HS30-H

I have used both 40 and 44PHH Mikunis, as well as both 40 and 45 DCOE Webers on the L-series sixes. The Mikunis need a bit more educated fiddling to get the "transition" right on each particular engine ( thats the transition between the Accelerator Pump circuit and the Main circuit ) - as each engine is going to have individual characteristics based on compression, valve size, cam etc. The accelerator pump stroke is adjustable - but most people just bolt them on and expect them to work perfectly.......... Nissan would not have offered them as a Sports Option part if they did not think that they were any good. They also fitted them to the Works circuit race and Rally cars when carburettors were used - all the others had the ECGI Fuel Injection systems. All of these types of sidedraught carburettors ( Weber, Mikuni, Dell'orto, SK, etc etc ) are totally tuneable for each individual application. If they don't work right, its down to the person who fitted them either cutting corners on jetting and venturi sizes, or not having enough experience to know what is needed. In the carburettor beauty contest, the Dell'orto has to come out as the Miss Piggy of the bunch. Sorry, but that is one ugly carburettor............... Alan T.

Hi FinalAngel, I quite often see posts like yours, and I could not resist answering. As you are in the USA, you will probably need to look for an R200 from a later Z model ( the Z31 series would probably be the best bet ) and like 2Many said, you will then have the problem of needing to match up the output shafts with the stub axles already on your car. What you need to do is pop out the output shafts on the newly-sourced R200 ( presuming it has the CV-joint type of output shaft flanges ) - they are just a push fit with a spring circlip into the main body of the housing - and pop in a pair of earlier ones from a non CV-joint type output-shaft R200. Its a straight swap. If you have an RLS30 "260Z" then I am wondering what diff. is already installed. Have you checked? Are you sure you don't already have an R200 installed? If you only have an R180 in the car, then you will also need a rear crossmember ( "moustache bar" ) from an R200-equipped RLS30 body ( try looking under some 2+2's ) which would also be a good source for the output shafts you need. It surprises me that people seem to look around for information on diffs without talking about ratios. Surely it must be a matter that you want to think about? They did not all have the same ratios you know. If you were in any other territory than the USA, then you could have a bit of happy hunting looking underneath about twenty other models of Nissan apart from the Zs that were R200-equipped from the factory. Bad luck. What's this engine that's going to have "minimum 300" horsepower? I presume you are not talking about the L-series six that the Nissan God intended!? And personally I think that the NISMO LSD being auctioned on e-bay by Courtesy Nissan would still be a good deal even if it does go above $600. That retail price of $750 is a USA-market adjusted price ( they adjust them DOWN just for you ) and they are much more expensive than that in Japan! Why don't people want to pay for quality? Alan T.

Hi Graeme, EVA actually made the "closest" to the genuine Factory G-Nose parts, in that they were I think officially-sanctioned to make them after the supply of genuine parts ran out. Nissan Japan had the originals made by an outside supplier ( actually a furniture making company, would you believe ) and once the supply of stock had dried up they did not bother getting any more made. Once people with ZGs started to bump into things ( and hence need new nose parts ) they farmed some business out to companies like EVA. There are some genuine factory-built Fairlady ZGs ( HS30-H ) in Japan that actually have EVA parts on them as a result.......... You can still order the genuine factory hinges from Nissan if you really want a genuine set. I can dig out the part number if you want? Good luck with your SP310. Sounds like things are pretty busy down there! Alan T.

Hi Mr C, I think I have a small write-up with my car photos on the Members cars area, and as far as I remember it tells the story of my car ( or did I do that somewhere else? - can't remember... getting old. ). Anyway, I did not bring it in from Japan myself ( that's the question that everyone asks me ) and I bought it from a guy who spent an absolute fortune on it after buying it as a running resto project. Since then I've spent an awful lot of time, effort and yes money on it - but most people can hardly see what I've been up to. Oh well. I have another car thats a long-term project ( don't really want to finish it, or I'll have to start something else ) which is a Z432-R replica ( complete with S20 "Twink" ) based on a mid 1970 Fairlady S30 shell. Its the proverbial Frankenstein car at the moment - parts are everywhere. Importing parts from Japan is like going to the dentist. It hurts and it costs you money. Despite the "close" proximity to Australia ( well, its closer that the USA and UK ) I think you will find that the retail cost in Japan of most items will leave your eyes watering and wondering why the Australian Dollar is so weedy against the mighty Yen. Don't menton G****z!! 2many, I don't know which fender flares you are talking about as I do not have the link - so I can't comment, sorry. Alan T.

