HS30-H

Oh yeah? How?

And here's the pair of pedals photographed together. They are part-stripped of their black Factory paint at the moment. The Brake pedal had been attacked by brake fluid some time in the past, so I'm taking them both back to bare metal and will refinish them. I think you can see that they are indeed stamped out of flat sheet steel, as there seems to be no finishing to the surface at all:

May I take this opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to the kind people who PM'd me about this thread and the way I was feeling about it? I was very dismayed to think that anyone would believe that this was some kind of trick or joke, and for a good while I was quite upset. However, The PM's were very encouraging and I'm very pleased and honoured that people are taking the time to look into this. Some points I should make: *I had no idea that any cars would have NO number on at least one of their pedals. I have never seen a pedal without SOME form of stamping or other identification mark on it. You learn something new about these cars every day............. *I was calling these numbers "dates" for a reason; It has been suggested to me that the four-digit stamps on my pedals indicated the month and the day of manufacture, and that the year was not marked as it was not necessary on a component that would not be hanging around for more than a year. HOWEVER - I did not think that this was completely true, as I have seen some pedals ( admittedly RHD ) that had letters as well as numbers on them. I have also seen numbers higher than 31 in pairs - which would surely nix the theory that it meant either a day or month. *I wanted to try to get to the bottom of it by seeing what other cars had. The "0907" and "0911" numbers I posted photos of are from my project car - which is a Japanese home-market "Fairlady Z-L" ( S30 ) made in 1970. My other car - also Japanese home-market - has some letters as well as numbers on the pedals ( that car has a late 1971 build date ). *I know that RHD and LHD pedal shapes are quite different, but I was expecting ( hoping! ) that a clearer picture might emerge that showed a pattern or method to the numberings. I'm none the wiser! There is of course a greater thickness to the pedal stem on the BRAKE pedals in comparison to the CLUTCH pedals. That's natural when you consider the duty of each pedal. However, I believe that they are both stamped or punched out of steel stock rather than one of them being cast - as somebody suggested. Here's a close-up of my Brake pedal stem in profile. You can see that it has probably been punched out with a die ( ? ):

ps Did you know that some S30-series cars left the Factory with Toshiba and Stanley brand headlamp units, as well as Koito? Did you only get Koito in the USA? Alan T.

Hi daddz, They are still available in Japan, even in the otherwise-useless "Autobacs" and "Helloes" stores. Just the lamp unit itself that is, not the headlamp bowl / surround. However, I'm fairly sure that the lenses are all configured for RHD. Surely that's no good for you in the USA? The beams will be pointing in the wrong direction................ I'm pretty sure that Kats would have had to install RHD-configured lamp units in his car so that it would pass its 'Shakken', and be used legally in Japan. Alan T. ( Here's one that I bought a while back. Disregard the bowl and surround - which is from Nissan ):

Hi Mike, This is very interesting and its very heartening to hear these questions from others who are ( like me ) interested in the little graffitoes and 'ken' marks that can be found on our cars. I can read some Japanese, and this is one of the characters that I have seen before on the underside of the dash. You have got it the correct way up in your photo ( which is not always immediately apparent! ) and I can tell you that the way it is written, this Kanji says "kawa". That's a word that is often interpreted to mean 'skin' or 'hide', and in fact "kawa" is MOST often used in reference to 'leather'. Now, "kawa" can mean several different things depending on its context ( like most of the 5000-odd Japanese Kanji characters ) but I would guess that in THIS contex it might be best to read it NOT in the 'leather' translation - but in the 'skin' or possibly 'covering' sense................. Why would it say this? Well - the messages and graffitoes that you see on some parts of the Z are often little inter-departmental notes, or 'shouts' if you like. They can bring attention to the assembly or sub-assembly workers to watch out for a particular problem or change in spec amongst a batch of cars or parts. I have also seen little messages that can be translated as what you might call Friday-afternoon banter between workers - just meant to raise a smile and while away the hours........... So what does it actually MEAN? Well, again this is a half-educated guess, but I think it might well signify a fault or problem with the covering of the dash pad that was sent to be rectified or redone. That's the only thing that comes to mind, and the main thing that swings it for me is that Nissan often referred to their embossed-texture vinyl interior pieces as "leather" ( even though it was NOT real leather! ). I think its just a colloquialism really. Therefore, I would guess that a fault might have been spotted that needed to be rectified ( presumably it WAS rectified ). Seeing as there was only ONE finish on our dash pads, I would have a hard time imagining it signified a different finish or material for this dash pad. Of course I could well be wrong, so please don't take this as gospel. Just my thoughts on the subject after seeing a fair few similar notes and messages on the cars from many markets. You might like to send a PM to Kats to ask him to look at this thread and give his opinion. Best regards, Alan T.

Michael - thanks very much indeed for that. Its much appreciated. However, it was not your posts that upset me - it was a few of the others. If they were posted in fun then the sentiment went right over MY head. All I'm getting is bad vibes and I'm not liking it. I'm wondering what people expect to get for nothing....... Alan T.

Just for the record part 2: I'm seriously offended at some of the comments that have been made on this thread. A couple of people that have made them are people that I thought better of, too. My original intention was to create a thread that gathered a bit of data on pedal stampings. I've been looking at pedal stampings for some time ( along with other 'dated' and identified items on these cars ) as I've always been fascinated by the array of outsourced component manufacturing companies, and the divisions within Nissan that produced the parts that were put together to make the cars. The stampings on the pedals are not very easy to decipher and it has fascinated me for some time as to what they actually signified. Maybe that's a bit too dry a discussion on its own, so I tried to create a thread with a little 'bait' in the form of a prize. I will still honour this promise IF anybody actually has identical stampings on BOTH pedals in their car. In hindsight ( after being accused of being a scammer and other sideways remarks ) maybe I should have just asked the question and not tried to 'motivate' people by offering them anything as an incentive except interest itself. I'm seriously pissed off to be accused of creating a "scam". I'm not very much enlightened about pedal stampings but I AM a bit more enlightened about some of the members of this site now. Alan T.

Great, now I'm being branded a scam artist:finger: Alan T. Just for the record, here's my other pedal:

shushhhhhhhh!

26th-Z, if its the same on both pedals then you have won already and we don't get any interesting letters and numbers from anybody else ( you spoilsport ). Automatics don't count. Sorry about that Enrique. I actually forgot all about the slush-boxers..............

Hi bill, That's not 907 AD - that's day and month.:cheeky: No year was stamped ( I shouldn't think they were expecting to have 'stock' that was over a year old.......). Alan T.

Hi 26th-Z, I think that you will find both Aston Martin and Morgan have been selling officially "Factory refurbished" cars for some years now. These cars really DO go back to the factory that they were originally made in. However, they keep it all a bit hush hush and don't make a big PR event out of it - which would explain why not that many people know about it. Having been to the original Aston Martin & Tickford factory in Newport Pagnell and the Morgan factory in Malvern, I can tell you that the very nature of these cars enables the factories to re-make and refurbish them with much greater ease than they would had they been trying the same thing with a late-Sixties / early-Seventies mass-produced 'budget' automobile such as the S30-series Z. In many ways its harder to restore a Z than a virtually hand-made car like the Astons and Morgans. Alan T.

Who wants to play a little game with me? Its called PEDAL MANUFACTURING DATE BINGO and everybody who has an S30-series Z car is welcome to play. If you win, then you get a prize posted to you via Her Majesty's Royal Mail ( don't get too excited........ ) no matter where on this big old World you happen to live. The rules are set by ME ( you knew there had to be a catch, didn't you? ) but at least they are not biased to early or late, RHD or LHD or any other parameter. Just like real Bingo, this is a game of LUCK rather than skill or cunning ( unless you cheat ). Here's what you have to do. Get your head down inside your footwell ( watch out for the smell of doggy doos and any old cigarette ends ) and look at the numbers stamped into your Brake and Clutch pedals. They are on the side ( one or the other ) and usually about halfway down, or sometimes nearer to the pedal pad end. You should see FOUR numbers on each pedal. Make a note of BOTH Brake and Clutch pedal numbers. Now, here's the Bingo bit. Anyone who has EXACTLY THE SAME manufacturing date stamp for BOTH Brake and Clutch pedals wins the game. In the event of more than one player having the same numbers, the player who PROVES it first ( photographic evidence please ) wins the game. 99% of you probably can't be bothered, but for the sad 1% who can I'll make sure that your prize fits in with the car / year that you own. As the Bingo Caller, I can't win of course:classic: Alan T. Here's what you are looking for:

