Sean Dezart

Is this gonna be a rally or circuit car and must it be road legal as most organisers stipulate ? Could each continent produce one ? Fred, if you think that I'm gonna let you loose on mine until after you've proven yourself at Karting...

"I often wonder if any of them consider what previous generations of Australians had to endure in order for them to HAVE the right to protest. What for example (apart from WW2)?" "i swear to god, if it hadn't been a 15 year old schoolgirl i would have fought back" - so you're not for sexual equality ? Anyway, if we're gonna punch ignorant students, better pick on small ones like our countries do ! I am definitely for peaceful protests, the way to change things is to threaten those in power with whom you're gonna vote for next which unfortunately leaves out frustrated macho 15 year old girls ! The ones I feel sorry for are the employees of McDonalds - they're always the first to get hit and the poor sods are only trying to earn their bread/rice/sushi depending where they are ! McDos' insurance must be astronomical !

"We always have to do the dirty work and babysit the rest of the world. (The Middle East)" Dwight - SO DON't play the game ! Shottime - do you not believe in conspiracies unless they make the lunchtime news like Enron ? They are everywhere because even the best men with good intentions like to make their bit on the side ! As an aside and a very personal view with (admittedly) only a modest amount of knowledge, have you had a good president since JFK ? Was he ? This geezer who mouthed of at the Oscars at least didn't lie down and block the road - he could be switched off ! Carl and Dwight, if you guys are serious about protesting against fuel prices you should do what you're doing against French goods - don't buy fuel and therefore drive your Zees ? Kinda cruel protest though! Fuel here is 1 dollar per litre (no big difference betwween 91 and 98) with diesel at 75 cents.

Caterhams, yeah - Dutch Donkervoort has less pedigree but is a better car. Both are not what I'd call comfortable sportscars - I mean would you trade your Z for one in order to drive 300 miles ? I know Audis are nice, my companion Cathy has an A3 in off-white - you gas guzzlers will laugh - it's a 1.9 turbo diesel but at a constant 90 mph with the airconditioning on, I get 48 mpg ! The only fault is that the suspension is too firm with not a lot of feedback through the steering. These two faults I believe are homogenous to Audis ! My colleague has a 180 BHP TT and his only complaint is that it eats front tyres - REAL sportscars are rear wheel drive and strictly two seats !

Back again ! Are there real sports cars still ? GTs yes. There are real sports cars, you mentioned the Elise and then TVRs, Morgans but these are all low production high cost jobs - there are no mass produced (light) sports-cars ! Miatas/MX-5s: who said that ? And then again, what about the old school who say a real sports-car has to be a convertable ? It says something that an Elise is compared to an A4 - safety/comfort and new laws abiding costs weight and money ! In my youth, a palm pilot was someone who used a five finger shuffle !

Oops ! Here is the text I was referring to : You should all have been at Steve Lack's Kent Group Meet on Sunday - a representative of Nissan Ancaster (Penge) brought a blue metallic Fairlady Z auto 350 for us to paw and prod (and sit in). I have some quite cynical observations as a result, concerning Nissan's plans for the U.K. version and the changes inflicted on this car by SVA testing: 1. The prediction is that 60% of sales will be auto (because this is the figure from the Z32 sales). 2. The front indicator strips and bumper repeater strips may not be legal for U.K. / Europe: this example had them disabled and an orange bulb stuck in the upper part of the headlamp. Also, the wings had been drilled to fit some tacky side repeaters under the Z emblem. 3. We can't have Xenon headlamps unless at least washers are fitted - cue two ugly blobs on the front bumper..... 4. Although Japanese cars made in the U.K. and Japanese home market cars have the indicator stalk on the right, Nissan plan to swap the 350Z one to the left. Also, apparently cars for U.K. / Europe made in Japan have this feature..... 5. The standard brakes look like recycled 280ZX units - please let us have Brembos...... 6. The jewel-like Z logo rear strut brace has already been toned down to a matt alloy finish and may have to go altogether. Complaints apparently of reflected Z logo in rear view (pretty cool, I'd say!. If golf club toting executives had their way, the strut brace would be removed entirely (can't get the golf bag in the back). 7. Already the "Nissan cheap plastic" jibes are starting and there are complaints that there is no glove box - despite cavernous storage bins behind the seats! 8. Paint quality was dubious with poor colour matching of fuel filler and bumper / bonnet / wing lines. 9. SVA speedo conversion had disabled some trip computer gauge functions and made two buttons inoperative. 10. U.K. cars will have a restyled (read big and ugly) rear number plate indent and probably separate inserts for rear fogs. This car had the worst SVA fog lamp conversion (bar the "Halfords dangler") - a bit of red plastic stuck on the outside of one reversing lamp....... Personally, I'm still very impressed by the car, but would be very choosy about spec. I'm not convinced that U.K. cars are going to be right (somebody please prove me wrong!!!!. The interior is wonderfully tactile for all the driver bits, seating position is excellent, the tilt wheel perfect, the plastic is quite acceptable, even the wobbly centre bin lid (Sat-Nav cover on fully equipped cars) is fine as long as you don't deliberately bash it about like most motoring journalists seem to. I still want it, but the higher import specs look much more appealing than a base model Fairlady Z. Are the importers providing the information on options to prospective punters? £31,700 would be a lot to pay for a base model car....... So how does this compare with US 350s ? Are 'yours' wildly different from 'ours' or just the same subtlies as per the 240 ? ps Thanks Alfadog for the input !

Looks like the same old story but with a different face ! Don't anyone tell me they have a s'tandard' Z !!! Every country or at least continent is different ! http://www.zclub.net/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?s=3e5fbb980e5affff;act=ST;f=12;t=15 Sean

Nice pictures Alan - bravo ! Now if you just had them on video as I have... along with the '71 and '72 East African Safari rallys and some 240Z crash testing ! I'm also hoping to receive soon the RAC rally. I will copy and send anyone these clips circa mins in exchange for film coverage of 240Zs that I haven't got. Isn't it time that such coverage was pooled ? I also figure that you left hookers have broken the choke handle whilst leaning for the handbrake ! And it is nice to have it to hand and not fumble under the dash ! I'm still trying to work out what carguyinok was doing in his Zs - surely it would have been easier for the pair of you to climb in through the hatch ! I vote with you guys and say that the LH and RH drive versions were decided at a certain point on the line and it was after the handbrake placement.

OK Mike - I'll wait to hear from you and I'll keep an eye on your thread. Sean

It's all kicked off nicely by Rogerszdown in Aus : Hello Sean i have some "z" competitors here but only for 1975 260z coupe $6974 260z 2+2 7707 alfa 2000gtv 8088 BMW 2002 8419 FIAT 124 sports 6889 PORSCHE 911 coupe 18,865 PORSCHE CARRERA 25,437 TRIUMP STAG 11,480 and the locals VALIANT CHARGER 770 5914 FALCON GT 7103 FALCON GT 2dr 7231 TORANA SLR V8 5553 Cheers Roger Offhand I can think of Alpine A310s, Toyota Celicas/Supras, MGB V8... There must be others but the point I would like to delve into is whate are there standings now, nearly 30 years on and why ?

Thanks Alfadog, I suspect that the chassis of this car was that of (sold over here) the Ford Fiesta which, coincidentally had a 'sport' version called an XR2. This was a 1.6 injection model with all the Ford wannabe 'go-faster' stripes etc. It made it and the Escort XR3 the most nicked cars at the time and young drivers' insurance, very expensive ! Sean

Z-priv, I see that is some surface rust - how far does it go ? Also, are you able to organise shipping it (to up your % of course)? Sean ps real sorry the car has to go !

Zvoiture - congrats for coming outa the closet and joining us pommie poofters ! BTW, I think that the choke(starter)lever is better angled for RHD than left but perhaps that's just how my fingers are bent ! zrally, so what does a '90s Capri look like - remember here in 'sophisticated' europe we don't see half of what's produced in the rest of the world ! I'd love a '67 vette but a Z beats it in almost every way except for how long the car has been produced which seems to be the crunch with most car snobs - they can't respect that for a small emerging mass market producer to throw out a car like the Z so soon was what helped make it an 'instant' classic ! When LOtus put out the 'new' Elan there was criticism of it being front wheel drive but it calmed - after all it was LOTUS ! Since then we've seen many performance pullers (as opposed to pushers), perhaps as a direct consequence of the touring car series of races ? Yeah me too I like early '70s 'sports cars/slaoon sports - perhaps we should start a new thread ?

Aah trs, someone IS curious after all. My car will be ready for the end of July, I collect it and will drive direct to Billing - the UKs 'annual Z convention'. I don't want to 'let the cat outa the bag' until then BUT i will inform you all about the car in August with photos. Nothing so dramatic as transplanting the in line with a Skyline engine but nize even so. Thanks for responding mate. Sean

Thanks Enrique - I think I'm gonna check out their site 'Angel Eyes' and see what the deal is - I'll feedback.

