HS30-H

Victor, I believe the design did actually originate at Hayashi Racing, and that they manufactured them with a little 'badge engineering' for anybody who wanted to put their own name on them. Haruhito Yanagida's Z-specialist shop 'Central 20' requested a special version called the 'Z Sport' wheel. See attached pic:

I can answer this if Kats does not mind. The 432 and 432R used a Mitsubishi electronic ignition system, and it incorporated extra ballast resistors. Fergie! Eek! No, they were that delicious olive green the same as everywhere else. Kats' appear to have been painted black. Alan T.

Chris, To try to cut a long story short: Basically, once the L-series six had been assigned for use on what would become the S30-series Z, a 'high performance' version of it was scheduled to be fitted to a special model for the range. This 'high performance' version was going to be sold in most territories as a kind of image-building model that would set a tone for the rest of the range to follow. Japan was going to have this triple-sidedraught carbed L24 in the Z too. But then - and this is not too long after Prince was merged with Nissan - the top brass 'noticed' that they already had a high performance engine on the cards that was being developed from the Prince GR8 race engine. This was the two litre S20 twin-cam, and it was going to fitted to the new C10 Skyline range that was soon to debut with Prince-derived fours and Nissan's L-gata six. Much to the annoyance of the proudly ex-Prince 'Skyline' team at Murayama ( an ex-Prince plant ), Nissan's management forced them to supply S20 twin cams for the S30-series Z range project, and dropped the idea of the 'High Po' L24-engined model. This gave them their 'image-building' high performance model, and made good use of a valuable - if somewhat underused - S20 engine resource. All through the project however, the Murayama guys were grinding their teeth at the thought of their precious S20 being used on the arch-Nissan S30 project, and dragged their heels somewhat through the development process. This resistance sowed the seeds for the race exploits of the 432R to be curtailed somewhat early, and for high performance L24 engines from Oppama and Omori to be be installed in the race-winning 432R bodies. Basically, the Murayama boys didn't really want their 'Prince' and 'Skyline' engine to be associated with the 'enemy' crew and their 'Nissan' Z. Hence the Oppama race team's bad-mouthing of the ( race winning! ) S20 engine when they switched back to the L-gata half way through the 1970 season. Just factional inter-departmental war-mongering at heart............. That's it in a nutshell, really. If you think of the S30 range as a 'family' of different models through the design, engineering and production stages then it makes sense and sounds logical. Nissan did this kind of thing with all their models during this period, so it would be strange for them not to have had an image-leader high-performance version of the Z too. That 'High Po' L24 engined version is one of the great lost S30-series Z 'ghost' models. Hope I did the story justice....... Alan T.

Hmmmm, I mention that the USA / Canada models of HLS30 ( and that's not all HLS30 models by the way....... ) feel a little *soft* to my taste, and it instantly seems to raise some hackles. Interesting. I don't consider my opinion of the USA / Canada models to be a criticism as such ( maybe more of an *appraisal* based on comparisons with other models I have driven ) and I can't see how it can be taken that way. Those cars were configured that way, and it was considered 'correct' for the majority of their market at the time. They sold like hot cakes, and therefore their specification was quite obviously well judged. How on earth can this be described as in any way giving Katayama san a "bad rap"??? I'd be interested to compare notes with any other members beside Kats who have driven all the models discussed. Any volunteers? Maybe not. Ha ha! Remind me - What state of the USA was the East African Safari Rally run in? That's an event of WORLD significance contested between the most serious factory teams, and was won twice outright by the '240Z'. The first time it won - in 1971 - the car was running with 'Fairlady Z' emblems on it, which must have made a few people who reportedly hated that name bite their tongues. Yes of course the Z was raced with huge success in the USA ( and hats off to that ), but to talk with authority about any "record number of overall victories and consecutive championships" you would need to have a very good idea of what the Z's racing record in Japan consisted of - would you not? If I thought for one moment that you had such data to hand and had considered it in full comparison, then I might take your claim a little more seriously. Actually, we DO have Corvettes and Mustangs ( and even Camaros ) here in the UK, and have had them over here since they were new. Yours truly even owned a couple of them in his youth, which brought a little deja vu to the driving experience of those USA & Canada market Z models And before you get too carried away about all this "us" and "them", remember this: Over here in Europe we never got the 432 either! "We" did get what was ( in my opinion ) a spec that was a little more *sporty* a version of the Z than "you" though, and one presumes that this too was a fairly good judgement of the markets concerned. Too bad that NONE of us ( even Japan ) ever got the triple-carbed 'High Po' L-gata version of the '240Z' - whose shoes the 432 model was created to fill - alongside the more sedate models. In fact, markets outside Japan might have enjoyed any kind of multi-level model variant choice come to that. Will, you are MOST welcome to Liz Hurley. None of us over here are remotely interested in her. Mutton dressed as lamb. Alan T.

