HS30-H

Ahem...

It's inverted, but it is the Kanji 'Ji' (pronounced as in 'Jeep') which translates as 'letter' or 'character' as in 'Kanji' or 'Romaji'. @MikeB previously suggested some of these could be part of 'Burma Shave' type messages, and this example is a prime candidate for being part of a message made up from several dashes. On its own it makes little sense (to us, at least...).

I'm looking forward to the prospect of individual judges being 'invited' to show their certificates to prove they have taken the Ishihara Test for Colour Definciency... ?

A nice example of Katakana 'Igirisu' ('England') seen here in England recently:

That's an unusually esoteric example, and done with a very wide marker. A bit of a calligrapher, this guy. It's a Kanji 'Uwasa' ('rumour'/'gossip'), but could also be read as 'Son' [pronunciation: as in 'Sondheim'] ('loss'). Seems likely to be another example of workplace shenanigans and/or 'banter' between workmates. Other examples have shown true relevance to the product/variant/destination (as in the 'Igirisu' and 'ENG' etc versions) but when dozens of same product/variant/destination examples were going down the line like a sausage machine I guess there might have been space and opportunity to break the boredom with some coded messages between workstations. Been there, done that... For reference, Kanji 'Uwasa':

It reads as Kanji 'Chikara', or a Hiragana 'Ka'.

This item is not designed to accommodate Large Marge or her ilk. It's an ergonomic aid destined for my 4/70 HLS30UV 'all-the-bells-and-whistles' (long term) project car. Quite difficult to get right.

Handbrake lever. That's an 'Emergency brake' lever for the ex-Colonials. A subtle dislocation from the norm..? Discuss!

Nail. Head. Direct hit.

Whilst poking around inside my 4/70 HLS30UV project car the other day, I noted that the passenger floor tar mat was manufactured in a shape which accommodates the possibility of fitting an OEM passenger footrest:

I don't know. I would guess - as per thread title - that it was 'HLS30Q', plus - it seems likely - an extra letter identifier for the Portuguese sub-variant, because they were unique in certain details. Maybe something like 'HLS30QU' or 'HLS30QE' (for the well-regarded 'Entreposto') would have worked. 'HLS30U' just doesn't make sense as an identifier for the Portuguese market variants. Nissan tended not to share 'Katashiki' codes across variants that were quite different, and - as we know - 'HLS30U' was the base code for the North American market models, with extra suffixes for further sub-variants. Why would Nissan risk confusing matters by also using 'HLS30U' for the Portuguese market cars? I've often asked for evidence of factory codes from glovebox bases on Portuguese market cars, which might give useful clues, but nothing forthcoming so far.

And yet I've never seen it on any official Nissan documentation with regard to the Portuguese market cars. Personally speaking, I don't usually trust titles/registration documentation for the Export cars. They are - by their nature - local bureaucracy and subject to all sorts of personal failings. My 1970 Fairlady Z-L was registered here in the UK as a 'Fairlady Turbo' simply because the person at the government agency who issued its documentation chose the wrong model from their list. Wrong, but 'official' and now set in stone.

Pretty much the same structure as the factory steel item, as per my description.

Mário, As I've mentioned to you before, I don't understand why you keep referring to your Portuguese market car as an 'HLS30U' model. Have you got any evidence to back up the use of that 'U' suffix on the variant code?

My point being that - if you were (for example) a California resident in the market for a '240Z' in 1970 - how would you know what that "HP or Speed loss due to pollution items" was? There was no '240Z' next to it in the showroom without the anti-pollution gear against which you could make a comparison, so it was fait accompli. I'd put money on it being the case that most of those buyers thought they had the full quoted '151 HP' underneath them.

What "delta"? They didn't have anything to compare it to, did they?

Move to a different state? Buy a 911S instead? What? The anti-emissions measures added to the cars in question were not much more than a Band Aid, aimed more at meeting a particular testing standard rather than fully addressing the problem they were supposed to be mitigating. And anyone who was halfway serious about 'saving the planet'/'cleaning up Cali.' (delete as appropriate) could have bought something other than a 2-seater sports/GT car in the first place. Presumably these same "Customers" (love that capital C) 'wouldn't even notice' that the anti-smog Band Aid-equipped L24 in their 'Sports/GT' was paired with a wide ratio 4-speed transmission, 3.3:1 diff ratio, soft springs and damping and no rear anti roll bar? No, sorry. I'm not buying it. I just don't see anyone buying one of these cars in California in 1970 saying to themselves "Hey, I'm happy to have all these extra gee-gaws on my engine because I'm helping to reduce the smog". The fact was that they didn't have any choice in the matter as that's how their cars came, and since they didn't have - unlike Porsche buyers - another variant to compare it to, they simply went with it. Looking their sub-4k (plus dealer 'extras') gift horse in the mouth? Not all that likely, I'd say.