-I'm gonna tread carefully here - my 240 was too often mistaken for a CRAPri and this is a Z forum ! The UK series ran 4 pot 1300 cc engines, 1200 and 1500 (I think), 1600 and 2000. I believe at some point there was a V4 2.0 ? The continental market also ran 2.3 V6 and 2.6 sometimes in RS form) V6. The top of the range in all markets was the V6 3.0 and later the 2.8 V6. The Capri could be a lot of fun, in later cars you had to drive around with a sandbag in the boot (especially in the wet). Interms of price the Capri 3.0 just undercut the 240Z in the UK with a 4 speed and unsophisticated suspension, about the same bhp but a lot more torque. The starting image of the first Capris was young, trendy executive who wants a no frills sporty car for the weekend - it ended up as a wannabe car ! A car using the same running gear, the Reliant Scimitar had a classier image but a MUCH higher price tag. I believe anyone who bought a 240Z much as now wanted to be different (perhaps is already different), especially as at that time Jap imports were blamed for everything from cows milk running dry to the national debt. Whenever someone criticised me for driving Japanese, quoting what these cars did to our manufacturers, I just reply no-one forced the British to buy them - natural market conditions prevail - you buy the best for less ! A Z has a hard time with a lot of cars in straights lines (and sometimes approaching round-abouts after fast striaghts) but those bends and country lanes in 3rd !!!!!!!

Hey daddz, Don't say that about Alans' car, well everyone to thier taste. Me, I don't like G-noses ! The best G-nose I ever saw was on a 280 ZX ! There, I've said it but again that's what is so great about these cars, yes, the mystery, the different things people have done and tried over the years in varying degrees of taste and also the variety that left the factory ! It would be arrogant in the extreme to say that one model is better than another 'cos it has a higher level of trim or because another sold more. Before judging a car, judge the judges ! I begin to think that the 240 sold itself and wasn't really helped by Nissan or their seemingly hotspotch chain of dealers/importers ! It was only 'cos the car was so good and in several countries so cheap that there was that flood of demand - I'm not sure it was in response to the admen ! Certain publications getting their hands on one obviously did no end of good but word passed quickly.

Sorry about that - the cat walked over my keyboard ! The fact that the designs and prototypes were RHD just reflects the designers country of origin. After that, if the car was primariy for a LHD market, the design team together with the money men would redesign what was necessary to sell that car in that particular market. In this case the US and it was decided that the car would sell without the anti_sway bars, with a 4speed gearbox and without the nice rear diff. Maybe you guys over there weren't fussy enough or the current choice of car (and you can bet your a*** Nissan compared what was on offer) was still found to be inferior against the limited trim US HLS model ! So it can be said that the US Z was specifically made for the US market - but that is not exactly a reference (lacking so many goodies). Perhaps a coincidental reason why the Nissan competition parts dept. was set up and did so well over there and not in other Z markets. Certainly the dealers made extra money by selling 'options' on many Zs - why not Nissan too ? Enrique, the UK Z customers had to have a lot of spare cash at the time to buy their Zs - in Aussie land what did the Zs compete with price wise ? ps there is a French 240Z sitting forlorn in my garage, formerly the property of Fred which has a foot rest !

Gee, great thread - over the past few days I sipped several bottles of Pomerol in contemplation end re-education ! I strongly believe that the Z was created to be RHD (although Alan, the fact th

Thanks guys -yeah Enrique - it was your photo I saw. Are you pleased with them - what bulb power do you have, mods. necessary to standard wiring and if it's not too indiscreet, how much did you pay ?

HI all, In a response to a lighting query, someone downloaded a photo of their front lights which look very similar to those on a new BMW 5series. I 'll explain: at the outer EDGE ONLY of the SIDELIGHT is a circular beam of light. Please would that person email me the photo again with details on how to get hold of lights like that for my 240 ! Thanks, Sean BTW I solved my steering wheel void - I bought a Nardi but I'm not using a Datsun boss - why ? I can't tell you yet but you're gonna love it (the purists won't though!).

Hey Enrique - I love it, whip Alan again (he loves it too!). So perhaps, all you poor isolated (ignorant?) Left hookers had better get over to an Aussie or UK Z meet and be educated on the 'flick 'o the (left) wrist' style of driving ?

Permit me to digress slightly (and Fred will like this one Alan), Was it a factory option or home market standard item to have a passenger foot rest ? If so, are there bolt holes on both LHD and RHD passenger foot-wells ? If not, did Nissan really expect owners/dealers to drill holes ? Sean