Go to your newsagent and get a copy of

UNIQUECARS value guide - japanese imports and classics

spring 2003

Half the book is about Zeds. follows all the models and has a buyers guide with values lots of good pics too

cant go wrong for $4

Thanks for the notice . I was told about this but had forgotten should be good to see what they have to say. This kinda thing always makes me happy to see and causes a bit of hype too.

The 350z's release had made people realise the value of the original in many ways.

I still have an older Unique cars article about the top 10 classics to buy now from about 2 years back. Listed is the 240z .

Should also mention that Unique cars is sold in Australia.

Thanks for the heads up Wexter. Well worth the four bucks I paid for just the Z section. The other section on the grey import scene was excellent too.

Make sure you get a copy of this people.

Bought it today not bad bit of a shame they had to mention Albretch Goertz.

Originally posted by Gav240z

Bought it today not bad bit of a shame they had to mention Albretch Goertz.

Oh you stirrer!

If Alan T, Carl B and others read this and take it seriously, then they will be heading for ICU in due course!

Well after being educated I realised how frustrating it must be for those who have really wanted to dispell the myth about him.

I was annoyed and although they didn't say he actually designed the car they did say he designed a 4 cylinder smaller version of the 240z which Nissan rejected.

No mention of Mr Matsuo at all or anything about the race history of the car which I feel is very important.

still it only really had good things to say about the 240z I guess.

I think anything said in the article should be taken with a pinch of salt, seemed to have a few errors to me, or maybe I just misinterpreted the text. Oh well for four bucks I guess I can use it to start a fire next time it gets cold. I am still waiting for Alans Z car book, so I have a truthful reference to base it all on.

I haven't seen the magazine article in question, but I'm sure they made the best job of it they could considering their target readership and the resources they had at hand. Anybody making an effort to write about "our" cars is going to have to refer to previously-published works which quite often contain errors and misunderstandings. I'll try not to belittle their efforts, as I have personal experience of writing to a deadline and about something that one might not necessarily have an all-consuming interest in. You can't please everybody when writing articles like that.

Hope nobody's holding their breath waiting for my labour of love. I'm still learning about these cars and I'm not smug enough to think I know even tuppence-worth about them yet.........

I've been gathering information / pics / data / anecdotes and conducting 'interviews' with certain parties with regard to MY area of interest - which largely centres around the Works circuit race and rally cars and everything connected with them. Standard road cars - with the exception of homologation specials and other rare beasts including notable privateer teams and their cars - will not really figure. I think most of the standard road "Export" cars have had a fair share of coverage in any previous publications, so there's probably a case for leaving them out.

It would however be nice to see a little more background on the actual PROCESS of putting a range of cars like the S30-series Z cars together. When Kats made his recent posts after talking to Nissan Shatai ( who made the bodies for our cars ) and to Matsuo san, I thought it was one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking posts that I've ever seen on this or any other Z site. I just loved to see Matsuo san's private photos of one the prototype cars, and Kats quoted Matsuo san on a few specific details which were enormously interesting. It was like looking through a dirty window into another altogether unknown world. To me, that just brings home the fact that SO LITTLE detail about the evolution of the cars that we love ever seems to be published in the English language ( or any other language apart from Japanese ). Considering so little of the actual background seems to get written about, its an added frustration that what little DOES get published always seems to contain oft-repeated errors and plain inaccuracy.

If I eventually end up publishing, it will almost certainly be classed as 'Vanity Publishing' - with a very small run and a relatively high price to cover costs. Picture clearance is one of the biggest obstacles, as I have put together a pretty good collection of rare pics but one needs to get clearance from the copyright owners to use them.

Like I said - don't hold your breath. This may be a lifetime's work.

All the best,

Alan T.:classic: