HS30-H

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.

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.