HS30-H

That was just a story put about by Pandas to try and get sympathy and more Bamboo shoots. In fact, Pandas are not an Endangered Species any more. We just had a family of them move in down the road from us, and they are tearing up the shrubbery in front of their house, hanging around all day long sitting on piles of tyres and chewing on stalks . Brings the neighbourhood down. The father has a Toyota Previa that looks like it was a Guang Dong taxi before he got it; not a straight panel anywhere, and he doesn't care about biffing other cars when he's parking. No spatial awareness, these Pandas. Bet they are on Government support payment too............. Alan T.

Paul, Don't be too disappointed if its not on anytime soon. It's really not as exciting as it might sound................ There are some nice clips in it ( especially the racing stuff - but that's pretty chopped up and makes you thirsty for more ) but really its a bit hackneyed and tends to trot out the usual old chestnuts. Ironically, Mr Katayama is just about the central figure in the programme. I say ironically, as the narrator sounds like he's reading from one of the many inaccurate books on the subject - and mentions about Goertz and the BMW 507 etc etc. This is funny, as Mr K. is one of the people who will tell you that Goertz had nothing to do with the S30-series Z. Mind you, if its on the "History Channel" then I guess it MUST be true................. Alan T.

Thanks for the kind words guys, However - don't hold your breath! I think its still a long way away. So far I've just been gathering information and photos for personal research. Corroborating the data and clearing the photos for publishing can be a nightmare. Difficult too to decide on the slant of the theme; should it be the Japanese side of things ( my personal area of interest ) or should it have wider scope ( perhaps leaving me out of my depth )? Frankly I'd rather see a Japanese author cover the area of the Works circuit race and rally cars in depth. I've got a great deal of magazine articles and the odd chapter in books, but nobody has ever done the definitive job on the subject. The TRUE story would ruffle quite a lot of feathers in Japan and rake over a lot of hot coals. I'm not sure if I want to be the one to get my fingers burned! Maybe this is a job for my retirement. Perhaps by that time I might feel like I'm starting to know enough about the subject.... All the best, Alan T.