May I ask a question here? Why do these cars so often get described as "Nissan Factory Restored Z cars"? I know the whole story surrounding them, and I'm certainly not trying to demean them in any way ( I thought it was a very clever bit of PR ) but I DO think the word "Factory" can create a little confusion........... I was speaking to an automotive journalist here in the UK the other day. We were discussing a UK magazine article that tested a UK-restored 240Z ( owned by Nissan UK ) and made some comparisons with the "350Z" - which has just been released here. This guy was CONVINCED that the Nissan USA restored 240Z's had been sent back to Japan and restored at the "Factory". I asked him WHY he thought this was the case ( after filling him in on the real story ) and he said that as they were being described as "Factory Restored" then they MUST have been sent back to Japan................ So - you can see that the casual use of a single word can make somebody get the wrong end of the stick completely. Maybe those of us who are into these cars will naturally know the most of the facts - but somebody who is only marginally interested in the cars can get quite the wrong idea. So why do they get described as "Nissan Factory Restored" when all of these cars last saw the Nissan Factory over 30 years ago? Alan T.

Report with video here:Ferrari vs Eurofighter

That's a nice-looking car, but I have no idea why its being described with the line "THIS IS THE FIRST OF THE GT-R'S....." The first GT-R was the 4-door PGC10, and the KPGC10 2-door Hardtop didn't come out until two years later. This car - as a GT / GTX is NOT a GT-R of any sort, despite the fact that it looks similar externally. Its had some GT-R lookalike parts put onto it but the GT-R shell was quite different in many respects. Like I said, nice car - but a slightly misleading line in the description might confuse a prospective buyer. Alan T.

trumpet blowing.........

Do you mean the S30-series as a whole or the base-model Fairlady Z ( S30-S )? If you mean the S30-series as a whole then I'd agree with you, but in a worldwide sense the base-model S30-S Fairlady Z - especially unmolested and unmodified early production models - are certainly one of the rarer variants. There are not all that many early and unmolested Fairlady Z-L's out there either....... There seem to be plenty of relatively early HLS30 models knocking around ( a good handful of them over here in the UK, and I saw lots in Japan too ) so I can imagine why the REALLY early VIN numbers command a premium. I don't think I have seen many REALLY low VIN number RHD cars come up for sale recently, and somehow I suspect that something with a really early ( two digit? ) VIN RHD car in good to excellent condition would easily match any of the low-VIN LHD cars on the price it could command at sale. Condition would be the crunch factor of course. Exchange rates would come into play, and I know several countries where the value of the local currency would help to trump a US Dollar price. Of course, VIN number Bingo and any discussion of prices / potential value etc etc are purely in the eye of the beholder, and must be taken on a case-by-case basis. There's also the factor of limited production in the first place. I rather suspect that a genuine PS30-SB would win the limited production rarity award if there was one to be awarded. You could get into an argument about all sorts of parameters, but in my mind the 432R wins hands-down because it was an OFFICIAL Factory product that WAS sold to the general public and was also on display to the Japanese press at the preview event in October 1969, and on the Nissan display stand at the Tokyo Motor Show just a few weeks later. That particular car would be something of a Holy Grail for a serious collector and something of an icon that would deserve a place in Nissan's museum ( yet to be built ). I would also have thought that local-market dealer promotion editions would mainly be valued in the country or area of their sale? I don't know much about the American special-editions but I would have thought that they would usually fall into this kind of category? There's also the factor of the car's location in respect to its rarity. I know a little about this, as I own what we know is the only GENUINE Factory-built HS30-H ( Fairlady 240ZG ) in Europe. This makes it rare in its current location, but if it was taken back to Japan it would be quite a lot less rare ( although GENUINE ZG's - as opposed to fakes and replicas - are actually not all that common over there either ).

Is this a game of VIN number bingo? If it is, then EVERYONE has a unique and rare car.............. You're asking about people "on here" ( members of this site ) right? I know quite a few people who are NOT members of this site who have 'rare' and unusual cars, and one of them does not even own a computer. I learned a good time ago that there is always someone somewhere who has something better / rarer / 'more unique'. Its the quiet ones you have to watch................:classic: