HS30-H

I have a fair few of those old OPTION and Car Boy magazines here at home. I recognised the car as being one of the old early 80s drag specials. Some of them had interesting ad powerful engines, but chassis setup for drag was not very well understood or developed at the time. From the same OPTION magazine issue, this is the same car as the rear view in the first post:

'Japan'. Or - as everyone else calls it - The Internet. You might want to try using the Hoover attachment which picks up the relevant information and not just the photos. It might still be in the packaging. You did keep the packaging, I hope?

I'm familiar with historic racing. Your last sentence could (should) apply to Morton just as much as anyone else, and he certainly wasn't holding back when he overtook those two Porsches during a switch from LH to RH side of the track after the green light. There was a car spinning off on the inside of the first corner, then plenty of smoke/steam ahead on the left and unsighted cars were moving right to avoid the slowing car from which it was coming. Morton was overtaking cars whilst they were slowing for the incident(s) in the inside and there should have been waved yellow flags/yellow flashing lights at that point. The yellow Chevron started moving right while Morton was still behind it, the Mustang ahead was on the grass, and yet Morton was still on the throttle through the second corner and basically drove into the Chevron. I have the utmost respect for Morton and yes the whole incident played out quickly, but this looks like it is just as much his fault as anyone else's.

Seemed to me that the yellow Chevron (Johnson) moved to the right to avoid the stricken car on the inside. Why would he have to 'hold the line'? Was it a formation lap?

"Taxi cars"? The L20 six was launched in the H130 Cedric 'Special Six' model. It was a flagship model. You would have had a hard time finding one being used as a taxi. What's the point you are trying to make here? https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/HERITAGE/cedric_special_6_1965.html "Thanks Mr K...!" I think the statement in bold is making some presumptions about the lines of communication, and who was responsible for what. The Pete Brock-penned Classic Motorsports BRE article states that BRE (maybe Sharp too?) 'reported their findings to the factory', but I would find it surprising if the lines of communication at the time allowed BRE and/or Sharp direct communication with "the factory" at all, let alone Nissan's engine design divisions. I think it would be much more likely that they were either firing missives off to Nissan departments unknown, in English, or simply reporting to NMC USA. So what was the purpose of quoting the clearly inaccurate Classic Motorsports article?

That's a 130-P model Cedric with an H20 4cyl engine running on LPG.

You're just scatter-shooting again. Where's your critique of the content? You post it as though you believe every word. Isn't this the same Classic Motorsports Magazine article that implied BRE 'discovered' the L24 crank harmonic problem and 'reported' it to Nissan Japan, hence taking some credit for the re-design of the crank and the 'cure'? We've been through all this before of course (Deja Vu all over again...) but Nissan knew about the problem - and already had the re-designed crank going into production and testing - before BRE had received their first 240Z. As for your "...early L24 crank failures and possibly why the L24 did not race in Japan until this was sorted", this doesn't stand up to even the most basic scrutiny, does it? Well before mid 1969 Nissan had already put in place their plans for racing and rallying the new S30-series Z range. That's why the 432-R existed in the first place, and why Nissan was putting together a program of International rallying for the 240Z (they were testing a PZR-bodied, L24R-engined works rally mule on the Monte Carlo Rallye route in January 1970), all of which made sense for its domestic and export marketing strategies. The article's "...the 240Z’s new American-market, six-cylinder engines had never been designed for or even expected to see competition." is ill-informed USA-centric twaddle, isn't it?

Original, intact, unbowdlerised and un-Hoovered article: https://www.automesseweb.jp/2019/04/12/132917 Machine translations from Japanese to English still leave a lot to be desired, but remember... cr*p in = cr*p out. Mistakes and uninformed opinion are available in most languages. At least the original looks better...

The 'Datsun Compe' steering wheel was not unique to the Z. It was a generic Sports Option part listed for other Nissan models too. Izumi was the OEM manufacturer of the stock wood-composite S30-series Z steering wheels and the 'Datsun Compe' steering wheels. You are thinking of the 'Mach' Nissan sports/race option steering wheel, like this:

They certainly dated from well before 1979. I have an original that was given to me by a friend who bought it new in 1973. And then there's this:

It was written by a 'fan', and translated by 'fans'/friends. In fact Katayama san was (Christian) Godfather to Brian and Miho Long's first child. And 'Edited' by Mike Taylor...? The fact that the original was written by a Japanese author doesn't necessarily mean it is completely objective, and the fact that the English translation has the strapline 'Father Of The Z' should tell you what to expect. There are plenty of Japanese people who completely subscribe to the Mr K Legend, and some who are a little more evenly balanced in their view of events. I think it is wise to listen to both sides and make your own mind up about what is being exaggerated and what is not.

"As valid" as what? Any replica/tribute/'phantom' project is fine by me. But you are - once again - missing the wider point. The Real Thing always demands a premium. Does somebody buy one of these cars when they actually would have settled for something completely different? Are there people out there who can easily afford a Michaelangelo - and actually want one - but who say 'Nah! I'll get a dot matrix printed copy instead'..? Where were your pithy comments about the so-called "Franklin Mint" car? I would have thought that if you need any of this explaining to you it's too late. It's already gone over your head.

Maybe you can start a little side business to tell art galleries that they don't need to buy those Rothkos, and that you'll knock them up something similar at a fraction of the price...?

There's a good comment about the topic from LOLA Cars boss Eric Broadley regarding 1963 (Broadley/LOLA were just about completely wiped from the story by the screenwriters for this film, and the 'Prototype' Ford GT appears at the Shelby American workshop as air freight - presumably from thin air...) when Ford hired LOLA as a consultancy to produce the GT40, originally based on Broadley's LOLA GT design: "It wasn't a very comfortable time, but then working with big companies is rarely comfortable. It was a lesson in the importance of maintaining one's own independence and keeping the company self-contained. It was our fault really, we allowed too much interference from Ford. They were too deeply involved with everything and the consequence of that in a big company is that certain individuals will take advantage. To make a project like that work it is necessary to maintain the two sides, they must work closely together but they must maintain their separate identities, because the big company has come to the specialist to do a job for it. If they get themselves too involved they must screw it, otherwise there is no point going there in the first place."

Basically the whole inside apart from the rear deck area. Under the seats, along the inside of the sills and the whole area behind the dash. Spray painted, I believe.

Nothing to stop such a car being driven. That's what its for, and what it likes. In fact, this particular car is several steps on from being a factory-correct 'survivor' car and has been prepared - noting engine work by S20 specialists 'R Factory' - to be a trouble-free turnkey driver. I just hope it goes into the hands of somebody who will enjoy driving it whilst we are still allowed to do so... Personally I'd just like to see some of that glaringly-new 918 paint inside the car covered by more 432-R-correct satin black.

Presumably the star-crazed original is hanging on someone's wall as garage art, as it has been replaced with a new reproduction on the auction car. Personally I'd rather have the patinated original, but that's just me. They didn't normally get as bad as that. Car may have been in a hailstorm, or attacked by acorn-throwing squirrels, at some point in its life.

Your "432" in thread title comes from where exactly?

G7B-R was the crossflow-head version.

You're blurring the lines between race cars and road cars again. I know this car rather well, and it is not necessarily a good example of factory specifications. You know which car this is, and its history, right?

That's a 1965 G7B.

That's an L20, not an L20A.

psst: Your photo is of a replica... AC Ace or Lola GT? And the same guys? I think you might be getting Shelby American mixed up with BRE. Thanks for the "show them how" line for the Z. Quite revealing. Still, you're certainly living in the right place for bowdlerised yarns to get turned into jingoistic blockbusters. You might want to drop your screenplay over to James Mangold (or maybe Disney) as I'm sure he will be looking for a similar project to the one which pretty much painted out Bromley, Broadley, Lunn, Slough, Wyer, Kar-Kraft and a cast of thousands. And never mind those 5 DNFs at Le Mans in '65, eh? Hooray for Hollywood!

In fact the S20 continued to be used until the end of 1973 - winning almost every race it took part in - so you clearly didn't take much notice of our previous discussions on the subject. Oppama vs Murayama politics ring a bell at all? L24 didn't do the job at first, did it? Fewer parts? Yes, it took a little bit of development to get them to finish with as many crank throws connected to the flywheel as there were when they started... By the same token, shame our lovely L24 was fitted in the softened-up and dumbed-down HLS30U. Much better suited to the HS30 and HS30U packages ?