Great! We must meet up. Have you arranged anything with Len yet? I will PM you. Personally I don't have any problem with non-standard parts on these cars ( my cars have lots too! ), but I think magazines and books that use non-standard cars for illustration of original specifications should be a little more careful. This is one of the reasons why people become confused, and it makes things a lot more difficult to understand for the enthusiast - let alone the layman. I think we need to know the stock 'Factory' specs in order to get the right perspective of the cars, that's all. Ha ha! I know what you mean, but Nissan were in the business of selling cars and this is the way that cars get sold. Many of the people that had their tongues hanging out when they crowded around the 432 on that swish turntable at the 1969 Tokyo Auto Show will have probably ended up buying Cherries, Bluebirds and Sunnies ( if they even bought a new car at all ). The drip-down aspiration from the 'Prestige' models is what helps the bulk sales models to sell. Maybe some of those young guys eventually managed to buy a base-model Fairlady Z ( or even a Z-L - wow! ). You shouldn't 'hate' the 432 just because it naturally found itself somewhere around the top of the pile any more than I should 'love' the base-level S30 for being such an underdog at the bottom of the same pile. Spare a thought for the poor misguided people who still seem to believe that the S30-series was not a 'family' at all......... Ah, I'm glad you feel this way as it corresponds very well with my own impressions. To be brutally frank, the USA & Canada models I drove felt somewhat 'numb' to drive - rather like trying to drink a cup of tea not long after having a local anaesthetic at the Dentist's surgery. They felt a bit dead and sedan-like in a way that my UK market cars and my ZG did not. The 432s on the other hand feel so 'alive' and connected to the road and to me. I felt that the 432 - with close-ratio 'A' type 5-speed, 4.44 ratio LSD, nice spring, anti-roll bar and damper rates and of course that 'afterthought' S20 engine installation - just felt like a really well-balanced package for a standard car. They felt special enough for me to believe that no modifications or upgrades were strictly necessary. Cheers, Alan T.

Kats, Nice thread subject, and great pictures - thank you! Your 432 looks beautiful now that it is finished ( my favourite 432 colour too I think ). Congratulations! I have seen Takeuchi san's car many times at shows, and in magazines / videos etc and no disrespect to him or his car ( of course I love it - especially his tyre choice; very 'correct' ) - but I don't honestly think it is the "best example" of a PZR in Japan because it has so many non-standard parts and modifications on it. In the engine bay alone, you can immediately see the Weber carburettors and red 'Ultra' plug wires are non-standard, and his seats also appear to have been re-covered at some time in the past. I think that there are several more original and 'correct' PZRs in Japan, but their owners are more camera-shy than Takeuchi san. And of course, just about every PZR was unique in it's specification and details anyway. No two cars were exactly the same.......... Kats, I would like to hear your impressions on the differences of the two cars with regard to the driving experience. I think this is a good opportunity for an objective comparison between two almost completely standard factory-spec Z cars, made within a few months of eachother, but of different model types and aimed at completely different markets. As you know, I have driven some 432s ( first time was around Tsukuba circuit - which was very interesting, and on the same day as I drove a Toyota 2000GT - which was a real eye-opener! ) and it was very interesting to compare the driving experiences to my UK-market 240Zs and to my Fairlady 240ZG. But I have also driven some reasonable distances in some USA & Canada market cars here in the UK and in Japan ( one was a 1970-built Canadian market model, and the others were early 1971 and late 1972 USA market models ). The differences were surprising to me even though I was pretty much expecting them. Have you come to a view yet? Cheers, Alan T.

