HS30-H

No.

Three cheers for siteunseen, then. He's clearly our last best hope. Next time I need an explanation for an image I've uploaded I'll cut out the middleman and go straight to him.

And the article makes it clear that the '160' emblem related specifically to the 432, and not anything else, so I don't know where any confusion or counter theories come from? Original picture caption also points out that the pictured emblems were hand-made aluminium and paper mock-ups, and that the size, style and location of emblems had to accommodate the requirements of panel production, as stamped holes needed to be in a one-size-fits-all configuration.

That's a chicken and egg question. "If you want to get there, then don't start from here..." I'd start by working backwards from where you right-click-and-saved it from. This internet/world wide web thing was a good idea when it started, but it's been going to hell in a hand cart ever since I tell you...

They are asymmetric, as they have to fit to a subtly double curved surface. I have a couple here on my desk and the rear surface (where it meets the body of the car) is slightly curved, and more so in one quarter. The emblems are market 'L' and 'R' on the reverse, with an arrow indicating 'up'. You can't fit an 'L' marked emblem to the 'R' side of the body (and vice versa) without ending up with a gap...

It's a photo scan I posted here on the 18th of December 2009. I can't help but point out that the answer to your question is easily answered in the thread in which the image was originally posted, but somehow I doubt that's where you found it - right? It's a photo of a prototype. I think Carl Beck would like to believe that it refers to 4 cylinder engine capacity (2400cc='240', 1600cc='160) but this prototype is well past the stage where the planning for a 4cyl S30-series Z was dropped. '160' refers to the rated PS of the S20 engine (160ps), so it's a dropped prototype emblem for what became the '432'. Font type and paint scheme matches too. It's likely that the '160' idea was dropped when the '240' moniker was adopted for the L24-engined Export market cars, as the higher CC-based number would make it look like the L24 was more powerful than the S20. There's a subtext in that the '160' moniker was quite possibly the inspiration for the '240' moniker, unless people are happy to believe it was picked out of thin air...?

It's a Silver Cloud. Might even be a Silver Cloud II. Silver Cloud series debuted in 1955.

I quite often wear a hat. I've got lots of hats. I have no need to wear 21475-E4102 as a hat.

It needs to be in capitals to make sure. "SERIESOUSLY!". Somebody might like to ask what happened to E4100 and E4101, if E4102 is "SERIES 1"...?

By whom? The last King died in 1952...

Using the terms 'Series 1' and 'Series 2' etc for the Japanese market models is pure folly, and bound to lead to confusion.

You write things but don't have anything of substance to offer when asked about them. I asked specifically what cars you were referring to when you wrote "...the US development of the racing Z covering S30 to Z31. .....those race cars were just the best and far superior to anything else in the world concerning production sports cars at that time." and you don't seem to be able to come up with anything. Now you're talking about Dodge Vipers (a car which first hit the market in 1992) and the current running of the Targa Tasmania, which is a great event but can't rewrite history and I can't see what it has to do with the S30 through Z31 period you were referring to. Can I suggest you take a peep at some racing history records? Since you mentioned the S30-series Z let's start with the results of the 1970 World Sportscar Championship (note the word 'World' in there...) where the winners for the International Championship of makes was Porsche, and the the winners of the International Cup for GT Cars was also Porsche. Porsche won the Le Mans 24hrs outright for the first time in 1970 (I was there, and got to sit in the winning car after the race) as part of that year of success. I suggest you look at the results for the WSC for the full S30 through Z31 production years and see what you find. "Factory with the best pro drivers" IS real world. Those are the results that get engraved on the trophies and the ink in the record books.

I think Chris was referring to the well known Ronnie Spain GT40 tome "Individual History...", which in its original form is indeed outdated. Further information always comes to light, and - in the case of individual chassis histories - time reveals past cover-ups, mistakes and mystery. Cars thought long lost can appear from the shadows. Ronnie Spain himself has acknowledged and addressed this very point. So yes, they can so very easily prove to be "outdated"...

The GT40? It was conceived in response to Ferrari's success in endurance racing, not Porsche's. They were usually not in the same racing class as Porsche's road cars, and were not in the same price bracket or market sector in the showroom. Not that hard to design? The GT40's layout, componentry and basic design was cribbed from the Lola Mk.6 GT, so yes - easy! They just bought another manufacturer's car, designer and staff, set up a specialist manufacturing company (F.A.V. Ltd.) in the UK to build it and hire John Wyer and his team to race them. Easy! Apart perhaps from all three GT40s entered in the 1965 Le Mans 24hrs race - Ford's main target - not managing to finish... Period mag feature for reference: http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/september-1965/24/ford-gt-40 What's that Viper in the Targa Tasmania got to do with anything? I'm still wondering what cars you were referring to with your "...the best and far superior to anything else in the world..." further up the thread? You seemed to be pinning it on "...the US development of the racing Z covering S30 to Z31", but I don't see any justification for the claim. Where's the substance? I just don't get the anti-Porsche sentiment I see so often coming from Nissan/Datsun enthusiasts. Porsche is a company that historically has had racing as its very lifeblood. Maybe we are now in a world where that isn't possible any more (and that goes for just about all the major manufacturers) but in matters historic they have nothing to prove to anybody. All the more ironic when Nissan themselves took such avid notice of what Porsche were doing.

