HS30-H

A few more Japanese police cars:

Hi Michael, Yes, they are not 'Z' emblems - they are all wearing the Chrysanthemum ( Kiku ) emblem of the Japanese police force. In fact, the Kiku emblem has something of a nationalistic meaning in Japan. Your wife - being Japanese - will be able to explain its significance far better than I can. I tried to scan a close-up as best I could:

No Mike, all of the first-gen European market models did have the rubber bumper trim. The smooth non-rubbered bumpers were first seen on the no frills base-level 'Fairlady Z' ( S30-S ) and lightweight 'Fairlady Z432-R' ( PS30-SB ) models at launch in October 1969. I agree with 26th-Z's thoughts that this might be a crossover from the USA-speak surrounding marques such as Porsche and VW. Sometimes the "European" market spec parts were seen as 'cool' or at least different enough to be of interest. Ironic that the "European" bumpers were not actually used on European models........

Hi Ben, I think this is the article that you were referring to? In 1972, Nissan donated a new Fairlady 240ZG to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Department. Kanagawa prefecture's most famous city is probably Yokohama, and the ZG patrol car would most likely have spent some time prowling the fastest sections of the Tomei Expressway. Nissan's backyard, if you like. Kanagawa police seem to have kept the car in storage after it was retired from duty. Recently it was cleaned up and returned to Nissan, and it will be kept in the 'Nissan Memorial Sports Hall' at Zama. It will probably make guest appearances at Nissan shows and exhibitions in the future, and should be a good candidate for showing in the planned museum section at Nissan's new Yokohama HQ building. Here are the pics from the 'handover' as published by OLD TIMER magazine:

Wow Kats, I'm speechless. Love it.

Ah OK Curtis, I know the part you mean. I'm always slightly reluctant to get involved in making suggestions or recommendations in relation to carburettor setting and jettings online. Its seems a Damned-If-You-Do, Damned-If-You-Don't no-win situation to me. You know just as well as I do that there are too many case-by-case variables in each individual application, and that typing a few words on this screen isn't necessarily going to convey what you are experiencing let alone the results that you might be aiming at. However, why don't you start by telling us what you had in the carbs before? Were they 'OA' or '8' emulsion tubes? When you changed to the new emulsion tubes, did you change or tweak anything else on the carbs? And did you speak to Kameari when you bought the new emulsion tubes? I'm wondering if they gave you any advice? Or maybe you bought the Kameari parts from Pit Road or somebody else? PM me if you want to take this offline. Cheers, Alan T.

I use KAMEARI parts. Are you referring to the 'OA' emulsion tubes for the Mikuni 44PHH carburettor, or something else?

Guus, how come you didn't post a scan of this pic? Those vinyl seats must have given him crotch rot :tapemouth

Oh yes they would. You can't trust plastic model construction kits or their box art to be 100% historically accurate ( although some are more accurate than others ). Guus, that model based loosely on the '76 Le Mans entry Z is a good example - isn't it? The article in Neko's 'Fairlady II' book states that a total of only FIVE Fairlady Z432 cars were used as fast pursuit cars. The 2/2 was more common and - as Ben has spotted - some Fairlady 240ZGs were also utilised.

Ah, you got a preview then 26th-Z? Will we see footage of Katayama san ripping off the 'Fairlady Z' emblems, throwing them on the ground and jumping up and down on them?

Gav, They were not journalists, they were much more important people than that! They were the official test crew for the North American / Canada testing in late 1969. Kats posted some fantastic stuff on this subject back in the "Philosophy" thread ( although it deserves its own thread ). He posted stills of the title sequence of the cine film, and first-hand background stuff from the staff involved. You need to start looking around page 6 or 7 onwards : "North American testing" on 'Philosophy' thread: Kats, Wonderful stuff. Thank you. In the next instalment - they take an engine apart? Fascinating. That's a must-see. Cheers, Alan T.

