daddz

I was also to understand that the Ford Capri was a nice alternative to the Z in terms of practicality when it was new and could be had with a V6. I think the Z was more of a "crumpet catcher" though.

Sean, Great point about the money men at Nissan doing what was necessary in order to adapt the car for left hand drive markets. The owner of Banzai Motorworks, Mike McGinnis, has been involved with the Z car since 1970 from the mechanical aspect and has been restoring the cars since 1980, also has the very same impression of Nissan. His overall impression was that Nissan was somewhat arrogant when it came to offering the options that most stateside Z owners would have liked to purchase. The U.S. motoring press, namely Car and Driver, were always clamoring for a back to basics Z that could have been offered for sale here in the U.S. If one looks at the advertising of the day the Z was advertised by U.S. marketing firms who didn't know a sportscar from their a**, touting such things as coat hangers (S30) and the ever impressive resale values (nevermind stagflation's effects) without ever mentioning how good the car was to drive. If Nissan had offered the car and marketed it in much the same way as Mazda had done with the RX7 here in the states the LHD models would be a bit more desirable. For instance, with the second gen. RX7's one could walk in to a dealer and order their RX7 with an aluminum hood if so desired. As Alan stated the mystery of this car seems to keep me enthralled; if it didn't I would have kept driving the RX7 ('85 GSL-SE and '87 GXL). Lastly, the RHD cars seem more interesting to me having owned a number of left-hookers; My ideal Z car would be a Fairlady ZG finished in GP Maroon with a set of Watanabes and a triple carb. setup much like the one Alan owns.

I have just finished reading this thread in its entirety and would like to offer a response from a LHD perspective. My experience is limited to S30's from '76 on and S130's from '80 to '83 as well as z31's (both '84 A.E. and '86 hardtop) and most recently the Z33 bsae model. To be truthful I have never relied on the handbrake as it really is not effective as a means to park the car; I always considered it to be too fragile and I always chuckle because us Yanks like to pull the brake to the top of its travel and then wonder why it has stopped holding the car on anything more than a 5% grade. As to the placement of the thing it never bothered me as much as my passengers who thought it somewhat odd that they would be expected to share their seat with the handbrake. Curiously the 350Z has the handbrake on the left side of the tunnel on left hand drive cars (I forget where the domestic market 350Z's have it located) http://www.240ztt.com/robs350z.html ( pics of the 350Z so you can see what I am referring to) I previuosly owned an MA70 Toyota Supra Turbo and it had the handbrake located on the left side of the tunnel and it was not in the least way obtrusive; then again that was a really large car. Having parted out four S30's of both '77 and '78 vintage I find it most interesting that Nissan in its infinite wisdom would change the luggage floor from one year to the next (the '77's floor trim raises up at the back and the '78's do not) and then not offer the five speed as an option until 1977. Here in the U.S. we also received the louvered bonnet from '77 through '78. Our injection manifolds also changed from a split runner design on '75/'76 to a connected runner desgin on '77/'78 models. Lastly, on the U.S. bound 280Z's the earlier storage boxes were covered and not accessible like the 240Z and 260Z. I apologize for digressing and to answer the question regarding pedal location; I have not found it to be a problem in 13+ years of driving these cars everyday.

Alan T: My friend Joe may be able to help with your quest to find the highest export S30 VIN#; He currently owns a 1971 240Z that has covered just 54,000 miles from new and it still wears its original hatch with the air extractor vents and vertical defroster lines and has a stock interior with the original radio still present. His website address is as follows: http://www.240ztt.com/nissan.html (this page has the links to a few of his cars as well as 3/5 of my humble collection) I wish it were possible to view one comprehensive database combining salient features of S30 production changes. For example: in the states in '77 280Z's the rear cargo floor angles up at the back to cover the back of the tailights, yet in late '77 production towards the '78 model year the cargo floor was made flat again, and thus the backside of the tailights had a trim panel.

I am sorry to report that I do not own a 240Z; as matters would have it I own the Z cars that were produced after the 240Z. It would be nice to own a car just like Mr. Thomas' maroon 240ZG! Here's some links to pics of some of my Z's: http://www.240ztt.com/robs280z.html http://www.240ztt.com/robs300zx.html and lastly: http://www.240ztt.com/robs350z.html