HS30-H

Another example. This one has been going on for years and I simply cannot understand why nobody goes back to research it from the source material. Probably a case of a mistake being repeated enough times for it to become laid down like sedimentary rock. There was never any company called 'Kwaishinsha'. It was 'Kaishinsha'. Here's the original Kanji: 快進社 https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/COMPANY/PROFILE/HERITAGE/HISTORY/

I've got the preceding 'Z - 35 Years of Nissan's Sports Car" (from 2005) and the new book could well be published with the blurb "15 More Years Of Mistakes". ?

I think the 'research' on this particular aspect of the story appears to have been confined to visiting zhome.com for Carl's - ahem - slightly "Made For The USA" take on history. I'll be surprised if there's any coverage of the October 18th and 19th Ginza, Tokyo HQ activities on zhome.com, and its not because its any big mystery. We've discussed it here many times, and for the same reasons.

I'd like to introduce you to the term 'Formal Introduction', as it appears you have not met.

Here's some press content from an official Nissan page on Facebook. The original was written in French, but the version I first saw was identified as coming via Nissan BeNeLux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg). So Yutaka Katayama was an automotive "Designer"...? I presume he must have squeezed that particular job in between his time as a pinch hitter for the LA Dodgers, and providing the voice for Scooby Doo in the popular Hanna-Barbera cartoon series 'Scooby Doo, Where Are You?'. Not to mention his popular cookbooks... Seriously, who writes this stuff? Worse, who sub-edits it? What's happening to Nissan?

I see the new book repeats the oft-repeated mistruth about the Z's "debut": "Datsun formally introduced the car in New York City on October 22nd, 1969, following that with its Los Angeles debut two days later with the same car." In fact, Nissan had formally introduced the S30-series Z range (not just one variant...) to invited press, dealers and key suppliers at their Ginza, Tokyo head office and showroom on October 18th and 19th 1969, as a preview of the new cars before the general public would see them at the opening of the Tokyo Motor Show. How does the New York Pierre Hotel event on the 22nd trump the Tokyo Ginza showroom event on the 18th? Both were private, invitation-only events for the same types of attendees. If the Pierre Hotel event counts as significant, then so should the Tokyo, Ginza event. And the Tokyo, Ginza event happened FIRST. The REAL debut - the public debut - of the new S30-series Z range was on 24th October 1969, at the Tokyo Motor Show. Over the course of two weeks more than 1.5 million visitors would pass through its doors:

You're an 'Lstepp4re' fan club member then? ? It must be you that's sending him all the DMs about "significant Z movements", LOL. I didn't see any pond-crossing pissing match (what did I miss?) but I did witness Lstepp4re once again actively bidding up a car he had no intention of buying, attempting to control the narrative in the comments during the auction as well as threatening legal action against somebody (a fellow American) who simply disagreed with him. Bring-a-Trailer mods hit the delete button a few times and it was all swept neatly under the carpet. Maybe I'm in the minority in being allergic to superannuated, arriviste blowhards and their fanbois?

Doesn't seem particularly high to me. What am I missing? I got the impression a lot of the people tuning in to that auction were expecting much more. Covid effect? You'd have a hard time getting a professional restoration to the same standard on a donor car, and that's without all the VZ kudos/baggage (delete to your taste) which should lift it above a like-for-like otherwise non-VZ example. Looked well bought to me. Lovely honest example of a VZ car. Oh, and the self-certificating BAT "Collectors" are starting to look like they are outgrowing their pool. When 'LStepp4re' is being talked up as a "expert" (tee hee) you know its all getting a bit too incestuous...

How does being "effeminate" (in your opinion) have a negative impact on his work?

Daikin.

Daikin.

Given that many of the component parts on these cars were made by different companies and/or affiliates of Nissan and Nissan Shatai, I would not necessarily expect them all to have been painted with exactly the same material, or to the same standard/thickness/sheen.

If that were the case, then why did it stop at Katayama? Why not with, for example, Hajime Suitsu, Teiichi Hara or - going all the way "higher up" - Kawamata himself. I'll tell you why. It's because the people believing that Katayama was a 'Designer'/'Creator' had probably never heard of Suitsu, Hara or Kawamata, let alone the likes of Hitoshi Uemura. They appear to have simply pinned it on the face they knew. A little reminder: You revived a thread that had been dormant for a month to quote a post that I made on 20th January. On the contrary, I'll always be ready to discuss this kind of topic and I consider that a Vital Sign for a vibrant, scholarly, inquisitive and - more to the point - so far undead marque/model forum.

Yes, I know what an Ishihara Test looks like. Thanks. In the meantime, I appear to have developed some form of vertically-stacked double vision...

