HS30-H

Gav, They have been informed on this occasion and many times in the past. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink........ The first thing these journalists do is to get the old books out ( which are full of the old mistakes ) and use them as source material. If its written in a book, it must be right - right? The mistakes are set in stone now, just like the bad data and nonsense in this Vintage Racecar Journal article. :disappoin Alan T.

Hi Hayden, Actually, Glen Waddington ( the staff journalist of Classic Cars magazine who wrote the article ) fessed up to it: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- e-mail from Glen Waddington: "Guilty! You've caught us red-handed. That cover car is a ringer, but not quite in the way you probably imagine. In the magazine, you'll have seen the studio photography of Nissan UK's gorgeous, freshly restored yellow 240Z. We did an action shoot with that same car for the cover, but we were nervous of using it because the previous issue had a yellow Ferrari 275GTB/4 on the cover. To the untrained eye, from a distance, they look very similar indeed... So we 'resprayed' our yellow Z using a dash of computer magic. To try to avoid confusion, we changed its registration (again by manipulating the photographic image) to that of a Datsun press car that was lent out for road tests back when it was new. I'm glad to hear it's still very much alive and well, and that it's been rescued from its life as a drag racer. Well done for spotting it - and I'm going to send a pat on the back to our art department for altering the image so seamlessly. Thanks for getting in touch. I hope I've set your mind at rest about the identity of the cover car - even it it has meant me passing on a few trade secrets. With best regards, Glen Glen Waddington Features Editor, Classic Cars magazine." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personally speaking, I'd have thought that it was slightly dangerous to use a registration number from a car that might still exist. Here in the UK, the registration number tends to stay with the car for its life ( its a National rather than county based system ) unless an owner decides to pay extra and choose to transfer a personalised number onto it. In which case you might think that they would have checked before using it....... :cheeky: Luckily for the magazine, the current owner appears not to have kicked up too much fuss about it. All the best, Alan T.

Don't worry Christopher, I think I've been quite civil to them in my e-mail. I too have provided some background information - and photos - to illustrate the difference between the real car and the Italian car. I have also told them that I have a great interest in the subject and a pretty good archive of material relating to it. I asked them to remember this if they need any help to set the record straight on this particular car, or on a future article. However, having said all that, the fact still remains that they have made a huge faux pas. As the staff of a magazine dedicated to old race cars, they should make themselves familiar with the subject that they are writing about. The dates and events quoted were all over the place, which is plain sloppy. They say that they 'asked Nissan', but that Nissan were no help. One wonders if they made enough effort. It seems obvious to point it out, but these cars were made in Japan. If you want the FULL story, you ask Japan. I'm sorry but I can't see how the 'wrath' of Nissan Italia could have any implications for a US-based magazine dedicated to the subject of vintage racecars. In my opinion, the Italian gentlemen have made VINTAGE RACECAR Magazine look stupid and inept - so it is they who should be considered the party at major fault. In all other respects, I think the article is just silly. Sad, but silly. Anybody who knows anything about the genuine Works cars would have no problem spotting the fact that this car started life as a standard road car, and has not deviated very far from that spec. Christopher, I am going to scan the article and e-mail it to you. Unless you see the whole thing you can't really imagine quite what a gaffe has been made..... Alan T.

Looks like they have a pretty-much automated response to queries now. I wonder what they will say in the next issue of their magazine. I can't figure out how they think its all OK just because the car is "not currently for sale". That's a situation that could change at any moment, and at the very least this article could be used as 'proof' or research reference for another car that might be for sale. That's dangerous. Someone could get stung. Stephen - just to clarify, Works rally cars were built in both RHD and LHD forms. The first ones to be built were RHD - like those entered in the 1970 and 1971 RAC Rally in the UK, and the 1971 and 1972 East African Safari Rally - but many of the drivers and navigators grew up with LHD orientation and grew accustomed to that layout, so preferred LHD for events such as the Monte and other events in countries that drive on the right. However, the drivers ( especially Aaltonen ) asked for the handbrake lever to be re-positioned on the LHD cars........ which is a really good 'acid-test' to discern an LHD "Works" car from a non-Works car. Cheers, Alan T.