Hi Lee, Kevin's one of my best mates. His genuine Works car ( it was entered in the 1971 RAC Rally here in the UK ) is now painted and is pretty much a rolling shell. Next things on the 'to do' list are the engine and transmission. When he got it, it was like finding an Egyptian mummy. It had competed in the 1971 RAC, and then went on a promotional tour of Datsun dealerships in the UK. Nissan then decided to sell it - taking off its original Japanese registration number ( in accordance with Japanese Export law ) and re-registering it with a UK-issued number, and it passed into the hands of a well-to-do privateer rally driver who did a few UK club events in it. Only a very few things were changed on it ( the exhaust got smashed off - that kind of thing ) and eventually it got parked up in storage. During storage it narrowly escaped a fire ( got a little bit scorched around the offside rear quarter ) and just sat for 20 odd years - poor thing. Kevin purchased it around 7 years ago, and embarked on a major restoration - and I must say he has done a wonderful job. He aimed at keeping as much of the original car as possible, and luckily it was indeed 99% complete when he bought it. Being locked away for 20 years took its toll, but it preserved it from being pirated for parts. You would not believe just how different the genuine Works cars were from the road cars. The basic shell alone has hundreds if not thousands of detail differences, and is something like a cross between the 432R shell and the HS30 shell. Kevin's nature was the perfect type for somebody taking on such a marathon task. Anybody else would have just re-shelled the car or taken all the good stuff off and sold it. Kevin has managed to preserve a little ( big ) bit of Nissan's competition heritage. I've been lucky enough to be involved in some of the research for the project, and its been totally fascinating. As far as we can ascertain ( and one has to be careful here, as sometimes cars do crop up out of the ether ) there are basically only FOUR genuine Works rally 240Z cars still in existence. There is also one 260Z here in the UK. The deciding factor is the actual bodyshell. All in all, the bodyshell has to be classified as Part Number One, as it carries the unique VIN identity of a shell that was especially put together by the Competitions Department inside Nissan. Make no mistake - these are not "standard" shells by any means, and have different gauge pressings ( both thicker and thinnner ) in relevant positions. Any car that has been re-shelled does not count. Nissan in Japan have three cars ( two Safari cars and one Monte car ) and then there's Kevin's '71 RAC car. The 260Z here in the UK is of a rather obscure provenance, and I have not seen it in person. "BIG SAM" - the famous circuit race car here in the UK is based on a genuine Works rally shell that was purchased in a crashed state from Nissan here in the UK ( built LHD and then converted to RHD by Samuri Conversions ). This shell ( incidentally, the second "Works" shell that Big Sam has used ) was always reputed to have been a Safari Rally entry driven by Shekhar Mehta, but our research says different. We think we know exactly what car it was and what event it was crashed on, but the current owner insists that it was a Safari car - but there you go. Of course, over the years it has been rebuilt and improved so many times that it has lost most of its Works mechanicals and detail parts. Essentially it now constitutes a rather drastically changed Works LHD 240Z bodyshell converted to RHD and missing most of its original parts, and I would say that its history as "Big Sam" is probably more important to it now rather than its Works bodyshell. There are two other cars in the UK that the owner claims to be genuine Works cars, and claims they are two of the three Works-entered cars from the 1970 RAC Rally. In fact, both cars have been re-shelled and the VIN numbers and VIN plates swapped onto standard road bodyshells. Many of the parts that are on the cars are genuine Works rally parts ( and that alone makes them very special ) but the bodyshells have been lost and as far as I am concerned that is the main claim to their identity gone. There always seems to be talk of cars that are "genuine" Works shells cropping up. I saw one a good few years ago here in the UK that the owner was claiming to be a genuine Works-built car. It was nothing of the sort. Once you have seen the details on these cars its difficult to mistake a fake for the real thing. As for the price of one, well - how long is a piece of string? That's a really hard one to answer - especially as the real thing just does not come up for sale. Nissan would not sell any of their three cars, you can be sure of that, and Kevin will want to hold onto his car and enjoy it for a while. The amount of man-hours he has in it would make it mega expensive anyway. I'm sure if he wanted to sell it he'd prefer that it went to the Factory to join its friends. So - difficult to put a price on one, but we know it would surely be HIGH. This kind of thing is so rare. Kevin and I are in the middle of some really detailed research about these cars, and one day a book or something similar might come out of it. All the best, Alan T.

No Mike, That's the standard Japanese-market speedo for the HS30 models ( released after October 1971 ). It reads up to 240kmh, which I'm sure they did accidentally on purpose. Can't comment on your steering wheel without seeing a picture of it, but please note that the cover on the "Compe." steering wheels was not leather ( although it looks and almost feels like it ) - it was in fact moulded plastic / urethane type stuff. Maybe you have a Compe. and didn't know it? If it looks like the one in the picture then it probably is a Compe. wheel. Alan T.

George, I've dug through many of the brochures and technical documents that I have, and they all seem to say something different! Some of them state a 15kg difference for the Auto tranny versions, and some of them state a 25kg difference. That's a pretty wide variation don't you think? I must say that its just about par for the course with Nissan / Datsun and their local distributors. Its very difficult to find two sets of figures that completely tally. Sorry I can't find anything more definitive.......... Alan T.

Keith, I know the car you are talking about now. It belongs to Mr James Taylor ( no - not THAT James Taylor ) who is a long-term customer of FOURWAYS ENGINEERING. Its still around, but lives in a plastic Carcoon bubble most of the time. The paint is indeed truly amazing. The interior is not my cup of tea though. Currently-fitted engine is a genuine LY28 Crossflow ( eek! - definitely my cup of tea ), which is certainly its best feature. Kind of like J-Lo and her famous rear end. Mr Taylor also owns another Fourways-built car - this time a race car. It features, amongst other things, a part space-frame chassis and hand-made Aluminium body ( eek again ). Geoff Jackson ( boss of Fourways ) has a metallic green 1970 model which is a bit of a peach. That's probably the one Paul was thinking about. Alan T.

Alfadog, Yeah! - Auto Meter. That's what my fading brain cells were trying to remember! Maybe I need another bottle of beer ( hic! ). George, Here's one of my not very good photos ( I'm still looking for a truly fool-proof camera ) of the Factory Competition tach. as installed in one of the Monte Carlo rally cars. As you can see its in the LHD configuration. Notice the second hand, which is adjusted by the central knob ( Mr Aaltonen in this case ) Notice too the not-very heady top reading of 8000 rpm, and the fact that they still used the green triangles for the indicator signals. These tachs were basically for production-based race cars - rather than all-out purpose built race chassis. The Factory circuit-race sports cars like the R380 / R381 / R382 et al tended to use Smiths tachos. Too much information? OK I'll shut up. Ignore the hand-drawn red line, which was applied to remind the junior staff at the Nissan Memorial Sports Hall to keep their right foot under control............... If you do find one, please let me know first. You can get free investment and pensions advice too Alan T.

Hi George, Mr Miya has a big fan-club doesn't he? His car is quite a tour-de-force. Yes - that is indeed a Datsun Compe. "handle" ( Japanese steering wheels have always been called handles - which is fun ). The Tachometer is not Japanese-made though. I'm sure its an American make, and more drag racing oriented rather than road / circuit race type. At a guess I would say it might be a Mallory ( Sport Comp? ) or something like that. I'm not very well up on that kind of stuff any more ( was more clued up when I was younger! ). If you want one like it from a UK importer then I would try Real Steel ( not a million miles away from you over in west London ). The Factory competition Tachometer for the S30-series Z is a very rare item indeed. They were made by Kanto Seiki and featured a moveable second hand so that you could set your own rev limit. Find one of these and you could almost retire on the proceeds ( well - not quite, but you know what I mean ). All the best, Alan T.

Ben, You can make your car look quite Japanesque ( ? ) if you collect some of those Japanese-market accessories such as the Compe. steering wheel and other bits and pieces for it. Just knowing what they are and the fact that they existed is half the battle - so you are already ahead of the game in that respect. The right set of wheels and a few trim changes should make a world of difference. Your car looks pretty damned good anyway - so you have a good canvas to start out on. Genuine Factory HS30-H models in good condition are fairly sought after in Japan, and tend to command very high prices in comparison with a "normal" Z. There are a real lot of replicas out there ( ranging from authentic-looking down to plain awful ) and their prices are a lot lower. Don't get confused between the two. In my opinion, you could build a pretty authentic-looking replica ( RHD and all ) for roughly half what a genuine ZG would cost to buy. Nothing wrong with replicas, as long as nobody claims that they are the 'real thing' in order to trick somebody. When you look at Japanese cars that are for sale, you can usually spot in the wording of the ad whether they are genuine ZG models or not. Many of the adverts read "ZG look" or "ZG replica" - whereas the real ones are much more assertive. Its a legal requirement in Japan that you don't mis-represent something like a ZG replica as the real thing. I'd say build a replica and be happy. Owning a real one can be something of a liability!............. All the best, Alan T.

Hi Ben, The steering wheel in your photo is not a "Compe." wheel. They were much smaller diameter than than the one in the photo. The Factory made a very few with a slightly bigger diameter just for the Works Rally cars - but these are SUPER rare ( I've only ever seen three - and they were all attached to genuine Works cars ). NISMO did a re-issue for their tenth anniversary ( their tenth anniversary was around 1992 I think? ) so you sometimes see these coming up for auction - but they are expensive. I have a re-issue on my ZG ( see my Gallery photos ) and a genuine early one stashed for my Z432R project car. Despite the fact that it looks and ( almost ) feels like leather - it is in fact a synthetic rim. All the best, Alan T.

Hi Paul, and welcome. Whereabouts in London are you? I'm in WC1 ( Bloomsbury ). I saw a lot of the work on your car in progress, and its was a real marathon job. Amazing to see it come back together the way it has. The shell looked really weird without its rear quarters on! Its a heart-warming story about it being your late father's car that you have put back on the road and given a new lease of life to. I can relate to that. He would be proud of the result, I'm sure. Other Londoners float around here sometimes too; George ( 240Z ) has a really nice Green 240 with an injected L28, and Guy ( SAINT ) has a really pretty early 240 in Silver which was restored not a million miles from where yours was done. Both of them have pics in the Gallery. Looking forward to seeing more of your Gallery pics. I think a lot of people here will be amazed to see what UK owners sometimes go through to get a decent Z! All the best, Alan T.

George, I'll have to have a dig through my stuff and see if I have it on an "official" publication. I'm thinking that it might be stated on one of the original sales brochures - but most of mine are the Japanese ones. What year and model is your car again? It will undoubtedly help if the right year and market version correspond with your application. I'm off to have a dig. Better than working. Alan T.

Don't know if it would help you, but NISSAN sources usually quoted that the Auto transmission versions were 25kg heavier than their Manual trans equivalents. Good luck, Alan T.

Hi Fred, That must be Switzerland you are talking about eh? Some models in Japan had a clock 'delete' option ( notably the Fairlady Z base model S30-S and the Fairlady Z432-R PS30-SB ). These models came from the Factory with the Clock filler panel - which was just a plastic disc that blanked off the hole. I've got a picture of one somewhere. I'll pull it out and post it later ( I'm just about to drop off a package at the FEDEX office - so it'll have to wait ). But why on earth would they want to delete just the clock on a Euro HLS30? Surely it must have been one of several cost-cutting deletes that the original owner specified? Did it have the "plastic" carpets and no rubber trim on the bumpers too? Some of these had the interior vinyl trim with NO diamond pattern ( just plain grain ) and just one interior sun shield. I've also seen them with the non-dipping interior mirrors. I like the super-basic models. Less is more. Allons-y! Alan T.

Hi Alan, The story that I have always heard is that the Factory decided to concentrate initial production and sales on the 2-seater after consultation with NMC USA, and in particular Mr Yutaka Katayama. He wanted to maximise the chances of the car being a success, and didn't want to confuse the market too much. The S30 series Z project did after all start out at concept stage as a 2-seater. The 2+2 model ( contrary to much popular myth ) did indeed get penned alongside the 2-seaters. A pretty close mock-up / pre-production model existed back in '68. I think we have discussed this fact in other posts. Glad that you love your 2+2 and its opening quarter windows ( a great feature ). All the best, Alan T.

Hi Tanny, I don't know if you have their new details or not - but the company moved away from the London area fairly recently. Here's their new address; TECH-DEL LTD. ( original manufacturer of the MINILITE wheel ) Unit 4a ROUGHMORE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE WILLITON, TAUNTON, SOMERSET, UK. tel: +44 1984 631 033 They sell bolt-in valves that should cope with the thickness of your castings with no problem. I too have some wheels with particularly thick Magnesium castings, and they needed the bolt-in valves just like yours. As Rolf says, beware of old Magnesium castings. They can look OK on the outside, but have bad structural problems. If in any doubt whatsoever, have them crack-tested or X-rayed to make sure they are safe. You might of course actually have the Aluminium versions. If any problems getting in touch with TECH-DEL - let me know. I'll try to help. All the best, Alan T.