Will, There were FIVE if you count the 432 and 432R front crossmember ( 54401-E4200 ), which had taller engine-mount 'towers' - mounted at steeper angles to the L-gata versions..... I can't help that much with detailed analysis I'm afraid, but I have found that the 'second' crossmember ( N3402 ) weighed noticably more than E4100 ( I presume slightly thicker gauge of metal? ) and that the welds were much beefier. Also noticed that the captive nuts for the splash pan were slightly differently positioned, and were bigger. The 'jack pad' also seemed to be differently shaped, and again thicker than the earlier type. If not worried about weight or originality, I'd say the N3402 would be a good substitute for the E4100? They always seem to be in better condition anyway! I don't have any personal experience of post-N3402 supercessions, sorry. Cheers, Alan T.

"Z Mecca" is in Tampa? I never noticed a city called Tampa when I was in Japan...... Christopher, I just want to point out ( although I'm sure you realised ) that most of what you can see on Pit Road's website is actually the product of KAMEARI ENGINE WORKS - a quite different company. Pit Road simply scanned Kameari's catalogue and put it up on their own website.... Pit Road are authorised sellers of Kameari products. I have been buying Kameari's products for many years, and I usually visit them whenever I am in Japan. I can vouch for their commitment to Nissan's L-series engines, and the quality of their products. If anybody wants to know anything about them, then please don't hesitate to ask me. Eric, I think you'll find that the Best Motoring volume 56 DVD is MPEG-2 NTSC - like most Japanese DVDs. The VHS video version is NTSC. My computer seems to play the Japanese MPEG-2 NTSC DVDs just fine. In 1993 I bought a multi-region video machine expressly to play the NTSC VHS tapes I bought in Japan ( UK format is PAL ). Nowadays they seem quite common, and much cheaper.

What's wrong with Cedric anyway? Great name. Almost as good as Boris. My dad wanted to call me Boris ( he was a big Boris Karloff fan ) but mum wouldn't have it. Nissan Boris. Great. Names are better than numbers. How about a Nissan Winston or Nissan Archduke Franz Ferdinand? This could go anywhere. The possibilities are endless! Actually, I reckon the final word in car model names has to go to Honda for the Honda 'Life'. Top that. Advertising slogan: "Get a Life...".

Poor old Sir Cedric was dredged up on Google I'm afraid....

I have it on good authority that the first Nissan Cedric was named after thespian Sir Cedric Hardwicke. A fine figure of a man if ever I saw one.

They were originally light truck jacks, I believe. You assembled the jack by sticking the body into the base plate, and hooking the hook onto either the side jacking hoops, or under the bumper ( or under the window ledge if the car is upside down ) and then pumping like hell. Some modern rally cars use a very similar jack system that is made in Japan. Apparently they are very good. Here's some pics of the jack in a Safari car:

Lachlan, you can discard that piece. Its the jack for the Works rally cars, and its on the sprue because Tamiya shared some moulds between the 1/12 scale ZG and Rally car versions. One less thing for you to assemble, paint and detail - you'll probably be relieved to know! :classic:

Hi Eric, Yes, the main showroom space is about ten times bigger than the 'Gallery' on the main Ginza crossroads. Basically, if you come out of the Gallery and turn right - so that you are walking down Harumi Dori ( not Ginza Chuo Dori ) - you are heading in the right direction. Carry straight on down Harumi Dori and across a couple or three small streets, and cross over Showa Dori ( the big one ). On the other side of the road diagonally to your left you will see the Kabuki Zaka theatre - which is a big local landmark. Keep walking. You will walk past one entrance to Higashi Ginza subway station, and then another. Right about where the second subway entrance is, you want to turn right and start walking at 90 degrees to Harumi Dori ( unfortunately, like many of the smaller Japanese streets, this one does not appear to have a name). You will now be heading towards Miyuki Dori. About 100m from where you turned off Harumi Dori, there's a Starbucks on your right, and its part of the new NTT building. Across the street directly ahead of you - on the other side of Miyuki Dori - you should now be able to see a big building with cars dotted around on plinths both outside and inside. It takes up the whole block. The whole ground floor is a showroom. This is Nissan's main Tokyo HQ building. You can see the interior from some of the shots I took at previous Ginza Gallery events, such as the Sports Car Graffiti event in 2003, and the Nissan Style Week events ( although I took some of the these pics at the Sapporo Gallery as well as Ginza ). It's fairly big, and there's a kind of informal 'cafe' area in one corner. The Nissan ladies who staff the Gallery are extremely helpful ( and extremely cute ). Usually they have a range of current models on display, and you can book a test-drive. You can also request Nissan sales literature here. It's a bit less interesting if they don't have one of the special events or promotions going on, but its well worth a visit if you are in Tokyo. The smaller Gallery site on the crossroads ( opposite the WAKO and Mitsukoshi dept stores ) really only has enough space for two or three cars max, but its in a great location. There's a Japanese map on the back of the invitation I posted a pic of in post 5 of this thread ( its a bit small ). I hope Razor will be able to make the first Gallery sections for '2005 Events' once he's got his pics resized. Go for it, Razor. Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Ben, That's one of the cars owned by the Katori brothers in Chiba. I've seen it in the flesh, along with another '432R' that they own ( another very patinated original car ). The one in the photos is not an ex-Works SCCN car, but it does indeed have quite a lot of the 'right' bits. There's a bit of a grey area around its exact identity. Lets just say that it was modified a long time ago, but most probably *not* by Nissan or any of their regional teams...... I'll tell you a little more about it in a PM. I'm not sure if the wheels it is wearing are a set of painted Central 20 'Sport Z' four-spokes or a set of the 'Gotti' / Kobe Seiko 4-spokes used on the Works Bluebird circuit cars ( certainly not the Cherry versions, because of the size ). I can look into it a little further though. I'll ask a few people. Cheers, Alan T.