zedevan and toecutter, PM me with your direct e-mail addresses and I'll ping off a full scan of the November 1971 'Sports Option' leaflet for the HS30 model to you both. Might take me a few days to chuck a couple of shovelfulls of coal in the back of the scanner and get it up to steam, but I will eventually get around to it. Alan T.

zedevan, The straight answer to your original question is: 10k x 14 rear and 8j x 14 front. In Japan, you could order a new car ( initially a Fairlady Z432 or Z432-R - but subsequently any of the L-series engined Fairladies too ) and choose some special parts from both the 'normal' dealer options list, and also the 'Sports Option' lists. The above wheels were on the 'Sports Options' lists for S30-series Z models. This is all documented and proveable. But - as Alfadog has pointed out - this will most likely be of little use against the power of an insurance company's lawyers, should you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to call on your 'proof'. Watch out that it doesn't come back and bite you on the arse after you have forgotten about it ( been there, done that........ ). Alan T.

WingZr0, Replying to your posts is starting to feel like following Typhoid Mary around, armed only with a can of DDT.......... :eek: Generally speaking, Nissan genuine parts only get put into their boxes and labelled up when they are sent out from the warehouse to the dealers that have ordered them. Any NOS stuff you see in the OLD red/white/blue boxes and the slightly younger white background boxes that are obviously not all that fresh would have been sent out of the warehouse some time ago. The parts that you get in fresh, new boxes are not necessarily parts that have been recently manufactured. Nissan would most likely prefer NOT to have stuff sitting around in individual boxes for years on end. Your phantom green 'Z' emblem was likely made some time ago ( especially as it is a Mazak version ), but boxed and labelled more recently. This theory about it possibly being some kind of factory 'mistake' or something else ( running out of white paint??!! ) is a red herring. Think about it for a minute; Why would a part that was NOT finished to 'normal' specs get put into stock and sent out later with a label that said it was something that it isn't? This is not a manufacturing defect that was missed at Quality Control - as the person who painted it at the manufacturing stage would have known that it was not a standard colour. Presumably there would also be more green 'Z' emblems knocking around somewhere too - so show me another. If this WAS a special emblem ( and I'm telling you that it wasn't! ) then why was this one boxed with a label denoting the normal early white 'Z' emblem? Ordering an emblem would become a lottery, wouldn't it? How does that scenario make any sense? Perhaps there are more of these green 'Z' emblems in a dark back room at Nissan, along with that mother lode of two-knob stopwatch clocks and oscillators that you have been talking about for a while now. :classic:

Carl, A couple of points to keep in mind re the above: Firstly, many of the UK-based owners are primarily interested in 'proving' ( ha! ) that their cars were built on or before a certain date for one main reason, and it is related to money. We have a fixed cut-off date for a 'Historic Vehicle' licensing tax over here that falls around the middle of first-generation Z production, and 'proving' that a certain car was built ( not just registered ) before the cut-off date can help to save the owner a fair amount in tax every year, and can slightly increase the value of the car if it should come to market. Some people have managed to get cars made after the cut-off date exempted, and there are also some poor souls who would probably be eligible to qualify for the exemption but have not been able to 'prove' it ( often due to complications arising from late initial registration when the car was new ). The emphasis is somewhat less on the 'carchaeological' aspect of Z production history than anything else. SO, please bear that in mind when viewing what data I post on the UK-based forums, and in what context it is being discussed......... The other point to take into account is that I am usually trying to make some sense from the data of several sources that does not actually add up as an accountant would like. Its all a bit woolly to say the very least. You have a distinct advantage as far as the USA/Canada market versions are concerned as the data was treated somewhat differently and is certainly better recorded at the receiving end ( although I always wonder just how many of the European-market HLS30s get counted-in or counted-out with the USA/Canada numbers ). One thing I think we can count on ( and I think this has confused some people over the years ) is that there were NOT two body-number sequences running on the 'HS30' prefix at the same time. EG - there could not have been an 'HS30-00240' in Japan and also an 'HS30-00240' in UK/Australia. I have never come across a duplicated body serial number on the same prefix, and I don't know anyone who has. If two with the same number cropped up I'd suspect skullduggery before any other theory, but I suspect there could well be the possibility of a factory stamping mistake being the exception that proved the rule. So, the point is that we should be able to get a rough idea of quantities produced just by looking at what we have left. There are nice big gaps in serial number sequences though....... Forget about the 'HS30' body serial number sequences in the quotes that you put in your above post for a moment, and let's talk in very general ball-park numbers about what we think we should be finding: Quoted figures from various sources ( presumably all originating from Nissan Japan and/or their local offices & distributors/franchises in the territories ) show us that - *AUSTRALIA & UK market 'HS30' totals should be around 5000 units. *JAPAN domestic 'HS30' total should be around 5000 units. *USA/CANADA 'HLS30' total should be around 147,000 units ( note that I suspect this does not cover European-market 'HLS30' units -? ). I have a note of a TOTAL production figure of 'HS30' & 'HLS30' prefixed units that originated from a Japanese source ( unsubstantiated I'm afraid ) of 157,382 - but I have no idea if that is as accurate as it seems to think it is (!). However, if you add up the above three figures it comes to around 157,000 too - which seems likely to be more than just a coincidence ( ? ). What do you think? In any case, as far as I can see, Japanese domestic market 'HS30' prefixed units appear to be around 5000 units or so, as do the combined totals of the UK & Australian major territories. Japan only got the L24-engined version for a comparitively short period of course. A brief word on the Japanese-market 'HS30' body serial number sequence runs you quoted above: I'm not sure how to treat them with regard to individual cases. However, my 1972 240ZG certainly falls into the range of the quoted numbers, and my old ( early/mid ) 1971 UK-market 240Z falls outside them ( it was in the nine-hundreds ) - which seems to match up with what they purport to show. The numbers come from a Japanese government administered agency of the period, and were ( supposedly ) submitted by Nissan Japan themselves. They look to me like they ought to be accurate - although they don't add up to over 5000 like they should ( other combined yearly totals for Japan-market 'HS30' units come to 5023 ) but then they are linked to units REGISTERED FOR ROAD USE in Japan during the years concerned ( rather than units PRODUCED ) and therefore would not take into account personal exports or cars that were produced but remained unregistered for road use. I think that is an important distinction. I reckon anyone who is brave enough to put their head over the parapet on this subject is very likely to get it shot off............. :paranoid: :classic: Alan T.

The Tachometer on page 73 of Nostalgic Hero Vol.84 is the 432 / 432-R version for use with the S20 engine ( part no. 24855-E4200 ). You can see a close-up pic of one in my Gallery. Nothing mysterious about it. The 11,000 rpm Tachometer you spotted on Yahoo Japan auctions was a re-calibrated 'normal' version - as used in most L-series engined cars - and had a re-painted and then screen-printed face. There's a small one-man shop in Japan that produces these, with a long turnaround time.

None of the Nissans were 'Datsuns'...... All S30/S31/S130/Z31/Z32/Z33 'Z' cars were/are Nissans.

. That scenario made me chuckle. "Gadzooks, no more white paint in the pot! Maybe some of this here metalflake green will do? Sure, nobody will care about that - especially as these are just genuine Nissan spare parts that are not attached to a car. Maybe the unsuspecting buyer might get lucky and find the green goes well against that 920 Safari Gold......" Well, you can believe what you want. You can even believe your eBay seller if you want. Over and out...........

