealer's Showroom floor until May 1970 when they started to actually get their first "supply" of 4 240'z. (all of which had been pre-sold). Then the last guy on the list had to leave his there..for a while.

Hi Carl , I love the story. In that case , did the dealership give some discount for the customer to compensate for displaying in a showroom?  I am just curious about it.

Now my question is, Nissan did numerous changes for S30 series not on late 1970 but early 1971. Seems it doesn’t relate to American ‘model year’ system . Was the change of S30 series considered normal for Nissan including other Nissan cars, or only for S30 series? 
I mean our S30 series cars , Nissan changed things when they thought they needed. 

Mr.Uemura wrote about the test report in US and Canada late 1969 . The test crew listed many things to be improved.

 I think the changes in early 1971 were originated by the test crew , and voice of customers all over the world , and by test groups in Nissan Japan.

One of the issue which was not seemed easy for engineers was the vibration from the rear floor .

I believe Nissan might want to fix it sooner and knew how to fix well before mid 1970 but the changes of propeller shaft and differential mounting , also had to make a new bracket (brackets for Z432) for the exhaust system under the floor would have needed more time .
 

Or it could have taken more time to prove ‘no-problem’ of recessed  the diff 35mm back still safe when the tail hit and the gas tank pushed forward. The new drive train was not available until late 1971  though.

Here is a picture provided  from Mr.Miyazaki , he was an engineer and a test crew in Japan . A lot of interesting stories he has , I am keeping in touch with him and listening as much as I can . 
 

Kats

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by kats

[zspert]

OK Zed Head, etc, here's the unicorn you asked about. I have a 1/71 in my shop - VIN 18437 - getting a well deserved rehabilitation after years of neglect. It has later seat belts with 6 & 7/71 production dates. It has the early visors and a Redwing interior mirror. 

Want to touch on a subject Carl Beck brushed up against regarding the early years of selling imported cars.  In those pre 1970 days import dealers, the exception being VW, were strictly Mon & Pop operations. They often started out as used car lots or service operations that sold imports as almost a sideline. My first dealer sold BMW, Saab and NSU before picking up Datsun in mid 1970. The showroom could accommodate 3 cars and there were 5 service bays. A good month saw 3-5 cars being sold. Dad was the sales dept, son ran service and Mom kept the books. Their necks were stuck way out and it showed.  They started in the car business at a smaller facility as a VW and Porsche repair shop. So, you're a Fiat, Renault or NSU dealer in 1966 with 4 cars left on the lot and it's Dec. You know those machines aren't going anywhere soon so what to do. You apply to the MVA and change the titles to 1967. Now you have 4 67s - a very common practice in those days. This all changed with the Japanese invasion of the early 70s. Now you're moving lots and lots of cars, as many as you could get per month. We didn't need a larger showroom as the Datsuns were sold before they had a chance to display them. Dad wasn't a salesman any more, he was an order taker. 

[zspert]

Mt. Fuji looked SO MUCH more beautiful before all  those wires. 

[Carl Beck]

9 hours ago, kats said:

Hi Carl , I love the story. In that case , did the dealership give some discount for the customer to compensate for displaying in a showroom?  I am just curious about it.

....(snipped cjb)......

Hi Kats:

The short answer to your question is NO - No discount, however because I was on active duty with the United States Air Force at the time (and Military Pay was very very low), the Dealer did not mark up the Retail Price. Dealers in the US had such demand for the 240Z's, mostly because the report of the 240Z published in "Road & Track Magazine" which hit the News-Stands Dec. 1, 1969 with the 240Z on the Cover!. (the Cover Car was one of the US Road Test 240Z's, that Nissan had given R&T early access to) So by March 1970 there were long waiting lists for 240Zs, especially in California and on the West Coast. Dealers were adding $1,000.00 to $2000.00 to the MSRP of $3526.00. Then adding more for additional accessories like Mag Wheels, Body Side Molding etc. 

Because there was a large Air Force Base in Spokane, and because military pay was low, the military personnel bought a lot of very affordable Datsuns locally. So the Dealer wanted to get the first Z's shown/seen on the Base. So I got the first one there...

The Dealer I purchased my first Z from was Paul Jaremko. If you read John B. Rae's book; "NISSAN/DATSUN A History of Nissan Motor Corporation in U.S.A. 1960 to 1980" - you would see that Paul Jaremko won Datsun their first SCCA Regional Championships on the West Coast in 1964 driving a Datsun SPL 310 roadster to 14 successive victories. The Jaremko's were one of Mr. K's first 100 Datsun Dealers in the USA (they owned 3 Dealerships).   Of course I did not know that when I met him. However I was driving a 1967 Porsche 911S at the time and we started talking about sports car and racing in general as I was test driving the 240Z with him. I had done some limited racing and rallying with the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Club so Paul and I hit it off right away. We are friends to this day. 

[Carl Beck]

10 hours ago, kats said:

Hi Carl , I love the story. In that case , did the dealership give some discount for the customer to compensate for displaying in a showroom?  I am just curious about it.

Now my question is, Nissan did numerous changes for S30 series not on late 1970 but early 1971. Seems it doesn’t relate to American ‘model year’ system . Was the change of S30 series considered normal for Nissan including other Nissan cars, or only for S30 series? 
......(snipped..cjb).... 

 

Hi Kats:   That is correct - it did not comply with the normal “model year” marketing system here.  The normal model year 1971 here started 1 Oct. 1970 and would run into 30 Sept 1971. These are dates New/Improved models go on sale at the Dealerships. Don’t confuse the Dates of Sale with Dates of Manufacture;   although there is normal relationship between them. Cars have to be manufactured some time before they go on sale at the dealership.

 

So for some reason Nissan continued to build/sell the same model as both 1970 and 1971 model year offerings from Oct 1969 through all of 1970 and into 1971.  Four months (Oct.,Nov., Dec. Jan.) into the normal 1971 model year Nissan introduced a second and different model also sold as a 1971 model year offering. 

 

This affected only the Datsun 240Z, the 510’s and Pickup’s for the 1971 Model Year were in the showroom for sale in Oct. or Nov of 1970.

 

I can only guess why that was done with the 240Z;   I would guess Nissan was delayed for some reason getting the normal 1971 Model introduced back in Oct./Nov. of 1970. That delay may have been due to ever changing US Emissions and Safety Standards during that period. With required changes made, the cars had to under-go US re-certification before being sold. (another delay). The same thing happened with the introduction of the 1975 Fuel Injected 280Z - it was delayed by 3 or 4 months into the normal 1975 model year. However that time it only involved selling one model year 1975.

 

 

You may recall that Mr. Kawazoe was assigned to work in Washington D.C. to represent both Nissan and the Japanese Auto Industry to lobby the US Congress for changes,  reductions or delays in implementing the strict standards. (same as all the US manufacturers did at the time). Also to inform Japan of pending or proposed new standards. Keep in mind there was no “Internet” then that allowed real time communications of documents or drawings. International communications of complex technical documents could take a week or more.

[zspert]

A couple of pix of the 1/71 the unicorn I have in my shop

[Zed Head]

13 hours ago, zspert said:

OK Zed Head, etc, here's the unicorn you asked about. I have a 1/71 in my shop - VIN 18437

 

13 hours ago, zspert said:

It has later seat belts with 6 & 7/71 production dates.

That is a weird one.  It's not really what was suggested, which was old parts being used up during the transition.  That one has parts that are not supposed to be in use yet.

Any chance somebody just wanted the "improved" parts and had them switched later?