Great! You hit the jackpot as far as S30-series cars in the exhibition went. That car belongs to one of my fellow members of Club S30. But did you only go to the smaller of the two exhibition spaces? The one on the crossroads opposite the Wako department store? The main Gallery and showroom is on the ground floor of the Nissan HQ building, about a 10 minute walk away from the crossroads. It'd be a shame to have got so near and yet so far. Post more photos! Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Rob, Didn't know you were in Japan at present. Have you got time to get down to the two Nissan Gallery sites in Ginza tomorrow? Its the last day of a special event / exhibition celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the Fairlady Z. They will have a full range of cars from the S30 through to the Z33 apparently. I heard that there might be some good souvenirs and giveaways on offer. I couldn't find time to make it down there whilst I was in Japan over the New Year holidays, but maybe you can? Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Ben, They are 'stoppers'. They stop the outer tyre wall from sliding into the centre of the rim in the event of a puncture. With the 'stoppers', it enables the car to be driven back to the pits in the event of a puncture ( theoretically ). When the tyre is mounted on the wheel, the 'stoppers' are backed off. When the tyre bead is seated, the 'stoppers' are wound in and the locknut is tightened. I think you are thinking of the 'Z Sport' that were exclusive to 'Central 20' ( the company headed by ex Nissan Works driver Haruhito Yanagida ). They are indeed very similar. My fellow club member Watanabe san has a set of these on his ZG, and he did tell me who they were cast by ( but I've forgotten - sieve head! ). I'll ask him again. Here's a pic of Watanabe san's ZG wearing the Central 20 'Sport Z' wheels: Cheers, Alan T.

Just to tie-up the loose ends on this thread: I visited my friend in Japan who has a couple of sets of the four-spokes, and here is the explanation ( as far as we can understand the situation, that is ): The four-spoke wheel design seen on some of the Works Sunnies and Cherries may well have originated from an original design by famed European wheel maker "GOTTI". Either the first few sets, or a batch or whatever, were ordered from GOTTI and used on some of the Works race Sunnies or Cherries. When Nissan wanted some wider ones, they asked Kobe Seiko to forge some similar designs from Magnesium. These were then used on the later Works Sunnies and Cherries. When Nissan wanted a super-wide wheel for the 240ZR and some of the later GT-Rs with very wide Overfenders, they again asked Kobe Seiko to forge some special wheels ( in two widths ) to their requirements. These were based on the designs that Kobe Seiko had manufactured at Nissan's request for the Cherry and Sunny. That's the story as far as we can make out. Please note that its perhaps not the definitive version of events, and that where anyone is being accused of 'copying' you might get a different version of events! I'm happy to be put straight by anyone who might know better..... I popped off a couple of shots of the wheels that my friend has in his workshop. For reference, I took a close-up of the Nissan 'hamburger' marks cast into one of the spokes. Cheers, Alan T.