All of those "Datsuns" were Nissans, Carl.

ta240, Don't take this personally ( no insult intended ) but your above-linked page is a PERFECT example of how people can be misled. Right at the top of the page, in big bold letters, it says "FACTORY RESTORED NISSAN 240Z'S". No two ways about it - that's just plain old misleading in my book. Is that a quotation from another source, or did you write it yourself? Like I say, don't take it personally though. Alan T.

68305-E4100 is the part number for the standard white 'Z' Fairlady Z side emblem. If there had been a green 'Z' version, then it would have been given a different part number to differentiate between it and the white version. But since there was no green version, this was obviously not necessary. Somebody has been at your emblem with a pot of Testors and a fine brush, I should think.......... And the eBay vendor might well be convinced that this emblem is made from "aluminum", but it is actually made of 'Mazak' or 'Pot Metal'. Those wheel centres in your pictures are sitting 180 degrees inverted, by the way. The shorter horizontal on the letter 'Z' should be on top.

I for one do not apologise for taking anybody to task on this point, and I will be surprised if one of "Nissan's media flacks" as you call them ( surely you mean hacks? ) actually wrote the dreaded couplet "Factory-restored" in any of their press releases or advertising brochures. If you have any evidence, then I'd be interested to see it. I've mentioned before when discussing this subject that I have actually met and conversed with people who were convinced that these cars were sent back to Japan to be restored in the factory that originally made them. Amazing. One of these people was a motoring journalist himself, and continued spawning the mistake through his own misunderstanding. It appears that the root cause of the misunderstanding was not directly from NMC USA or the advertising company that they employed ( Chiat/Day Advertising North America I believe ) but from people outside the 'Vintage Z Program' who were not thinking about what they were writing and saying. We have now reached the stage, more than ten years after the events in question, where certain people are engaged in trying to justify the mistake and make it - in some way - more true ( just look at post #22 on this thread ). What a farce. That's a perfect example of the way this rolling stone gathers its moss, isn't it? I don't see how Kott could have justified the use of the terms "factory refurbished" and "Factory Resurrected" in the same paragraph as he wrote "factory-authorized", and the terms arguably contradict eachother anyway. The layman and casual enthusiast would easily be misled by such language, and it seems to me that NMC USA and the advertising / publicity company they employed consciously avoided trying to do that ,whilst making an effort to bring home the point that this was an official NMC USA project that had the blessing and support of Nissan Japan. I have some sympathy for NMC USA and the people behind the project, as well as their advertisers and publicity people. I can imagine they had a somewhat delicate situation on their hands to describe and explain this project properly, considering that the original cars were designed, engineered and made in Japan. I also think it might be enlightening for some of the people that write on this subject if they were to try and put themselves in the position of the people that actually designed, engineered and produced these cars in the first place ( yes - in Japan ) and tried to imagine this project being viewed from that perspective. Especially when the word "Factory" is thrown around so lightly. Chris Wenzel's excellent report on the 'Vintage Z Restoration Program' contains the following quote, which he repeated in this very thread ( post #18 ): "Two articles written about the Vintage Zs describe them as "factory" restored insinuating to the uninformed reader that the cars were returned to the original Japanese factory for restoration." And that's it in a nutshell. I personally believe that the people involved in this project were at pains to avoid that very insinuation, whilst being faced with the problem of getting across the point that this was indeed a project that had the blessing of the company that originally built the cars ( with all that is implied by that ). As usual, it is the people on the outside that blur the lines between fact and fiction.......... Alan T.

