HS30-H

Can we just get a few things straight before we go any further with this? Yutaka Katayama did not design any cars. He wasn't a 'designer', a 'stylist', an engineer or any kind of technician. He was a businessman, a business builder, a salesman with a background in marketing and advertising. So whilst he was a major figure in Nissan's history, an historically important figure in Japan's 'Showa' era and a great man, he didn't conceive, design or engineer any of Nissan's products.

You are misinterpreting the data on the Nissan Heritage Collection web pages. The 'Oppama Test Car' seen in the Best Motoring video was originally a 1973 car, but was developed - and tested - in many guises through the 1970s, and eventually became one of the fleet in the Nissan Racing School. It didn't race in 1973 with an LY28, let alone in 1971. Cars in roughly that guise did take part in FIA-sanctioned races, but they were in the Group 5 class and occasionally in Group 4 (depending on final spec.). They didn't use N42 or F54 engine blocks. Generally speaking, you won't be allowed to use an L28-based engine for properly enforced FIA events in Europe. As I said further back in the thread, the people you really need to talk to are the eligibility scrutineers for the series/races that you intend to take part in. You need to pick a class that you have a chance to be competitive in, and build the car to suit the rules for the class.

Key point is the rules and regulations of the race(s) / series you intend to take part in. You need to build your car to fit a specific class, and the race organisers (as well as your fellow competitors...) will decide how closely you are expected to follow the regulations for that class.

Mike, If esprist doesn't mind, I think I can answer this. Page 11 in Nissan Service Shuho Z-6 (dated September 1973) notifies the addition of the 'Rappa' (trumpet/horn) symbol on the steering wheel pad, in compliance with new safety legislation. It applies to chassis number S30-108001 and up. Attached scan:

Mike, If esprist doesn't mind, I think I can answer this. Page 11 in Nissan Service Shuho Z-6 (dated September 1973) notifies the addition of the 'Rappa' (trumpet/horn) symbol on the steering wheel pad, in compliance with new safety legislation. It applies to chassis number S30-108001 and up. Attached scan:

Some confusion here it seems. You mean Chromated, surely? 'Chromite' - FeCr2O4 - is a mineral. I have an original (Japanese) document which clearly states that the substrate for most of the steel fasteners and other parts on 'our' cars in Zinc, and that this was quite often coated with an additional (Chromate) layer of passivate for protection, which gave it that characterisitic 'gold' finish.

That's actually written in Katakana, not Kanji...

Same car discussed ten years ago on this forum: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/10671-april-fool/

"Left to their own abilities..." ? You're one small step away from looking like a xenophobic idiot with comments like that. The last person I heard coming up with this "..all the Chinese do is copy" and "...we taught them everything they know" stuff was drinking tea from a porcelain cup that was decorated with faux Chinese scenes (it was made by Wedgwood). He was oblivious to the irony. I presume you are too?

Thanks for the back-handed compliment, but I'd like to see you mention Mike Brame in this context. We don't see him around on this forum all that much lately, but his contributions on such topics are in the archives and are a valuable reference. And Chris Wenzel wrote THE definitive document on the VZ Program cars, as far as I'm concerned. I've even given a copy to a VZ Program car owner who lives in Japan. Looks like we finally got the "Factory" thing sorted out, didn't we....?

"The Orient". That'll be the place where these things were actually made, and where they already have the "Most Expensive Zs So Far", no?

The 1971 Macau 'Grand Prix' was the auto racing equivalent of the bar scene from the first Star Wars movie. I think the photo I posted helps to illustrate just what a hotchpotch of classes and styles it was. In the grand scheme of things it wasn't a very significant race, but Macau has a long and fairly rich history of racing and in more recent years it has become more important. Many interesting cars have raced there. Not very, but again he was interesting. He either raced under a pseudonym in Japan or in Macau (more on that anon perhaps), but he did race in Japan and actually won a race or two in Clubman classes, whilst also - apparently - having a career in the US Air Force. I tip my hat to him. I think you're damning it with very faint praise, Marty. I think there are not many early 240Zs with period (international) race history out there, and this car - with some mods - would be eligible for some interesting events. You certainly couldn't build it for $25k US and at that price I'd buy it in an instant and turn it back into what it was in 1970 when it was racing in Japan.The S30-series Z was about more than BRE, Morton and Newman. In fact, there's a very good chance that this particular car was racing before BRE had even built their first Z. To be honest, the $65k US asking price sounds realistic bordering on undervalued to me. It's stuff like this that frustrates me about the 'scene' around the S30-series Z sometimes. People "ooh" and "ahh" and virtually wet themselves at the most abominably adorned and superannuated engine-swapped pieces of junk, and can't see the pearls that are right in front of their faces. Sad.