Oh no, not that old chestnut! The Prince Motor Co. licensed some Mercedes-patented engine design elements during the mid Sixties. That's where that story comes from. Nissan took over Prince ( one of the BEST car-making companies in Japan - ever ) when they got into financial difficulties, and naturally the Prince staff who joined Nissan took all their expertise with them. Sad to hear people still mentioning the word "copy" in reference to this kind of matter. In truth, very little blatant copying went on - but a lot of genuinely agreed and paid-for licensing went on. Its a shame that the Japanese got a rep. for "copying" rather than "licensing". One is theft, the other is business.............. Keep it out of the trees on that Rally, Mike! That reminds me - I have some gas suspension info. for you, and I will post on it over the weekend. Alan T.

Those pics are of Les Cannaday's car, aren't they? I don't know if he got some "genuine" Overfenders and moulded a set off them, or the ones on his car are the real thing. Whatever, they look just about as close as you are going to get to the ZG Overfenders - I don't think anybody does anything better. I have seen them in Carbon Fibre in Japan, which looks a bit too modern for my tastes. Les Cannaday either works for or owns CLASSIC DATSUN MOTORSPORTS ( http://classicdatsun.com ), and they sell these ZG type Ovefenders there. You won't find them any cheaper in Japan, and the shipping / Duty is going to be more expensive too. Rick, if you want to use some for racing you will possibly be needing something even wider - like the "Works" versions. I will send you a PM about this later today. Please look out for it. All the best, Alan T.

Thanks for the encouragement, but; No one would publish it ( unless I paid for it myself - "vanity publishing" style ). No one would buy it ( not interested - 'nuff said ). Goertz would sue me ( bet he can afford better lawyers than me ). Nissan would probably not want to get involved ( typical ). Matsuo would get even more embarrassed ( poor bloke ). All the non-Japanese "Z experts" would either sit on the fence and wait to see what happened, or support Goertz because they read in a book somewhere that Goertz designed the car.......... See what I / anybody would be up against? Nah, Nissan should do it and do it hard. They have the balls to credit Matsuo in Japanese press / media, but they won't pass the story on to their foreign PR depts. This makes it look even worse for them, as everybody outside Japan just thinks it looks like they are accepting what Goertz says!........... Nissan have been total dumwits about the whole thing from the word go. They should have come down hard on Goertz's claims when he actually first made them. Almost too late now. Anyway, I'm still waiting for the definitive S30-series Z book - and I reckon it ought to come from Japan. Still waiting....... Alan T.

Graeme, You're probably going to have to tell these two guys where you are thinking of getting yours from. You said that there are "several companies" that offer the flares - but I presume that you mean they are outside Japan. The suppliers that I know are all in Japan, and the retail cost ( let alone the cost of shipping ) is quite often enough to put prospective purchasers off. Also, there's a big difference between the ZG type Overfenders and the Works Type A and Type B................ What version are you after, gentlemen? Alan T.

Rolf, Whenever I see Goertz linked to the S30-series Z ( why does everyone talk about JUST one model of that series? ) I will squawk. Poor old Matsuo and his team deserve to have someone at least trying to set the story straight. I realise its an impossible task, but I don't care. Alan T.

Here's a pic. of a Works ( SCCN ) 432R with the slightly wider Overfenders than the ZG type. Notice the little "lip" on the outer edge - the ZG Factory type do not have this. They got even wider on the aerodynamic cars that came just after this. Alan T.

Hi Graeme, The original Factory flares ( as fitted to the ZG ) were really rather dainty things, and were attached to the body with large aluminium "pop" type rivets. On the ZG, they were largely cosmetic and only intended to allow the Homologation for race use of even wider "Overfenders" on the Factory race cars. These were called the "Works" overfenders in Japan, and came in "Type A" and "Type B" versions - depending on what the rest of the body consisted of. These had a bigger base radius and were naturally wider than the ZG overfenders. If you put a set of the ZG type Overfenders on an S30-bodied Z, you will find that it does nothing to cure the problem of interference of the original wheel-arch lip with the tyre. What they did in Japan ( and quite brutally on the Works race cars ) was to cut out and re-weld most of the metal underneath the Overfenders - especially at the back. Many people are reluctant to do this, quite naturally! However, if your wheel / tyre combo does not interfere with the original sheetmetal, then you have no problem. They just won't "fill up" the Overfenders. I have a spare set of Overfenders for my car, and these were moulded off a set of factory originals. There is not much to them, and they just have the flat areas where you drill through and into the body and poke your pop-rivet into the virgin sheetmetal. I have the Factory race department instructions for fixing them on around here somewhere - if you are interested. I would be cautious about aftermarket overfenders, especially if it is the Factory-spec. ZG type that you are after. I know a couple of good suppliers in Japan, but I can't vouch for any product from elsewhere. They might not be quite "right". Only you can judge what you are expecting. The big question is what you want to do about cutting those original arches away? Good luck, Alan T.

Hi Rolf, I've seen that statement published in a few books, and I have to say that its one of the main reasons why Goertz can continue to claim his input on the S30-series Z. Nissan really messed up when they wrote that. They could have nipped the story in the bud right there if they had have had a backbone in their corporate body. That project that they were working on was codenamed the "A550X", and this was what Yamaha took to Toyota. However, Goertz does not seem to want any credit for it.............. This whole matter blew up when Goertz passed comments on the S130 to a motoring magazine, and that's when Nissan retorted that Goertz had "nothing to do with" the original Z. Goertz threatened to sue, and Nissan chickened out with this "statement"...................... Goertz himself is quoted as saying "They designed the car, but I showed them how". I'll requote his quote; "They designed the car........." Goertz helped out on the CSP311 Silvia Coupe and the A550X sportscar project. He was NOT THERE when they ramped up design work on the project that became the S30-series Z. You can't even say that he "styled" the car, let alone "design" it....... Has anybody at Nissan ever said that Goertz "designed" the car? As far as I know, it was only ever Goertz who claimed this - and you certainly will not see him connected to the car by Nissan in any historical matter to do with the car. Has Goertz ever mentioned Matsuo and his team? ( not as far as I know ). At the very least, Goertz would have done himself a great favour if he had acknowledged the existence of Matsuo and his team when he made those remarks at the launch of the S130 series cars. To simply sit back and soak up the plaudits is morally wrong, and the man must know that. That statement from Nissan was a fudge, and if I were Matsuo I would have been greatly upset that the company did not defend him more robustly. No wonder he left the company. Goertz is very litigious, and he might threaten to sue if Nissan ever denies his involvement again. It might be a good time for Nissan to take him on once and for all, and protect the honour of the sword of truth. For some reason, people seem to WANT Goertz to have "designed" the car. I have no idea why, except to imagine that it must be that they want to put a "face" with some other history that they can identify to the legend of a good car........... Alan T.

All European markets other than UK had Kph speedos, as did the Japanese "Home" market. There are several different models of speedo in the Kph series ( some of them go to higher speeds than others ) depending on what model they were fitted to. Alan T.

Whoa, Rolf! That's a bit strong. What exactly were they "copying" that was different to everyone else? This is one of those annoying reputations that get assigned to whole nations and societies ( like "Germans have no sense of humour", "Belgians are boring" and "French people do not like taking baths"........... ). Its rubbish, and its based on a few historical instances and a whole lot of xenophobia. In the early part of the Twentieth Century, Japan was trying to catch up with the rest of the industrialised world. They had been left behind, but wanted to become a world power - and their governments of the time became more and more under the control of the military. Ultimately, this led to the invasion of Manchuria and their expansion in the Far East - which came to an end in 1945 as we all know. From 1945, Japan had a VERY hard time to rebuild its society and to put right all the wrongs of the first part of their Twentieth Century. Under the control of the USA for many years, they gradually built their country back up into a booming industrial powerhouse - manufacturing anything and everything. With the rapid growth, many corners needed to be cut to keep up - so many components were simply "licensed" from abroad, allowing them to get on and use the trusted and proved designs and save time on the project. Hence their world-leading turnout of new models in the automotive industry during the Sixties and Seventies. This "licensing" was a double-edged sword for them; it allowed them to save time and use parts or systems that they knew would work, but they were also accused of "copying". I have heard the S.U. design of carburettors on the S30 Z ( legally licensed by Hitachi, who paid a big royalty to S.U. ) described as "S.U. copies". This is nonsense, and is a good example of the way that people tend to think of the Japanese. The people who say these things usually do not know what the origin of the very things around them was, and if we had a world where designs were not licensed, plagiarised or had any influence on anybody designing something new, then the world would be a very strange place indeed. The United Kingdom was in a very similar position to Japan after the Second World War ( despite being on the supposedly "winning" side ) and so was Germany. When I think back to the products of the immediate post-war period and on into the Sixties and Seventies, I can think of many instances where designs were plagiarised or influenced by the successful products of other manufacturers or other nations. Its something that we all did - but Japan gets the bad reputation. Thats not fair. Sure, there are many places in the world where real copying goes on ( in fact, you can call it "Pirating" now ). At the moment Turkey is the biggest source of "fake" automotive replacement parts ( especially for Mercedes Benz parts ) which are certainly NOT licensed or endorsed by MB. This is because Turkey is a country in crisis, and is trying to grow out of it. This is exactly what happened in the Western world and the East in the immediate Post-War era. Everyone was at it. Alan T.

Thanks Mike and Ben, but I've been put on a diet now ( eek! ) and scones are definitely off the menu. Mike, your question about the L20 six has pretty much been answered in the above post by Ben. However, there were a few other versions too ( how about the L14 four, or the L-series fire-pump ! ) and they were fitted in absolutely SHEDLOADS of models - lots of which were never even seen outside the Japanese market. As far as Z engines go though, the sixes are all they ever had - but there was good interchange amongst all the parts, allowing the aftermarket and home-based tuners to try all manner of swaps to come up with super-revvy short-strokers ( L24 / L26 bore with L20 crank ) right through to stump-pulling tank torquers ( L24 / L26 / L28 bore with LD28 crank ). This interchange was always helped by the big "family" of pistons and different rod lengths, allowing canny tuners to get the right piston / rod combo from the L-series four or six parts bin. Made life fun for "we who can't leave 'em be". You might hear that the L-series "Fours" were designed first, and that when the Z came along they "added two extra cylinders" to make the sixes - which of course is nonsense. I have certainly seen this kind of statement in the UK motoring press many times, and they only said it because in 1970 they had hardly clapped eyes on an L-series six, but had seen the fours on "lesser" Nissan imports. Truth is that the engines were virtually contemporary in release, and were on the drawing board at the same time. They just got released in four-banger form first. The sixes were used in all manner of weird and wonderful Home-market cars, but the stringent Japanese taxation laws of the period made it much more expensive to go over the magic 2 litre mark - hence the wealth of 2 litre models making a kind of "glass ceiling" until late 1971 when they finally thought that their Home market customers might think going up into a higher taxation bracket would be an acceptable trade-off for the extra power and torque. The "sister" car to the S30 Z - the C10 Skyline - was fitted with even more different types of L-series engines than the Z. In fact the Skyline got the L20 and even the L24 before the Z, as well as the S20 twin cam ( but thats another story! )........ In my opinion, the L-series fours and sixes were ( and are ) some of the world's best engines. I have had many types and models of cars, but these L-series anchors are long-lived, durable, eminently tuneable and very flexible. Trouble is, they are a bit on the heavy side!............. Alan T. ps: Mike - thanks for the kind words. A bit of encouragement is always appreciated.

Matsuo was ( and is ) his own man, and he most certainly did NOT draw anything for Goertz. Its very sad that it seems so difficult to persuade people that Goertz did very little that came out on the final designs for the S30-Z. There are many areas of the design of the S30-series Z that were influenced by the work of Zagato, Pininfarina and even Drogo ( amongst others ) - but do they deserve credit for it - NO! Everybody who designs or styles something will be influenced by what they have seen and learned, and the Japanese culture has for centuries taught the philosophy of copying the teacher until you are good enough to sign your own name on what you make. Goertz has taken advantage of the gap that this left. Who knew about Matsuo or any other of his team until recently? Probably the most prominent figure on the story of the S30-series up until now 9 especially in the USA ) has been Mr Yutaka Katayama. A man to be admired and a true visionary, but certainly not the average Japanese corporate "man in grey", and ( not necessarily in a bad way ) a tireless self-publicist. Katayama himself credits Matsuo with the design, and counts Matsuo as a great friend. Katayama does not agree that Goertz can claim anything to do with the design. What are we supposed to conclude from that? Well, the story you often hear is something along the lines of "well they would say that, wouldn't they?". But when its the truth, its not necessary for them to have to prove otherwise. Its up to Goertz to PROVE he drew it. Where are his designs and blueprints? As a freelancer, he would have kept his own copies. Where are they, then? This is one of those Emperor's New Clothes type situations where everybody is just falling into line with what they have been told. Show me a drawing or blueprint for the design of the car from before Goertz stopped working with them ( late 1964? ). How can Goertz prove what he did on the project. If you read what he says on the matter in past interviews, he fudges it virtually every time. He wants credit for the design, but he never actually says that it is his. Has anybody seen him quoted as saying he was fully responsible? That project that he worked on - later taken to Toyota / Yamaha -was what became the 2000GT, but he does not want anything to do with it. How then can he claim any involvement in the final design process ( from 1964 to 1969 ) of the S30-series Z? Generally speaking, does anybody outside Japan know who actually designed all the other Japanese cars of the same period? Were the staff at Nissan and Prince all so inept that they could not design anything without outside help? NO - what they needed at the time was some input from somebody who had knowledge of the most up to date design room practices ( especially with regard to full-size clays ). Nissan employed other "Design Houses" ( notably Italian ) to help them with previous and subsequent models ( as did many other manufacturers, lest we forget ) but surely nobody thinks that a bit of freelance consultation and a few visits to the Factory constitutes enough input for Goertz to claim the design???? Don't forget that Goertz stopped working with Nissan some years before the S30-series Z was even on the design board. He was closely involved in the CSP311 Silvia Coupe ( but did not claim credit ) and the design has been credited elsewhere. That car was finished while Goertz was still a freelance consultant to Nissan, but he still did not want anything to do with it. Goertz seems only interested in cars that are judged a success. Like I've said before and will say again, Goertz should not be claiming this car as his, and the credit should have been given to the team who actually created it. This whole subject always looks totally biased against the Japanese - even to the point of implying that they were of inferior intelligence or capability. There has always been the "they copied this......" comment ( when in many cases they quite legally licensed designs in order to save time and effort in developing their own products which would end up very similar anyway ). Sometimes in the past I have seen and heard comments that verge on racism, and this is despicable. I will always stand up for the unsung heroes, and I hate to see an impostor exaggerate or inflate his importance when someone else deserves the credit that they are due. Alan T.

At the launch of the S30-series Fairlady Z range in Japan ( October 1969 ) the following models were released to the general public; *FAIRLADY Z ( "S30-S" ) - The "no frills" base car, with no hubcaps, no rubber trim on the bumpers, plastic / rubber mats instead of carpets and lots of other little cost-cutting measures. These cars had the L20 2-litre six and four-speed trans. - but with a good list of options that would upgrade the spec. to the owners choice ( including a five-speed box option ). *FAIRLADY Z-L ( "S30" ) - The 'luxury' version, with all the bells and whistles ( wow - carpet and hubcaps! ) and the five-speed as standard. Still with the L20 engine. *FAIRLADY Z432 ( "PS30" ) - The hot one, with the S20 twin cam engine ( same as the previous year's Skyline GT-R was released with ) derived from the Prince GR8 race engine. Hundreds of differences to the "normal" S30 cars - too many to list. *FAIRLADY Z432-R ( "PS30-SB" ) - The even hotter one, still with the same S20 engine but with a whole host of other features and differences to the bodyshell intended to homologate specifications for the race cars. Even more differences, and definitely too many to list here. Then from October 1971, the following additions to the range: *FAIRLADY 240Z ( "HS30-S" ) - Pretty much the same as the Fairlady Z ( "S30-S" ) above, but now with the option of the L24 engine - basically a bore and stroke job. Took the car into a much higher and more expensive taxation bracket.............. *FAIRLADY 240Z-L ( "HS30" ) - As per the "S30", but again with the L24 engine. These cars were probably closest in spec. to the UK and Australian market RHD "240Z" models, but with quite a few nice Factory options that other markets did not necessarily get. *FAIRLADY 240ZG ( "HS30-H" ) The improved-aerodynamics Homologation special sold to the general public allowed the Factory to use the base parts ( and in fact even more radical ) kit for Group 4 races in Japan. This version was based on the "HS30" and the main differences were the extended nose and "Overfenders". So, you can see that the story of the Japanese-market cars was quite complicated and that they got the L24-engined cars in late 1971. They had a pretty good choice from October 1969 though..... I thought that the weight data ( as quoted by the factory ) might be interesting to some people, as it covers quite a few models, and it can be seen that the "no frills" base-model car was the lightest, even compared to the PS30-SB "lightweight" Z432-R. Naturally, the 432-R had quite a few parts making it heavier ( such as that 100 Litre fuel tank ) - so weight is a matter of "swings and roundabouts". This kind of info. is not widely available - so it seems that many people do not realise what a diverse range the S30-series Z was. That's a pity. Alan T.

Here's some data from the Japanese side at the October 1971 launch of the HS30 series cars there: *FAIRLADY Z ( S30S ) - 975kg dry ( auto 1,000kg ) / 1,085 kerb ( auto 1,110kg ) *FAIRLADY Z-L ( S30 ) - 995kg dry ( auto 1,020kg ) / 1,105kg kerb ( auto 1,130kg ) *FAIRLADY 240Z ( HS30-S ) - 985kg dry ( auto 1,010kg ) / 1,095kg kerb ( auto 1,120kg ) *FAIRLADY 240Z-L ( HS30 ) - 1,005kg dry ( auto 1,030kg ) / 1,115kg kerb ( auto 1,140kg ) *FAIRLADY 240ZG ( HS30-H ) - 1,010kg dry ( auto 1,035kg ) / 1,120kg kerb ( auto 1,145kg ) *FAIRLADY Z432 ( PS30 ) - 1,040kg dry ( no auto ) / 1,150kg kerb ( no auto ). You have to be careful about these kinds of figures quoted in road tests and books, as they are notoriously inaccurate and quite often don't pertain to the particular model / spec. in question. Sorry I don't have any info. to hand on the HLS30 models, but I would imagine that they are not too different from the HS30 spec. I don't have any data to hand on the 2+2 to either, and it would take some digging to get the brochure out of the pile here - sorry. Alan T.

Er, Mr Camouflage, The point I was trying to make about the Centre Console was with regard to the Arm Rest. These were never fitted from the Factory, and I see them most often in pics of USA / North American HLS30 cars - in which territory I believe the Dealers offered them as an Option part ( made in USA as far as I know ). I think I made a comment to the effect that it would make sense to have an armrest on an auto-equipped car ( nothing much else to do with your right arm except lean on it ). And who said I knew everything there was to know about 240Z's? ( let alone all the other models of S30-series Z )!!! I think I know something about some of the models and a little bit of the Japanese side of the story ( especially interested in Factory-built race cars ), but I'm no self-appointed "expert" and I do not have my own website or anything. I was just trying to help this guy out, and I didn't realise the Console Arm Rest Police were going to arrest me for "Posting Without Due Care and Attention".................. I'll have to be more careful in future, Officer.