These 'problems' seem fairly trivial for a 46-year old car and are easily rectified, in my opinion. Nothing particularly unusual there. I think it's probably more pertinent that you take these issues up with the seller (I presume - looking at your photos - that it is a classic car specialist based in Europe?) and either get him to fix them before selling to you, or use them as a bargaining chip to get some discount from the asking price and then fix them yourself. The car looks OK to me but it isn't a top of the market example and may have been somewhat neglected mechanically. The engine block has been painted to make it look a little fresher but the engine may well be a little tired as it is a little oily under there. The exhaust system will soon need replacing and I would guess that the brakes, steering and all suspension bushes/linkages will need servicing/replacement. The floor support channels are obviously dented from being used as jacking points (typical on these cars) but the body looks fairly honest and solid to me. Don't overpay!

(in bold) That's the point though. The drilling that leads to the bleed nipple is straight, but the other drillings are angled. You'd end up with the angled drilling that leads to the bleed nipple missing it by quite a margin when the halves were re-joined, and the O-ring counterbore not big enough to cover the difference. Feel free to give it a try though...

The script reads: "Sochaku Rei Sho", the first part of which might be translated as "Installation instructions...". It could easily be an in-joke that we - as outsiders looking in - don't 'get'. Original nuance lost. The Kanji actually looks like a Photoshop type digital addition to me. It seems to partially overlap - quite unnaturally - the flattened 'U' shape of the hinge doubler, and if you were going to write something on the inside of a fuel filler door, would you really choose to write it there, or on one of the flatter areas...? It also seems strangely offset to the right. Something a little odd about it. As is always the case, context is everything. An 'Internet Find' photo could keep us all guessing for an age, but its original setting could provide an instant explanation.

Apart from "why would you...?" (you'd be better off buying the cheaper non-vented type in the first place) there's a potential problem in that the fluid passage drillings in each half are at such an angle that they won't necessarily line up again if you start milling material off the mating surfaces.

That's not quite the point I was answering (concerning certain American-prepped Japanese cars being "...the best and far superior to anything else in the world...") but go ahead anyway, I'm all ears.

Sure, but the thread title you chose is "Vintage Racing or Sportscar Books".... I've just finished another of Charles Willeford's novels (been reading everything of his I can get hold of) and I'm halfway through re-reading Patrick Hamilton's 'Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky' triptych. I read a lot.

History shows us that Porsche dominated the decade (and more) in question if we are talking S30 thru Z31, as they took victory in the various classes of the World Sportscar Championship more often than not during that period. Point taken about North American dominance not necessarily equating to global dominance (it kind of makes my point for me...) but I was answering specifically the quote "...the best and far superior to anything else in the world...", which is just daft. Just last week I was playing Facebook tennis with somebody who was insisting that Porsche was playing catch-up to Nissan during the 1960s and 1970s (??!!), and that the 911 was some kind of *response* to the SP/SPL Fairlady roadsters (???!!!). FAKE NEWS right there... Addressing the thread topic: There's far too many books on the subject to give specific recommendations. I've got a fairly big collection but it's just scratching the surface really and if you want depth you have to refine your collecting to your primary area of interest. Personal faves include Mike Schoen's excellent 'The Cobra-Ferrari Wars' and Janos Wimpffen's epic 'Time And Two Seats' on the topic of endurance racing, but my interest in the Japanese racing scene of the 1960s, 70s and 80s leads me to collecting complete runs of Auto Sport Japan and Auto Technic for those decades, as well as modern titles such as Auto Sport Archive Japan's fabulously in-depth '100 Great Races' series (now up to volume 73) and the superb Racing On magazine's offshoot 'Racing On Archives', which also go in-depth, and deep in-depth at that...

"...the best and far superior to anything else in the world..."..? The products of a small company in Germany named Porsche may have slipped your memory, perhaps? A few other candidates making "production sports cars" in the same period might also be in with a shout.

Sorry, I don't get it. How could he have "...purchased the car new late 1969..." when it was built after July/August 1970?

There's no "mystery" here, unless we include the mystery as to why certain people won't listen to established fact and common sense. The car in question was built after one of my own cars, which was built in mid/late 1970. Nissan Shatai's own records - quoted by me in one of the previous posts on this thread - tell us what S30-prefixed chassis numbers were built on 1969 and 1970. This is a 1970 build-dated car and a mid to late 1970 build date at that. "Stone throwing"? Get a grip.

Congratulations on your new purchase. What was the chassis number of this car again? I don't recall it being a 1969 car from previous discussions elsewhere... I'm also interested in those rear arches. Not to pour scorn on the story, but what were Nissan Aomori doing installing custom (metal?) flared arches on a customer car (unusual...) and surely they could have fitted the 432-R Sports Option rear overfenders instead? I'm interested to hear more. For the record (you may not agree...) it makes my teeth itch to see an early Japanese market car being referred to as a "Series 1". I can understand why such terms have become vernacular in efforts to distinguish between major production date changes on Export market models, but they don't apply to the Japanese market models in the same way and in any case Nissan themselves certainly never used the 'Series 1/2/3' etc terms themselves. Sorry I can't help you with the valve cover, but watch this space for early Japanese market 'Z' quarter emblem repros in the pipeline. I might have some other RHD-specific parts you need, so don't hesitate to ask.