If the negotiations by the Z Police psychiatrists fail, they'll send in their crack squad................ .....The F Team! :eek:

The Z Police are closing in.......... :eek:

Oh dear. The alarm has been triggered..........:paranoid:

Oops! I misread that. Thanks for putting me straight ( that had me scratching my head for a little while.......... ). I wouldn't worry about getting the Service Shuho booklets at this point if I were you. They were sent out to Nissan dealers in Japan when new models were introduced or updated, and contain snippets of useful and interesting information - but they are all in Japanese and deciphering them might not be all that much of a fun prospect for you. They are also pretty expensive collectables. It is the 'H' in the prefix of your VIN / body serial number combination that denotes the L28E engine on this model ( letter H in the prefix usually stood for the higher engine capacity versions across the models ) and since injection was standard on the S130-series Z range ( letter 'E' after the engine type denotes that ) it just means that your engine is the 'L28E' - which might help you when you are ordering parts for it. I think the most useful thing for you at this point will be a copy of the Japanese market Parts List for the S130-series Z. If you can send me a PM with your name and postal address I will send you a CD version by Air Mail. Alan T.

Actually, its quite a few rungs up the ladder from the true 'basic' model ( the S130-S 'Fairlady Z' with the L20E ) and as an L28E engined model - and a '2by2' at that - it would have been pretty expensive when it was new, and would have fallen into a higher taxation bracket too - so the original owner wasn't all that frugal. Japan never got the option of a Turbocharged L28 on the S130-series, so it was up at the top end of the price range for that year's production models and just one step down from the 'T-bar' roof versions. I don't know why it has both wind-up windows and electric window switches though? I'm certainly no expert on these models - but I can't imagine a car leaving the factory like that? Is it possible that it has been given the door panels from another car at some point in the past? I don't have the Nissan 'Service Shuho' booklets for the S130-series range, so I'm afraid I can't decipher the meaning of the '0-12' and 'P7560' numbers with any accuracy - but they relate to the taxation classes and safety legislation that applied to that particular model type. I think you are pretty close to your answer now anyway, and only close scrutiny of the car itself is going to get you closer to knowing whether it is actually a 'Z-L' or a 'Z-T'. You're going to need a Japanese market S130-series parts manual to enable you to cross-reference part numbers for your car if you are going to be ordering them from the USA suppliers. Alan T.

Japanese market S130-series full model lineup: *S130S = Fairlady Z ( 1978~83 ) *S130 = Fairlady Z-L ( 1978~83 ) *S130J = Fairlady Z-T ( 1978~83 ) *GS130 = Fairlady Z-L 2by2 ( 1978~83 ) *GS130J = Fairlady Z-T 2by2 ( 1978~83 ) *GS130S = Fairlady Z 2by2 ( 1978~83 ) *HS130 = Fairlady 280Z-L ( 1978~81 ) *HS130J = Fairlady 280Z-T ( 1978~83 ) *HGS130 = Fairlady 280Z-L 2by2 ( 1978~81 ) *HGS130J = Fairlady 280Z-T 2by2 ( 1978~83 ) *KHS130JBC = Fairlady 280Z ( T-bar roof ) ( 1978~83 ) *KHGS130JBC = Fairlady 280Z 2by2 ( T-bar roof ) ( 1978~83 ) *KS130J = Fairlady Z ( T-bar roof ) ( 1980~83 ) *KGS130J = Fairlady Z 2by2 ( T-bar roof ) ( 1980~83 ) *S130ST = Fairlady Z Turbo ( 1982~83 ) *S130T = Fairlady Z-L Turbo ( 1982~83 ) *S130JTB = Fairlady Z-T Turbo ( 1982~83 ) *GS130T = Fairlady Z-L 2by2 Turbo ( 1982~83 ) *GS130JTB = Fairlady Z-T 2by2 Turbo ( 1982~83 ) *GS130ST = Fairlady Z 2by2 Turbo ( 1982~83 ) *KS130JTB = Fairlady Z Turbo ( T-bar roof ) ( 1982~83 ) *KGS130JTB = Fairlady Z Turbo 2by2 ( T-bar roof ) ( 1982~83 ) NuttyforNissan, I'd wager that you have either a 'Fairlady 280Z-L 2by2' or a 'Fairlady 280Z-T 2by2'. It might very well be 1978 production year too judging by its relatively low body serial number. I don't think you will see the letter 'J' suffix of the 'Z-T' model stamped on the actual car, and certainly not on the VIN / body serial number combination stamped onto the bodyshell. The difference between the 'Z-L' and the 'Z-T' was purely in trim and accessories, and there's the added complication that the original Japanese buyer might have chosen some factory options and upgrades when he ordered the car from the dealer. You might be able to pin it down by examining the details and clues on the car itself - and if the original factory engine bay tag is still present it might hold a couple of clues. Have you got electric door glass and remote control exterior mirrors? Alan T.