Alan, hope you don't mind me making a quick interjection here; Japan had cars in 1969. Admittedly it was late in '69 - but not any later than the USA. Yes, there were fewer of them - but they DID exist. I'll always point that out when I see anyone saying different or making it sound a bit like the USA got the first Z cars. The USA got the first EXPORT Z cars, but the S30-series Z debuted in Japan and was first sold in Japan. Back on the true subject of the original post, I think there is something in all of the points made so far. There was definitely a supply and demand problem around the time of the debut of the RS30 / RLS30 260Z and the 2+2 versions, and by all accounts NISSAN really did start to get their knickers in a twist around that time. The "260Z" model was released in Japan and then quickly withdrawn from sale after numerous problems with emissions regulations not being met, and there were all sorts of other problems inside the Japanese parent company at that time. I don't think it seems to have affected the USA-market cars so much as all the other ( predominantly RHD ) markets. Definitely this is a factor. Having taken the step of productionising the 2+2 model ( something that was originally planned to be sold alongside the 2-seater back when the range was launched in '69 - but then shelved ) they naturally would have wanted to sell as many of them as possible. I don't think that NISSAN would have held back on promoting the 2+2 model, and their advertising of the period certainly shows that they had a damn good go at making it a big seller. Here in the UK, Datsun UK made a big hoo-ha about the 2+2 models and could almost be seen to be pushing them rather than the 2-seaters. Add to this the fact that they had already had around three years-worth of sales on the 2-seaters, and you might imagine that they had pretty much sold as many 2-seaters as they could place with owners. Sales of 2-seaters would have naturally been starting to slow up here. I don't know how many 2+2 models were sold in the UK, but it seems a lot to me. Porbably something like the numbers that Alan posted for the Australian market. ie - proportionally more than the USA market. When the 2+2 debuted, it must have allowed those people who really wanted a 2-seater ( but could not get their family / spouse to accept it as a practical family car ) to buy something that looked a bit like the 2-seater - but had that added bit of practicality. I still know people over here who justify their 2+2 ownership with this point. Truth be told, many of them would seem to actually want a 2-seater, but could not get familial consent............... Surely the situation in the USA was different? With more cars per capita, and a cheaper retail price in relation to average income than other markets, surely many 2-seater owners either had another ( "shopping" ) car / runabout or indeed were mostly younger ( with no kids? ) or less tied-down than their non-USA counterparts? I think these people would not have been forced to 'compromise' like those in other markets might have been. So surely, as Alan suggested, this really IS an issue of lifestyle linked to circumstances? No offence to 2+2 owners, but you can see why most people would choose the 2-seaters over the 2+2 models if all other factors other than visual appeal are discounted. I've personally got a soft spot for nice clean original 2+2 models ( and especially the Japanese "2/2" models ) with all their correct equipment and Factory accessories. They are actually very good all-round cars, and are some of the rarer models out there. I'm glad that they exist. Alan T.

...............in the USA.

I'm not sure if you use the same terms in the USA, but here in the UK the process is called "Gold Passivated Zinc" plating. First they Zinc plate the items, then they give them an extra process called Passivation ( in this case, with a gold colour ). Here in the UK we can buy home plating kits ( lots of nasty chemicals and electrics to play with ) and I bought one and had a go at it. The finish was not wonderful, but passable for stuff that's not looked at too closely. First you had to Zinc plate the items ( suspending each item on an individual wire was a pain ) and then go through a separate gold passivation process. The whole thing was much too fiddly and surprisingly expensive - so the professional platers get my vote every time now. I believe that gold passivation can be applied to other base plating ( like Cadmium, as 2ManyZs suggested ) but that the original finish on the majority of first generation Z car parts was Zinc based. Alan T.

Hi Rolf and Guus, ( Guus - long time no see!.......... ) Very sad to hear that Hans Schuller is also not with us any more. Herrmann passed away some years ago - so one of the most successful of pairings in Rally Zs has now gone. It would have been very interesting and educational to talk to both of them. Schuller in particular, as he took part as both a Navigator and a driver on the Safari Rally, and also the Le Mans 24 Hour race in '75 - all in Z cars. I'd like to see Rauno Aaltonen's memories of his Nissan / Datsun years in print at some point in the future. So far he seems to have been reluctant to be interviewed, although he used to do many interviews with Japanese magazines back in the 1970's. Alan T.