1970 240Z Works Rally - the road to restoration

[xs10shl]

I’m starting this restoration thread for enthusiasts of the early S30 Works rally cars, so they can follow along, and perhaps also provide comments and their own insights as to the very early days of the S30 Works rally program.   I additionally hope that others can chime in with comments, questions, corrections, and feedback as we go along.

A preamble: this is a thread about researching, documenting and restoring a genuine 1970 Works Rally car.  I’ve owned it for many years, but the realities of real life were getting in the way of getting started on a proper restoration.  Given the car's provenance, I knew it would be important to get the history and the details as right as I could, given what little is known publicly about the Works program, and the scarcity of remaining Works cars.   So I’ve used this time to do as much research as I could on the car's history, collaborate with a few historians (most notably @HS30-H, who needs no introduction), source a few needed parts, and work to provide a more complete pre-restoration snapshot in it’s current unrestored condition, as well as provide a glimpse of what the restored car will resemble when it’s finished. 

In addition to documenting and research, I've been looking for an appropriate opportunity to show the car publicly under my stewardship for the first time.  Given the car’s current condition, it would have to be trailered to a show, which limited my options to “Somewhere on the West Coast".  The stars aligned when ZONC announced it’s 50th anniversary meet in Northern CA in February for June 5, 2022.  With this as a target date, I set my sights on getting the car as presentable as I could manage, given the time I had available to me. Loose parts were screwed on, dirty pieces were dusted off, and period stickers were researched, ordered, and placed (note: this last step was insanely fun).  In my experience, there’s nothing like having a show deadline to motivate owners into getting their cars finished!

Enthusiasts, historians, well-wishers, even skeptics and haters (although hopefully not too many of the latter): I look forward sharing this journey with you, and to your comments! 😄

 

[xs10shl]

After a long 4 months, the ZONC 50th Anniversary was upon us!  The morning of June 5 brought unseasonably rainy weather, but there was still a great turnout of cars and Z car fans at the Blackhawk Museum.  The drizzle was somehow fitting for the look of the rally Z, and provided a light touch of patina, especially when considering its past history of being driven in anger through snow and mud.

Below are a few pictures from June 5.  It was a wonderful experience to meet so many fellow Z enthusiasts, see so many great Datsuns, and discuss and share our love for our Z cars. We were only too happy with the great reception we received, and were pleased to be able to finally show-and-tell the car’s unique features with fellow rally fans. Thanks to Linda and the ZONC community for putting on a great show.  

Much more content to follow in the coming days, months, and (gulp) years!

[SpeedRoo]

1 hour ago, xs10shl said:

 

One unique feature in this photo that gives it away as a works car...anyone care to guess what it is?

 

 

 

[Marty Rogan]

11 minutes ago, SpeedRoo said:

 

I would say the rally devices above the ash tray and mounted to the glove box.

[Marty Rogan]

Very cool car.   You hardly ever see these outside of the Nissan Museum.

Can you give us some of the car's history and how you came to own it?

[HS30-H]

1 hour ago, SpeedRoo said:

One unique feature in this photo that gives it away as a works car...anyone care to guess what it is?

If you're referring to the LH-switched handbrake lever, it only* identifies it as an LHD Works rally Z. Not necessary on RHD ones.

*'only' doing a lot of heavy lifting in this context...

[SpeedRoo]

They also made custom center consoles to go along with the driver side mounted handbrake. I'll have to look up the FIA homologation papers to see if they are listed. Also the choke lever is deleted as the triple sidedraft carbs didn't have chokes fitted.

[xs10shl]

I'll let other folks keep finding the Works pieces (apart from Alan, who can rattle them all off before anyone else gets a turn, LOL!) There are several more items in the dash picture which are not stock, but are common to most/all Works rally cars.  Hint: there's one going right down the center of the picture, which can even be seen from a distance.

[HS30-H]

9 hours ago, SpeedRoo said:

They also made custom center consoles to go along with the driver side mounted handbrake. I'll have to look up the FIA homologation papers to see if they are listed.

I can save you the trouble of looking. There's nothing in the FIA 3023 fiche which covers the handbrake or console.

 

[Terrapin Z]

These were recently posted on FB. Seems relevant to the thread. 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by Terrapin Z
duplicate pic's

[datsun-man]

this car was sold by marcel roks consultants bvba belgium i have photos of this car taken in september 2013

[HS30-H]

17 hours ago, xs10shl said:

A preamble: this is a thread about researching, documenting and restoring a genuine 1970 Works Rally car.  I’ve owned it for many years, but the realities of real life were getting in the way of getting started on a proper restoration.  Given the car's provenance, I knew it would be important to get the history and the details as right as I could, given what little is known publicly about the Works program, and the scarcity of remaining Works cars.   So I’ve used this time to do as much research as I could on the car's history, collaborate with a few historians (most notably @HS30-H, who needs no introduction), source a few needed parts, and work to provide a more complete pre-restoration snapshot in it’s current unrestored condition, as well as provide a glimpse of what the restored car will resemble when it’s finished. 

Thank you @xs10shl for starting this thread. It is something of a relief after the mild social media hubbub following its appearance at the ZONC 50th Anniversary meet. Seems a few people got a not-unpleasant surprise. Not many people knew the car still existed. My inbox got very busy! "Is it The Real Thing?" was a frequent question...

Yes, it is very much The Real Thing.

This is an important car. Important to us as S30-series Z enthusiasts, important to Nissan/Datsun history and important within the history of the rallying world and the International Championship Of Makes (predecessor to the World Rally Championship For Manufacturers, which began in 1973). Nissan built a surprising number of these cars, but very few survive. Off the top of my head I can only think of SIX genuine Works 240Z rally cars that are still known to exist as complete entities, along with TWO ex-Works rally bodyshells converted to circuit race cars. Three of the former are owned by Nissan themselves and two are here in the UK. 

And this car is the earliest known surviving Works 240Z rally car. It also has the bonus of being an example of the 'Lightweight' body type (incorporating many of the thinner-gauge sheetmetal pressings used on the 'PZR' Fairlady Z432-R) and the Works team built it with fibreglass hood, tailgate and doors to offset the weight of the extra equipment a top line rally car needed. 

Drilling down into the details you could fill a book. Make no mistake, these cars were very special indeed and almost every part is custom or modified in some way over stock. They were hand built by a relatively small team of specialists at Nissan's Oppama-based competition department in small batches, each batch dedicated to one main event: RAC Rally, Monte Carlo Rallye and East African Safari Rally being the main three and the Safari being Target Number One. So each batch was different and the specifications of the cars and parts used evolved in steps as upgrades whilst also needing to comply with new regulations. Because of this evolution it is dangerous to generalise and say "the Works rally cars had...". Probably better to point at a batch, or talk about the cars on a case-by-case basis.

For me, that makes them all the more fascinating.