Yes, the 'factory' Nissan parts resemble the contemporary Lotus 'race' parts to my eye. I think there was a difference between the Lotus road cars and the Lotus race cars, and the road car stuff was certainly beefier than the race stuff. The Lotus race FRP parts/bodies I've seen were - I believe - made by Specialised Mouldings (they made for other companies such as Lola and GRD) when Lotus moved premises from Cheshunt to Hethel, whereas the early Lotus roadgoing FRP stuff was sturdier and perhaps not as refined. The quality of the Nissan FRP parts is similar to what I've seen on gliders. I took some original Nissan race option parts to an FRP specialist here in England for some repair work, and they remarked on the quality. They were quite surprised that the parts dated from the early 1970s, and pointed out the finesse in the detail areas. Quite time-consuming work, they said. Here's a couple of photos of a (repaired, and in primer) factory 432-R bonnet: I would imagine - from looking at it - that this was made in two pieces, with the outer skin section made in one piece and then the inner section (with the steel hinge brackets, prop bracket and the captive nuts for the male catch mechanism moulded into it) was bonded to it.

Hard to tell from that photo, and many FRP hoods/bonnets tend to look similar in my experience. Factory FRP parts were a bit of a moving target in any case due to constant evolution, and I've seen design changes on the hoods/bonnets. Construction method and material is one thing, but if you look at enough factory FRP parts you do start to see a vernacular and that can help to pin things down in the same way that the work of a particular artist can be identified by his techniques and even his individual brush strokes. And - like fine art - provenance is very important. Before trying to identify an individual piece you'd want to have some clues as to dates, how it was acquired and where from. Big panels are expensive to ship, and - certainly here in England and I imagine the case in North America - there were plenty of people who could take a mould off a factory steel panel and start producing composite versions for much less than a factory item would cost. I've found the early factory FRP parts to be very nicely made, and perhaps more 'precise' than similar period race/rally FRP items from privateers or aftermarket suppliers. I guess you could say that they are more towards aeronautical type quality rather than nautical. I'll dig out some reference photos. Here's one to start. Hinge bracket area on a factory FRP bonnet. Note the characteristic woven 'cloth' roving and steel bracket bonded into it:

Shhhhhh! Don't let too much sunshine in on the magic. Pointing out that the "Made For USA" cars didn't have 151bhp at the flywheel when installed is like telling kids that there ain't no Sanity Clause. It's cruel.

You think they were added in America because they have no Japanese writing on them? Rhetorical question: Does that belief hold true with other stickers/labels or tags on the cars? How about where the stickers were printed? You think Nissan would print the stickers in Japan and then send them to the USA to be affixed to cars already fitted with the air pumps? Why could they not just affix them to the appropriate cars in Japan? Or do you think the stickers were printed in the USA? I'm not buying it. If the stickers were applied in the USA (where? port of entry?) I reckon we would see all sorts of anomalies in positioning and application, but as far as I am aware we don't. So I say more likely affixed - to appropriate cars - at Nissan Shatai in Hiratsuka. It also has other peculiarities that make its status as a content examplar slightly rocky. Will you be citing it as proof that early HLS30-prefixed cars didn't have radios or clocks? The Yuasa battery and splash pan might get you "not constructive" downvote on BaT should you bring them to the attention of the Experten level portfolio investors over there. "TEHO". As I've pointed out before, the content of the early HLS30Us was clearly somewhat fluid so such a very early example - not sold to the general public and used by Nissan to make the relevant technical servicing publications - is not necessarily what we should use to judge whether what was coming down the actual production line some weeks or months later is 'correct' or not.

Passenger footrest was standard equipment on 'DELUXE' models in Japan, and an extra-cost showroom order option on 'STANDARD' models.

Was that possibly some colour cast on the photos? A reaction of the digital camera's sensor to all the green paint around the sticker? Sticker on my 4/70 HLS30U is certainly dull silver.

'Superleggera'. ? In fact there were many details 'wrong' - especially interior-wise - on this car. It's a little risky to try to pin down a single factory spec for the roadgoing 432-Rs, but they certainly didn't have exposed 918 Grand Prix Orange paint visible in their interiors - apart from the rear deck area - as they were all satin black. It was a little jarring to see freshly painted body colour in the forward section of the interior in this car, and where the missing diamond-pattern vinyl would have been. Many other examples of late 'personalisation' evident on the car too: Brake booster, KS 'Rally Mag' replica wheels, trumpet mesh covers, half-painted rear spoiler, Schroth harnesses etc. I wouldn't kick it out of bed, but some of these things are itches I'd want to scratch...

This is kind of what I was alluding to with my 'de-contented' theme a few days ago, as it seems clear the final specification and content of the earliest production North American market cars was still somewhat in flux even after the start of production. Since tinted glass, HRWs and all the other 'missing' parts (including carpets...!) already existed on other variants, this can only have been due to wrangling over costs and the targeted selling price.