Finally found a 69 240z, #51 Time to finish a 30 year multiple owner restoration.

[Gav240z]

5 hours ago, dspillman said:

Well, I had heard of the red dot mirror......Check...   Now a red dot radio, never heard of. but HS30. vin 4 clearly shows a red dot .....  One of Gavins pictures showed it....   in a February? #4 aus.car strange/odd peices... 

 

So HS30 0004 also doesn't have the power antenna, it has the blanking plate over the antenna switch.

Originally I thought it had a Fairlady Z-S spec face plate, but I actually have an example of 1 of those radios.

See radio at the bottom of this stack. Note it just has "TUNING" above the left hand knob.

It has an antenna switch in that photo only because I removed the blanking plate and put 1 behind it. (so ignore that factor).

 

There is a few physical differences between the Z-S radio and the regular TM-1018ZB(S) radios (with auto-seek and power antenna switch).

The smaller radio is the Z-S radio (I bought it from Yahoo! Auctions Japan) - not knowing exactly what it was at the time.

But back to HS30 0004 - it's appears to me at least that the car was exported to Australia before the final details of the AU Market cars had been fully settled. Much the same as what happened when the newer Z's launched here (370z) etc.., we got some low VIN # cars around the launch of the 370z which were intended to be returned to Japan and a fellow member on the Auszcar forums snapped a photo of the low VIN # car when they saw it (I can't find it now). But I believe the early cars were returned to Japan and likely destroyed thereafter.

HS30 0004 was possibly intended to go back to Japan, but perhaps it never did for whatever reasons. Hence it has some subtle differences compared to other HS30's I've seen over the years.

FWIW - I've never seen HS30 0005 through to HS30 00011 documented anywhere! But I know that HS30 00012 was sold into PNG Papua New Guinea (now in Australia) and HS30 00016 was in New Zealand originally (now also in Australia) and HS30 00021 was in South Africa (with a Datsun Dealer for some years). Which to me indicates these low VIN # cars were sent out as press cars to various HS30 (export RHD markets).

So I am guessing those other low VIN # cars were possibly sent to other RHD markets, but since they have not yet surfaced anywhere, perhaps it's the case that they ended up back in Japan and destroyed by Nissan? Or were sold to the public but ended up in wrecking yards and crushed?

And back to radios and red dots. I have about 10 early AM radios I collected over the years, 9 of them have the green dot, and 1 of them has the red dot. I recall @katsand I discussed the red dot and what it meant, but I don't think we ever came to a solid conclusion. My guess is that my red dot radio (which I got off eBay North America) was from an early 69 build 240z, but I have no way to validate that.

[dspillman]

Thank you for that information Gavin,  digesting evidence and coming up with Nissan intentions for a “press car” without written records is hard to make it make sense 50 years later….

       The combination of the red dot radio,and the captured nut for the flat hood bumper at first glance to me was a glaring contradiction.   Was there a red dot rear view mirror on the hs30-00004 car.    But all of these items could have been added or modified in the past 50 years as well.    
         It is a special car no matter what….

A known z parts specialist nudged me gently,asking me if my hls30-00051 had the proper red dot radio…. Well, just not familiar with the early RDR.       Looking through my am radios 1 of 5 happened to have red dot instead of the green dot……    Surprised to have this “rare” item in my stash.     

[dspillman]

Sanding and blocking still happening. Getting slick…..  After a frantic search  found my somewhat fragile hand throttle cable bracket that had been knocked off when pulling a part the dash/ steering column.

Cleaning and blasting a few parts,while the body work/prep continues.   Hinges and latches etc…… hatch hinges turned out  virtually perfect.     Assuming these hinges are original to car because as mentioned earlier, hatch with old gasket contained the 9/69 dated clear glass.

     

[dspillman]

Seat brackets appear to be hand painted, wavy lines, thick black gloss?  Brushed, but no bristle lines…..??  No overspray .

       This is in 3/70 car , I’m hoping  same paint pattern applies to August/september 69 car.

    Plans are to do paint only on underside of car.  Will evaluate cosmetics once paint dries…..

David

[dspillman]

Ready set ….. let’s shoot!!

underside paint only ,engine compartment, then inside, mount, line up  doors,hood, hatch.

[dspillman]

Such a dark green in contrast with thick undercoating from before.

     Looks much darker then anticipated, but poor lighting I believe is causing darkness….

     Have a few places to touch up, maybe another coat or two, couple of runs, couple of trashy spots in the paint to sand out and re-shoot….   Still spectacular in my book…. Not perfect by any means… but sweet to see the bottom side in color.!!

[w3wilkes]

In some of the shots it looks like the British Racing Green that was a popular color on the TR4 through TR6's. Didn't pay much attention to the TR8, did it come in the BRG color?

[dspillman]

1 minute ago, w3wilkes said:

In some of the shots it looks like the British Racing Green that was a popular color on the TR4 through TR6's. Didn't pay much attention to the TR8, did it come in the BRG color?

I think very similar to BRG for sure!!

[w3wilkes]

9 minutes ago, dspillman said:

I think very similar to BRG for sure!!

And don't get me wrong, I always thought it was a great color!

[dspillman]

2 minutes ago, w3wilkes said:

And don't get me wrong, I always thought it was a great color!

    It’s just the tr8s I’ve been around seem to spin on track at the most inconvenient times…..I collected one at the 2023 SCCA runoffs…

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xBRUedl-aq2X6TrGvj9dVYxzMYh--I4E/view?usp=sharing

[dspillman]

    She’s looking better with a couple more coats on, along with some redoing of trashy spots….. Still not perfect, but so sweet to compare how far she’s come…  many moons ahead…..left to wander.  

 

[dspillman]

Interior shots, decent coverage, minimal trash. Maybe too shining?