NOT TRUE. . Carl, Nissan's suppliers ( and there were many ) didn't all use Cadmium before the 'Yellow Chromate' ( 'gold passivate' ), and quite a number of them actually did use Zinc. People who are familiar with original Nissan parts for models other than the S30-series Z could tell you that some suppliers even used both from time to time, depending both on what they were making and when they were making it. This should not really be all that much of a surprise to us when we take into account the circumstances and the period in question. So to make the sweeping generalisation that all of it was Cadmium is not really a good idea. Just don't try to pin me down and make me tell you which is which on any particular car, as I have absolutely no idea! Alan T.

Unfortunately, the above articles illustrate some of the bad research and plain mistakes ( not to mention fanciful thinking ) about some of the cars concerned. Take the first two paragraphs from the "History" page linked above. Quote: "HS30LW -00023 or 00026 - Started life as a light weight, "factory works" rally car. Assigned to Shekhar Meta and Dave Doughty for the 1972 East Africa Safari Rally. The team finished 10th Overall that year, and took third in class. Below is the rest of the story about this historic Z Car. After the 72 EAS Rally, HS30LW 00023 was shipped back to Datsun UK under whoes auspices it had been initially prepared for competition at Old Working Garage. After receipt from Africa by Datsun UK, was stored .... " Sorry, but to be blunt - this is complete garbage! Note: *There's no such chassis number prefix as "HS30LW" ( where the hell did that come from???!! ). *The car pictured between those two paragraphs ( 'Big Sam' version 2 ) is a different car altogether! *Nissan's 'Works' 240Z & 260Z rally cars were assigned standard 'HS30', 'HLS30', 'RS30' and 'RLS30' chassis number prefixes and standard production sequence body serial numbers. *'Big Sam' ( version 1 ) was based on 'HS30-00025', which Rauno Aaltonen had driven on the 1970 RAC Rally ( its competition debut ). *Neither 'HS30-00023' nor 'HS30-00026' ( presuming that's what these 'HS30LW' cars are supposed to be ) competed in any East African Safari Rally - let alone the 1972 event. Neither did 'HS30-00025' for that matter. None of them were ever 'practice', 'chase', 'recce' or 'high speed tender' cars for the Safari either. *The name of ( one of ) Shekhar Mehta's navigators was Mike Doughty - not "Dave". *Old Woking Service Station here in the UK never actually built the Works rally cars, so to say that any Works cars ".....had been initially prepared for competition....." there is well wide of the mark. As far as the Safari was concerned, Nissan built batches of cars in Japan for the event and shipped them direct to Africa in the majority of cases. One of the exceptions being the '73 Safari winning car, which had already competed in the 1972 RAC Rally before being used on the Safari. Old Woking Service Station was an important part of the Works rally car jigsaw, but to make it sound as though they built the cars themselves from scratch is nonsense, and just illustrates the low level of understanding about what was going on. *The current bodyshell of 'Big Sam' ( I call this 'version 2' ) is another ex-Works rally 240Z body ( 'HS30-00025' was destroyed in an accident ) of a later vintage, and was originally LHD. This bodyshell also did not compete or take part in the East African Safari Rally, but the main part of its Works rally career is known. The fact that it started life as an LHD car should be a big clue as to what it's initial event was intended to be - but people seem to prefer to believe the big 'Safari' myth even though the evidence shows that it is completely untrue. 'Big Sam' is an interesting car ( actually two cars ) with a fascinating history surrounding it, but the vast majority of magazine articles, book chapters and anecdotes about it contain myths, poor research and silly speculation - not to mention the odd plain lie. Even some of the characters that are part of the story don't get it right...........