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Z's on BAT and other places collection


Zed Head

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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).
 
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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.

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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. 

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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.
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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?

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