First off, Goertz did NOT design the S30-series Z, Second, Goertz did NOT design the 2000GT. Third, Goertz claims credit for the S30-series Z but not for the 2000GT............... In Japan, you will hardly EVER hear Goertz mentioned in connection with either of these cars. Both of them were the efforts of teams, and in the case of the Z Goertz has even less right to any credit than he does with the 2000 GT. Scandalously, Goertz has been allowed to inflate his importance in the design process of the Z for the last thirty-odd years. This has very much been with the assistance of the American, British and German motoring press, to whom Goertz reported his connection to the car ( with some exaggeration ) AFTER it was launched . In fact, Goertz did some good work with Nissan in the early 1960's - helping to advise them on the most up-to-date methods of life-size clay modelling as part of the design process. He helped out considerably with some suggestions on the CSP311 Silvia Coupe, but even that was not credited to Goertz alone. Mr Yoshihiko Matsuo was the true "Designer" of the exterior on the project that we came to know as the S30-series Z, but he was the head of a small team who all had some input with the design. They may have been influenced by some of the shapes that Goertz showed them ( who doesn't learn from a teacher? ) but Matsuo and his team designed that car - NOT Goertz. Goertz designed / worked on a handful of cars that have been lauded as masterpieces ( notably the BMW 507 ), but the Toyota 2000GT and the S30-series Z were NOT his products. Interestingly, Goertz has never seemed to be interested in claiming any credit for the Toyota 2000GT - perhaps because it was never judged a commercial success. However, the 2000GT was a fantastic car for the period ( mid Sixties ) and was not a commercial success because of the amount of time that was spent virtually hand-building each one. However, Goertz seemed ( and still seems ) to be very happy with putting his name to the Z, as it was such a massive success. Some readers might remember the fuss he kicked up at the launch of the S130-series car in the USA, when he ( perhaps quite correctly ) criticised in the motoring Press the way the car had become more heavy and less pure. Nissan USA released a statement to the effect that Goertz was not connected to the design of the original Z, which Goertz took exception to and threatened to sue. Nissan chickened out and settled out of court with a statement released to the press saying that Nissan's staff "benefited from Mr Goertz's designs". Goertz interpreted this as "They designed the car, but I showed them how". If that's his form of logic, then it must be my English teacher at school who is writing this now rather than me............. No, Goertz did not design either car. And Nissan were never afraid of the 2000GT as a competitor. They knew that the Toyota was too expensive to be a success, and it was already floundering well before they really got into the final design process of the Z. Some of you might be surprised that I am so vehemently against Goertz and his claims to be responsible for the design of the Z. I think Goertz knows very well who penned that car, and just how much input he had in its design. I am saddened to think that Goertz was never happy to be proud of what he DID achieve at Nissan in the early Sixties; to act as a consultant and to help them modernise their design departments. Its not as though they were in the Stone-Age design-wise, though. I personally think it a great tragedy in automotive design history that Mr Yoshihiko Matsuo and many other "unknown" Japanese designers have never received the credit that they deserve. I'm actually less interested in damning Goertz than I am in championing Matsuo, but the fact is that Goertz was telling everybody that HE designed the car for years, with hardly any reaction from Japan to tell their side of the story. This is a typical example of how Nissan lost it way in the late mid-Seventies and Eighties, and how so many good people left the company. It also goes some way to explain how they have never protected their heritage or created their own museum. What a huge waste. None of the other major Japanese car manufacturers have let their heritage slip in this way. If Goertz was not so litigious, and Mr Matsuo was still working for Nissan, you might hear more about him. In Japan, at the launch of the "Z33" 350Z, Mr Matsuo is receiving his due credit for penning the S30-series Z ( with the support of Mr K. too ) and you will not hear Goertz mentioned at all. Quite right too. Alan T.