The mystery of the secret Spare key box (in the frame)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Recently i stumblet upon this blog Post from my mate @florian at Datsun-Autowerk, where he claims that some Z's had a secret spare key box in the front radiator frame crossmember thing. After asking a bit more, he said that he had seen it on two cars so far.




I had a closer look at my currently sandblasted frame, but no indications that it ever had it nor that it was modified at some point..

So we checked our R-drive manuals. it seems there were three types of front crossmembers, but none of them ever had a box, according to the drawings:

Same with the L-Drive:

We couldn't find anything in the "keys" section of the Parts manual either, and the key-box is not listed anywere at all.
I can think this is something that was installed in specific markets only due to some safety legal requirements or whatnot, but at the end it seems a bit of a mystery.
It looks too professional and "factory" to be an aftermarket installation, on the other hand, no information is available in the official documentation.

Now the question is: Does anybody know more? Have you seen this on other cars as well? do you probably even have such a feature. Maybe never checked it out?

Whatever you know, we're happy to hear about it 🙂

[Mike]

Interesting!  I can't say I've seen or heard of this before..  following this topic.. 

 

[florian]

Both cars I saw this on were US cars.
Maybe this is a specific regulation of certain US states?

[DatsunZGuy]

A strange location to hide keys seeing that you would have crawl under the car on your back and fumble around to find the container, if you were locked-out and couldn't pop open the hood from the inside.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

1 hour ago, florian said:

Both cars I saw this on were US cars.
Maybe this is a specific regulation of certain US states?

Hmm. interesting...

7 minutes ago, DatsunZGuy said:

A strange location to hide keys seeing that you would have crawl under the car on your back and fumble around to find the container, if you were locked-out and couldn't pop open the hood from the inside.

That's a goiid point.  But i'm not sure though if you can't reach it from the space between the grille / bumper and the front lower valances?

It seems however a bit unsafe, if word goes around that every 240Z had a free key in the front ready for take-away, i'm not sure how not every Z would have been stolen in the US over the years 😅

[Zed Head]

I see a shiny spot.  ???  I thought I had seen a post from Mark MAras about whether or not the box was magnetic, but the post seems to be gone now.  Is the box magnetic?  How did it stay attached?  How did it get removed for the picture?

[Zed Head]

They've been around a long time.  Amazon.

 

[Zed Head]

Here's where I saw Mark Maras's comment.  There are identical threads for some reason.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

So it seems almost that this was an aftermarket solution, but fairly common in some areas, if ii recon right?

[Mark Maras]

They were very common here back in the day. Most people stuck them inside one of the bumpers.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Interesting. thanks for your Info. 🤗

[florian]

Thanks a lot! Thats why there is nothing in the books!