Close-up of the heater panel, with spotlamp switches, rheostat, one of the Haldas, and the Heuer 'Monte Carlo' stopwatches. And yes, that is genuine 'Works' Teraoka 'Anchor Brand' duct tapeLOL :

Here's a black and white shot I took from the navigator's side:

I just want to illustrate how much work and attention to detail went into these Works rally cars. It would take a book and a thousand photos to do justice to just one of these cars, but this is a website so I will have to try to get the point across with a few photos of what you CAN see....... Here's a photo of the interior of the real 4150 as it is now in Japan. It might look relatively 'stock' to some people compared to - say - one of the BRE cars, but make no mistake - this thing was hand-crafted to do a job and do it well. You can't see the doubled wiring loom and double fuse boxes with LED fuse indicators, you can't see the modified heater / demister, the twin Halda drives, the Works rev counter with hand-adjusted tell-tale, the 100 litre fuel tank gauge with hand-applied paint-marks to make it more accurate, the brake bias adjuster, the intercom system, the hand-modified pedals with guards and heel-and-toe tabs, the footrests, the half cage, extra storage, etc etc etc. I could go on forever, and that's just the interior of the car, let alone the mechanicals. What you can se in the photo are the modified dash, special 'Compe' steering wheel ( larger diameter than the standard 'Option' Compe steering wheel ), Ikeda Bussan bucket seat for the driver and reclining flat seat for the navigator, Takata safety harnesses, Option rosewood gear knob on the kinked shifter, and probably most important and tellingly; the re-located handbrake lever:

And another one. Sorry to get my ugly mug in the shot, but it had to be done.........

Second best to something from Kats maybe, but it might help a little - a photo of myself sitting in the real car in Japan:

He doesn't say exactly who this "expert" was, but I bet he won't think he's very expert now........... Alan T.

As v12horse has pointed out, the 'test drive' part of the article is a complete charade. He says that the car seems quite civilised and well-mannered, but its a bloody ROAD CAR - so it would do, wouldn't it. The thing has got an almost totally standard engine, with the original carburettors........ In almost all respects, a car like this will feel and drive NOTHING like an original Works rally car. As kyteler mentioned, articles like this are all the more sad because people will use them in future as reference material. "It must be correct because it says so in this here magazine......" I still find it hard to believe that the two Italian gentlemen from Nissan Italia would make these claims if they knew that the REAL TKS 33 SA 4150 was still 'alive and well' and living in Japan. I reckon that they just don't know about it. They will soon. Maybe this is a case of Nissan's Italian staff commissioning a 'replica' ( I use that term very loosely ) for promotional purposes, and then the story gets out of hand. It might well be that the two gentlemen concerned have misunderstood the situation and didn't realise the true origin of the car that they were tooling around in. It sounds like the kind of gaffe a particularly inept boardroom member might make. I remember being told by one of the 'suits' from Nissan UK that there was 'no such thing as a ZG'. We were standing in front of my car at an indoor classic car show here in the UK, and Mr Suit was telling me that he didn't like my 'bodykit' - he preferred the body '.....as it left the Factory'. When I told him that the car did indeed leave the Factory like that, he merely laughed and told me that there was 'no such thing'. So much for the top brass of Nissan UK then. They don't know their Z history either. Alan T.

Hi All, Gav, I know the Classic Cars magazine article that you are referring to, and the writer got a rocket about it from a few people. The cover photo was a bit of a scandal in itself; the car that they tested was actually yellow ( it belongs to Nissan UK ) but they did not want to put a yellow car on the cover as the previous month's issue had a yellow car on the front. That's the way that magazines have to think these days........ Anyway, they photoshopped it into a red one, but decided to change the registration number ( couldn't have a red car on the cover, and a yellow car inside, both with the same registration number, could they? ). So what do they do? They dip into a book of period road tests from the early Seventies and choose a registration number from one of the tested cars, and then photoshop it onto the cover car. Big mistake. The car actually still exists with the same registration number today, and the owner is most shocked to see 'his' car on the cover of the mag. The mag has to apologise and its red faces all round. And like you say, they credited Goertz and did seem to imply that the Japanese couldn't have done it all 'on their own'. Very sad, and more than a little insulting to the people that DID design the car. Have you noticed how few really good, accurate and interesting magazine articles there are about the S30-series Z? Alan T.

Hi 2Many, Sorry - I forgot about this thread until now, so I didn't answer you properly. I'm afraid that I can't see enough of the aircon in this car to tell you whether its the Japanese factory-installed one or not. If you want me to investigate further, I think I have some good line drawings and photos from official Nissan literature that I can dig out. I'll look into it. Just another point to make about this car; as a Z-L, it would have been fitted with a 5-speed transmission ( the FS5C71-A ) and a 3.9 diff ratio at the Factory. And it had a rear anti-roll ( sway ) bar too. Alan T.