As per my original post to that subject on this thread, I was responding to a poster on the Bring-a-Trailer auction comments section (for the car we have been discussing here) who made some strange claims about Katayama. Here's a reminder of what he wrote: " Mr. Yutaka Katayama (RIP) must be quite honored that his design has such a devoted fan base with so much knowledge. On another level, I can only surmise that first and foremost he designed this car with the driving experience in mind. I’d love to hear more stories from the experienced about the well thought out the driving position is, how smooth the sweet 6 is at revs, how compliant the suspension (IRS) is over poor roads, the fluid throw of the shifts, and so on. No doubt he dedicated countless hours designing these tactile elements into that pretty styling exercise. These are what make this car so very special. I’d love to read more about the experience." See? As you will know, in 1998 Yutaka Katayama was inducted into the 'Automotive Hall Of Fame'. His Automotive Hall Of Fame biography contains the following sentence: "Shunning conventional wisdom, he created and promoted cars and trucks designed for a new type of consumer". Do you believe that Katayama "created" - in any practical sense of the word - any of the products that NMC USA was selling? You appear to agree with me that he did not, but there are many people - apparently even in the Automotive Hall of Fame - who clearly believe that he did. There are many more examples of this 'out there' both in print and online. I'm wondering if you consider Katayama's input/feedback to be the reason for the North American market variant HLS30Us being equipped with Warner synchro 4-speed transmissions, 3.364:1 ratio diffs, soft springing and damping, slow steering ratios and less of the bells and whistles seen in other market variants? Was Katayama responsible for making the North American market Zs less sporty than others, or was that out of his control? If it was out of his control, is his much-vaunted influence being overstated? Genuine questions. Yes, Katayama was requesting more power (mostly via bigger displacement) but so were any number of others within Nissan, within their Japanese competition - Toyota and Honda for example - and within their customer base in Japan. It was inevitable, and it was coming whether Katayama had been calling for it or not. Again, Katayama being credited with something that already had its own impetus and trajectory. What were the "anemic tin boxes" you mention? Is this not a conflation of earlier stories regarding the likes of the 210-series Bluebird? You can see the same impetus with the 310 and 410-series cars pointing the way forward to the 510 and beyond, and the SP/SR roadsters being successful enough in their own right as Nissan's sports car to be superseded by a new coupe when international safety regulations threatened the death of open-top sports cars. Where exactly was Katayama's influence a KEY factor here? Throwaway Iines there. Look, if I point out that The Beatles didn't write 'Twist and Shout' or that the Rolling Stones didn't write 'Little Red Rooster', it doesn't mean I'm dissing the Beatles or the Stones. They were both great in their own right (and write...) but creative credit should go where it is due. Bert Berns and Willie Dixon respectively, right? I want to assure you that I think of Yutaka Katayama as a major figure in Nissan - and Japan's - history and, as I've pointed out up-thread, I am not attempting to take away any credit that he rightly deserved for achievements that he was rightly credited with. In setting up the NMC USA dealer network (following Volkswagen's model) along with Soichi Kawazoe and others, and very much being the 'face' of Nissan in the USA at such a crucial time, he deserves the plaudits. But he is often credited with the work of others, or with things that would be happening anyway, and that is wrong.

Here's a paint-stripped oil pan from my 4/70 production-dated L24, showing the pressed ribs, drain plug and brazed-on reinforcement/harmonic panel:

Following that local news report, let's see what was happening in The Rest Of The World... Nissan - like any other serious motor vehicle manufacturer which intended to sell its products all over the world - was keeping up with regulations introduced on a rolling basis as advised by United Nations Working Party 29 ('WP29'), which had been formed in 1958 as the 'World Forum For Harmonization Of Vehicle Regulations'. Japanese manufacturers like Nissan were also compliant with Japan's own Japanese Industrial Standards ('JIS') and it made sense for them - wherever feasible - to design their products in a way that made them simultaneously compliant with as many standards as possible. Nissan was not designing to comply solely with FMVSS regulations, and nor were FMVSS regulations the sole driver of Nissan's designs, evolutions and updates. Perforated-spoke Izumi steering wheels were introduced to the Japanese market S30-series Z models (which used 'flatter', less dished steering wheels than the Export models) starting in the December 1970/January 1971 period of manufacture:

It's wise to be mindful of the terminology. '260Z' doesn't mean just one thing in just the same way as '240Z' doesn't mean just one thing. Here's a '260Z' model introduction from factory literature. Is it wearing '240Z' bumpers, or are they just S30-series Z bumpers...?

The bumpers without the rubber trims - or the holes in which to fit them - were not "aftermarket", they were Nissan OEM equipment on S30-S 'Fairlady Z' Standard/ZS and PS30-SB 'Fairlady Z432-R'/PZR Japanese market models from 1969 on.

Except it wasn't a 'switch'. It might be safer to describe it as a start. Nissan continued to fit vertical defroster lined glass to some models, as evidenced by my May 1972 production HS30-H model Nissan Fairlady 240ZG.

Lay off the soft soap Blue. Doesn't suit you.

They were indeed factory-fit parts, fitted to some S130-series Zs and other models. Nothing to do with racing. They were injection-moulded, with the better recessed type 'O-ring' gasket. I think they would originally have been painted black, and those garish blue and red versions have been painted after the fact.

No, but my badges are round and I don't have vented quarters. I guess it might be a 'Series 0.75' or something like that...? ? Never mind. Carry on... ?

Again, 180 degrees inverted. Generally speaking the writing is the 'right way up' with the back side of the dash laying flat on a surface. I believe they were written whilst the dashes were sitting on an assembly frame or bench, or - later - on a fixture in readiness to be put into a car on the production line. Yours is a single Kanji character for 'Kusa' (pronounced as in 'Cusamano') which translates as 'Grass'. In early 1970s Japan that was more likely to be the common or garden variety of grass rather than the Cheech and Chong type... I don't know if it was in common use in Japan at that time, but nowadays 'Kusa' is also a slang term roughly equivalent to 'Ha Ha!' or 'LOL'.

There were thousands of such cars. I have one in my garage. Isn't all of this just more evidence that the 'Series 1' and 'Series 2' etc vernacular is just too grey around the edges to be reliable? Attempts to subdivide into 'Series 1.5' and 'Series 2.5' etc just make it all look even more rubbery. The BIG difference is solid quarter/vented tailgate type bodyshell vs vented quarter/solid tailgate type bodyshell, and the rest was a moving feast of details depending on production date, target market and sub-variant type.