I believe the car for sale is the same one that raced in Macau in 1971, but it has been heavily modified over the years. That 'Alan Thomas 2010' watermark on the photo I posted relates to when I captured the still image from a film. I put it there. It has nothing to do with the date of what is happening in the photo. The event is the start of the 1971 Macau 'Grand Prix' race.

Hi Chris, The two diagonal bars behind the driver that are visible in the photo I posted are nothing like the 4-point Nissan Sports Option 'Safety Bar' kit, and nothing like the Works cars used either. Like a lot of other details on the car, I think it was a (local) private fabrication. However, the car - in its original guise - did have a lot of Nissan Sports and Race Option parts attached to it. It still has a few left now, but it probably lost most of it when it was restored and updated to (then) current regs and safety standards in 1991.

I'll just leave this here:

Over the years there's been quite a lot of nonsense talked about that car. Some of it innocently mistaken, but also some of it carelessly so... Case in point: I notice the ad says that the car took part in the 1970 Macau Grand Prix. In fact it took part in the 1971 Macau Grand Prix. Typo or just poor research? Who knows. I researched the car with quite a lot of effort some years ago. If the vendor or a new owner wants to find out some more about it, they are welcome to ask me. And $70k USD? Sure, why not?

It's OK Kats, I was only joking about European mainland testing - although we know that did come later, and that a rally test car was certainly in the south of France in January 1970. Of course, Belgian 'pavé' surface was always one of the auto industry testing standards. Many test courses include a pavé section. It's very harsh to drive on, and hurts the driver just as much as the car. I had to take a short cut across a section of pavé at the Longcross test course here in the UK (it was for a magazine photo shoot) and immediately my interior mirror fell off...! Here's a clip from the film you mentioned, showing one of the disguised test cars on that Belgian pavé surface at Oppama:

Carl, If you think the 'Fairlady Z 160' emblems were a reference to the L16 then you are already barking up the wrong tree. As was noted in the source of the original photo, the '160' referred to the 160PS rating of the S20 (G8B) twin cam engine. I very much doubt that any emblems were produced for the (single...) L16-engined prototype, as it was soon dropped. Kats, GREAT stuff from Uemura san! Thank you. Remember we talked some time ago about the rumours of an early prototype being tested in mainland Europe? Seems it was true... I think we know what happened to the LHD S20-engined car, don't we...?!

Many people, on several different forums, have been telling you about the L20A / L20(a) / L20 thing for months. So what happened? Did you hear the same story from your favourite 'expert', and only then did you believe it? And you wonder why people feel frustrated to deal with you...

Kerrigan, you're like some kind of Cicada. You seem to spend months under ground, then emerge, climb a tree and make a lot of noise. I can't understand how you can have owned your car for so long and yet know so little about it and its siblings. Does everything go in one ear and then straight out of the other? We've told you plenty about your car and the Fairlady Z / Z-L in general over the years, and yet nothing seems to stick. As I'm sure I've explained to you before - either on this forum or on one of the many other forums you seem to pop up on from time to time - the engine in your 1971 Fairlady Z-L was called an 'L20A' by Nissan. The 'L20A' came in single carb form ( as used in umpteen Japanese domestic sedans that you have never heard of ) and in twin carb form, as used in the S30-series Z - which you have heard of - but also in umpteen Japanese domestic sedans that you have (again) never heard of. Read this next part slowly. Read it out loud if it helps. THE TERMS 'L20' AND 'L20A' DO NOT DENOTE WHETHER A PARTICULAR ENGINE WAS SINGLE DOWNDRAUGHT CARB, DUAL CHOKE SINGLE DOWNDRAUGHT CARB OR DUAL CARB TYPE. Is that clear? I don't know if the little factory literature you have accumulated over the years includes one of the engine manuals that covers the different types of L20A engine for the Japanese market, but I assume not. If you refer only to the English language factory manuals that cover the L20A engine then you will - probably - only see single carb versions. Guess why? ( clue: it's not because the twin carb L20A didn't exist... ). The joke's on you old chap. Your car had what Nissan called an 'L20A' engine. It's in all the (Japanese) literature. No need to take my "expert" word for it. Just believe Nissan themselves:

Not officially. But some UK & European dealerships offered their own selection of aftermarket parts for the cars, just like many of the dealerships in the USA & Canada did. 'Wolfrace' was a British company, and Wolfrace slotted alloy wheels were mostly seen on UK market cars.