Where's Guus? Come on Guus, chime in. Your no.5 looks better than theirs does.:classic:

I've composed a detailed e-mail to Ed McDonough, and cc'd it to his Publisher / Editor Casey Annis. They have already heard from 26th-Z and sblake01, so I think they know what to expect :classic: Its hard for me to understand how they could go ahead with an eight page article on a car - even putting it on the magazine's cover - if they even so much as sniffed a little uncertainty as to its provenance. It is most telling that Mr McDonough stated in his reply to 26th-Z that he thought the car ".... was at least a reproduction of the car that did the events I mentioned". In my opinion, that's not a good enough excuse. Its either the real thing or its not. One paragraph from the article rang some of the loudest alarm bells in my head. I will reproduce it here in its entirety: "It has to be said at the outset that these were rally cars, and they were damaged, repaired, written off, rebodied, had new chassis, had chassis plates and registration numbers switched and put on new cars, so keeping track of them was not the art form it is today, though why anyone would want to today is another question." Well, much of that is true for many of the different Works rally teams ( Ford were particularly adept at switching the identities of certain cars ) - but it was never really so true of Nissan. In fact, as far as the S30-series Z Works rally cars were concerned, the fact that most of them were initially sent abroad on very strict Japanese 'carnet' registration numbers ( with all of the restrictions and potential penalties that went with them ) ensured that Nissan kept their noses cleaner that many other teams of the period. They were not perfect by any means ( the UK base of operations ensured at least a little skullduggery ) but it was never as blatant or rife as in most other teams. He might be surprised at some of the 'secrets' that are common knowledge amongst some of us. In my opinion, the last part of his above statement is somewhat insulting to the whole idea of what constitutes a historical artefact and what does not. He can't talk about 'provenance' and then ask "why" somebody would want to keep track of the true identity of a car....... Myself and a few like-minded friends have been researching these Works rally cars for some years now. I have an archive of many hundreds of photographs, and lots of archive material - much of it from people directly involved in the Works effort centred on the S30-series Z. We have identified the in-period existence of a great number of Works cars, and tracked the activities and movements of a great number of them. In many cases we also know what fate held in store for them, and what happened to the parts afterwards. Only a very small few of them suffered from the ignominy of switched identity, and we have a good handle on those particular cars. I think its too much of a cop-out to say that you can't trust anything to do with the subject of old race cars, as in many cases - with pooled resources and enough reference - you CAN actually get a pretty good idea of what went on. I can't even trust that Mr McDonough is accurately reporting the comments of these Italian gentlemen. The article itself is riddled with sloppy errors, and keeps contradicting itself. Here are a few examples: "A youthful Jean Todt and Rauno Altonen ( sic ) pose with the 3rd place trophy from the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally." ".....1973 Monte Carlo 3rd place finishing car." "They also said that this car had done the East African Safari Rally in 1972, and won." "The author stretches out the 1973 Safari Rally-winning car on the roads of Italy's Targa Florio." He continually spells Aaltonen and Mehta's names incorrectly too ( its Aaltonen not Altonen, and Shekhar not Shekar ). I guess he got those directly from his source material. The irony is that in two photos in the article these names are spelled correctly on the signwriting of the cars themselves........ If the car was claimed as being one that had not been seen elsewhere in recent years, then the subject would need deeper research in order to establish the car's authenticity or otherwise. However, one would normally expect at least a few identifying features on such a car to show their true Works origin. I see NO parts or features on this car that look like Works-built or even Works-type parts. Let me make that quite clear. NOTHING on this car looks Works-correct. In the case of the car that was issued with the carnet registration "TKS 33 SA 4150", further research is pointless; the original car is one of the rare survivors and lives - quite famously - in Japan. Alan T.

Chris, Don't give up after just a fruitless Google search! I know there are umpteen TRUST importers in the USA. At least one of them should be able to help you. They may even have a USA office for all I know.... These systems are not all that expensive ( although I don't have any ready figures to quote you off the top of my head ) so it could well be easier and not all that much more expensive to get the TRUST system. At least you would know that it works, fits right ( from the manifold back..... ) and is a well-trusted part in the Japanese Z scene. Sorry about the pun........ Like I said, don't give up on it. Good luck, Alan T.

I suggest that you try asking one of the companies that imports TRUST parts to the USA. I believe that they should be able to order it for you. You might want to scan the USA import tuning magazines for a suitable candidate. HOWEVER, don't forget that the TRUST system is designed to bolt to EITHER the standard exhaust manifold ( ie - not particularly efficient or performance oriented ) or to their own 6-branch tubular exhaust manifold. Please remember that an exhaust manifold designed for an RHD car - especially a tubular 'performance' type one - will not necessarily fit an LHD car........ The system itself - from the manifold joint back - should fit any LHD or RHD S30-series Z with no problems. Its just that manifold issue that you need to beware...... Alan T.

Hi 26thZ, I agree about VINTAGE MOTORSPORT magazine, and I have a pretty good collection of back-issues. Superb. I like it so much that I wrote Vintage "MOTORSPORT" instead of "RACECAR" in the middle of my first post. Now happily corrected. Thanks 26thZ. I don't have any back-issues of "VINTAGE RACECAR" magazine, although I remember buying it a few times in the past. Alan T.

Hi Z Kid, I think you may well be right about Sir Stirling. Maybe this article is just an unfortunate aberration. As far as I am aware, the magazine has a good name and is well respected in the historic motorsport community. Some of their contributors are legends in their field. Mind you, at the bottom of the editorial page - as in most magazines these days - is a disclaimer which states: "Every effort is made to ensure that the information enclosed is true and accurate. However, we must disclaim any liability for the timeliness, use, interpretation, accuracy and completeness of the information contained within." I have a hunch that the author of the piece - Mr Ed McDonough ( the magazine's "European Editor" ) - is based in the UK......... Oh dear. Alan T.

:D :D

Here's a pic of the real "TKS 33 SA 4150" that I took on a visit to Nissan's storage warehouse in Zama, Japan:

I was browsing through the magazine racks at the train station the other day, and spotted the latest ( March 2004 ) edition of VINTAGE RACECAR magazine, which is published in the USA. Below the name of the magazine I spotted the headline "RALLY LEGEND", so I pulled the mag out of its top-shelf spot to have a closer look. My jaw immediately hit the floor..... Underneath the "RALLY LEGEND" headline was an almost full-cover photo of a red S30-series Z car, along with the appetiser: "We test drive the African Safari-winning Datsun 240Z" However, the cover photo showed what appeared to be a standard LHD road Z with some modifications that roughly resembled the outward appearance of a Works Monte-Carlo Rally specification Z. I bought the magazine out of curiosity and boarded my train...... Turning to the article ( an eight page job with lots of photos ) I was even more gobsmacked. What a load of rubbish! I almost started to believe that this was an April Fool joke that had hit the news stands a month too early. To cut a long story short, the author - a Mr Ed McDonough - met two Italian gentlemen whilst he was in Italy. Mr Giuliano Musumeci Greco is apparently the President of Nissan Italia, and Mr Alessandro Cacciotti is Nissan Italia's General Manager. They had been taking part in a Sicilian motor sport event, driving this car ( registered in Rome with the number "RM9E0000" ). He test drove their car, and the magazine's photographer took some pics which feature - very largely - in the article. Now, I don't know if this is the result of a huge misunderstanding caused by language difficulties or if indeed the two Italian gentlemen in fact had no idea about the real ientity of the car that they were driving, but I can state quite positively that this car is most certainly NOT a genuine Nissan "Works" competition car. It also is most certainly NOT ( as is stated in the article ) the Works rally car which was registered with the carnet plate "TKS 33 SA 4150" ( the car crewed by Aaltonen and Todt on the 1972 Monte Carlo Rallye - finishing in third place ). The article actually claims that the car took 3rd place in the 1973 event - but I'm sure they must be referring to the 1972 event. That particular car resides in Nissan's collection at Zama, in Japan. The article also claims that this particular car also won the 1972 East Africa Safari Rally. However, a Z did not win in 1972! The cars that triumphed in 1971 and 1973 are also in Japan's collection at Zama......... I can understand that there might be a misunderstanding due to language, but I would have thought that Mr McDonough would have been able to do a little bit of research about the genuine Works cars, and from that be able to deduce that the car in question was in fact NOTHING LIKE a genuine Works car. Unfortunately his article gives the impression that this car represents the specification of a full Works-built rally car, and a lot of people will presumably use it as a point of reference in the future. Now its in print, its history. I've fired off an e-mail to VINTAGE RACECAR magazine, in the hope that they will be able to clear the confusion up in their next issue - but its too late now really. What a shame to think that the cover of a good magazine, along with several pages inside ( all too rarely seen on the subject of the genuine Works cars ) has been wasted. You can view the cover, along with some details of the article, at the Vintage Racecar website, here:www.vintageracecar.com Anyone see this article? Got any comments? As Z enthusiasts, I think we should defend the honour of the REAL Works rally cars. I'm all in favour of a well-executed replica, just as long as nobody claims it to be the 'real thing'. There's a big difference between a replica and a fake.......... Alan T.

Hi Andrew, Sorry for chiming in late on this one. I see you have had some good help from v12horse already. I can recommend the TRUST system, and many Japanese owners use them on their cars. The centre resonators are not exactly the same as the originals ( which used a single long and slightly flattened oval box ) but it looks correct in most respects and sounds good. They are fairly inexpensive too. Here's a pic comparing the standard L-series 6 system with that of the S20 system. Its from an official Nissan publication. Hopefully it might help a little? Cheers, Alan T.