It's a ( well known ) replica / lookalike, built by staff on J's Tipo magazine in Japan. The whole build - and subsequent exploits, including taking the car over to the USA for one of the national conventions - was covered in the magazine. The 'Flying Feather' was actually Ryuichi TOMIYA's idea, and Ryuichi TOMIYA's design. Katayama - a friend of Tomiya - supported him and was involved in the marketing of the car, which was manufactured by SUMINOE. So once again we see Katayama being given sole credit for something he was not actually responsible for. The video at the beginning of this thread is heartwarming, but it's also a load of old baloney and should be flagged up as such. It's hard to take seriously a production that captions Katayama as "Nissan's first president in the US", and has him stating "I started Nissan Motor Company in the United States." It also has Fred Miller claiming [about Katayama and the "240Z"] that "...that was his baby. He designed that car.....he created it...". This is the kind of garbage that marque and model enthusiasts ought to call out, not heap praise on. Katayama was - still is - a great man and a seminal figure, but giving him credit for things that others did, and building him up into something that he wasn't, is a mistake and ought to be pointed out as such.

Yes, you're right. I don't think I put that very well did I? The L20 six got the 'A' suffix well before the L20 four arrived with the 'B' suffix. The story that was related to me when I looked into this was that it was a case of killing more than one bird with one stone. Yes, they needed to differentiate between the early style L20 six and the updated L20 six, so they started to use an 'A' suffix on the updated design. A good illustration of this was in the factory parts manual for the GC10 Skyline: This had sections for both the 'early' / 'old' type L20 six and the 'new' L20'A', as the earliest GC10s were equipped with the 'old' type L20 sixes, and then they switched to the 'new' L20'A'. It must have been quite confusing at the time to have the same model of car fitted with two versions of what was essentially the 'same' engine. Those first 'new' L20'A's had the 'A' stamped into the pad on the block that carried the engine number. No doubt this was an effort to make sure there was no confusion, but it's possible to see Nissan's period advertising and other technical descriptions not differentiating between the two types. I don't know whether that was deliberate or not? And just a year or so down the line ( late 1969 ) Nissan were churning out what were clearly 'new' type L20As without the 'A' being stamped on the block as part of the engine number. Quite confusing. Again, the story I was told was that the 4-cylinder L20 was 'on the drawing board' - or at least being mooted - during the 1968/9 period when the L20 six was updated, hence the 'A' and 'B'. Even if they were not ready to make it yet, we can imagine that they could see a 4-cylinder L-gata engine of two litre capacity being necessary somewhere in the near future. If that wasn't part of a long-term plan then it would have to be a big coincidence, no? One thing is for sure: Those 'A' and 'B' suffixes did the job of differentiating between the six and the four, and the 'old' and 'new' sixes. But anyway, Kerrigan's Fairlady Z-L was fitted with the 'new' type L20 six, which the factory called an 'L20A' at the time.

Absolutely not. 1969 production: 969 'Domestic' S30-series Z ( Fairlady Z, Fairlady Z-L, Fairlady Z432 and Fairlady Z432-R ) and 543 'Export' ( Datsun 240Z ). Bear in mind that the numbers for the 'Export' units do not discern between different export market models ( a few 'Europe', UK, Australia, NZ etc cars WERE made before the end of 1969 ) even though we know that most of them were North American market models. The Fairlady Z-L for sale in Holland doesn't necessarily look like a 1969-build example to me, as there are many non-1969 build parts on it. The car has clearly been modified. I've asked the vendors to supply the chassis number for this car ( if it WAS a 1969 build, then I'd be interested in buying it ) but they have so far avoided making a clear answer.

As is often the case, this is something we have discussed on this forum - in detail - in the past: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/misc-s30/14422-home-market-s30-factory-options.html http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/misc-s30/14501-home-market-hs30-options.html