Carl Beck

I don't believe that the Top Lid to the Battery Cover was vented (with holes) until much later. While it looks like NISSAN OEM Spark Plug wires were used - the later OEM Replacement Parts for a time came with Red Spark Plug Boots - the originals and later OEM Replacements were all black. May have been mentioned, but as I recall those are the wrong hood bumpers for 01/70

If I recall correctly - - - we had a long Discussion Tread several years ago related to the position of the Valve Stem Hole on the Early vs Late D Hub Caps. I believe Kats proved that the position of the opening on the early D Hub Caps for the valve stem - was either one of two different positions.(both positions were shown on very early Z’s) Meaning you could not tell an early from the later D Hubcaps based on the position of the opening for the valve stem. (may be my memory is bad?)

Was owned by Hung Vu..

I think it is several factors. Lots of clear pictures of the things everyone wants to see. Great looking undercarriage and everything else in very presentable condition. Responsive seller, offering a $25K 240Z, with $50K+ worth of restoration or refresh work already done. That saves the new owner a couple years worth of work and worry not to mention risk. I would say it is a pretty nice condition #3 example, well short of the $90K+ price range for condition #2 on the Hagerty Value Scale. So at $70K it is in the range one should expect…. Still I am surprised to see that many potential buyers that also like the Metallic Brown color - that is not the usual case. Also - from my memory, I don’t believe that Metallic Brown nor any Metallic was Amino Alkyd Enamel - the Metallics were acrylic enamel.

Very interesting video and glad to see an original owner that actually knows a lot about his 240Z. Also glad to see that Mr. David Cash is alive and well. He is #80 on our "Z Car Original Owners Register” from 1999. http://zhome.com/IZCC/ZRegisters/original.htm #1 or #2 Condition? Several Classic, Collectable and Special Interest Price Guides have been published for decades and most of them define what Condition #1 or Condition #2 means. If you look at enough of them over the years they all more or less have the same general definitions of the meaning of the Condition rating numbers. - if not the exact specific definition. Some divide the group broadly into 4 Condition Categories, while others use 6 or more Condition Categories to more specifically define the over-all Condition of the car. Being an old guy, I still like the 6 Condition Categories as defined by the Old Cars Price Guide. http://zhome.com/Buying/OldCarsPriceGuide.htm Of course today we seem to be living in a society that rejects the concept of having words or terms that have any documented and agreed to definitions.

Hi Kats: That would be such an unusual engine swap for a 69 240Z; I wouldn’t have any previous sales to compare it to. It is not unusual to have a far more powerful engine put into a Classic Z Car, but usually that engine with say 350/400HP would cost less than $10K. There are a large number of Buyers that would love 350HP for an additional $10K or more. Just don't know how many would spring for an additional $40K or more for 160HP swap.

I agree, also think that it hurts the seller's creditability when they don't state right up front - "replacement L24". ON the other hand a low VIN 240Z with a lot of expensive and time consuming restoration work already done, most certainly would be a pretty nice weekend driver for C&C's. At $50K-$65K it should be in the market range. $35K for a pretty nice non-numbers matching Series I seems a bargain + $15K for a pretty low VIN 1969 production example. MRM may very well know what he's doing ....

This one surprised me - It is a very nice 240Z and worth the money - IF - it didn't need floorboards replaced. It might not matter at all to the current owner, but when he goes to resell it - buyers might be a lot more picky. Not saying he paid too much - just saying it surprised me that two buyers were willing to go above $26/28K.

The values of Datsun 240Z’s today, like most Classic, Collectible and Special Interest automobiles is perhaps 80+% based on the over-all condition of the car. Past that other factors play a significant role. For any Datsun 240Z offered as a Classic/Collector quality example today, to be worth 6 figures - its overall condition has to justify that. Judged on the only objective standard “as it left the factory”. That doesn’t apply to Restore-Mods and highly modified examples. Their values are perhaps more based on “what would it cost to build it today” as well as “is this exactly what I would build”. Even at that over-all condition plays the major role. A love VIN, 240Z produced in 1969 might add $15K to $25K to the value of the Z, over and above its “current condition” would establish. So forget the VIN for now and judge very critically the car offered on its actual condition - deducting values for every item not “as it left the factory”.

Just an FYI, in case you didn’t see them in the Datsun Showroom at the time: That image and another was printed on one half of a Showroom Poster - each image was about 3w’x2h’. So the total size of the Poster was about 3’ wide by 4’ high. The images were printed head to head, or top to top. The Poster was then folded in half - and hung over a support wire that ran wall to wall across the center of the showroom. There were two or maybe three different Posters - that featured the EAS Rally 240Z’s and the Monte Carlo 240Z's.

You might be disagreeing about two different situations/cases. In Mr. Uemura’s book he tells us why the Datsun 240Z’s were not undercoated at the factory as regular production began, and that the Dealers were advised to undercoat the 240Z's on Delivery. https://www.lulu.com/search?adult_audience_rating=00&page=1&pageSize=10&q=Datsun+240Z By the 1972 model year (and perhaps some time before) Nissan was using more galvanized sheet metal in the floors, firewalls and hood bracing. So you have to be specific about which model years you are talking about when it comes to undercoatings/paint etc. Big Difference between 70/71 and 72/73. 72/73's were undercoated at the factory. To get primer/paint to stick to galvanized sheetmetal, the sheetmetal had to neutralized (cleaned/cleared of zinc hydroxide) in order to get the primers to adhere to the metal. Nonetheless over longer periods of time the primers/paint would start to peel off as the galvanized metal continued to oxidize under it. If you see a lot of 72/73 240Z’s that haven’t already been repainted etc - you will usually see the paint peeling off - on the firewall and front hood braces. When the original primer peels off the metal, it takes the paint with it. So you see bare usually grayed bare metal. When you see the factory applied undercoating peel or flake off exposing bare metal - it is because the primer/paint under the undercoating is peeling off the galvanized metal - not because the undercoating was applied directly to the metal.

HI Mark - First, where is Middelburg? Over-all, from the pictures - Looks like the original engine is missing/changed. That would hurt its value somewhat when jthe car appears to be mostly "stock". The diamond vinyl is aftermarket and not very appealing to most, the door panels and plastic interior panels are heavily dyed..and some look broken. The engine compartment could use a lot of detailing/cleaning.. All that considered - the Asking Price seems very reasonable to me, given that it has been imported, the duties/taxes are paid etc. That alone today might be $8,000.00 USD. If you are in the Netherlands or close by - seems like a good opportunity. In any case you should expect to put several thousands of Euro's/Dollars into it - once you own, drive and fall in love with the 240Z. FWIW, Carl B.

It was an option in Japan, available here in the USA though the Datsun Parts Catalog / Dealer Parts Dept. Could have been installed at the Dealership, usually done by upholstery shops/convertible shops that specialized in Vinyl Tops for cars. Most of them were custom made and installed at the Top Shops.

If it looks gray in pictures - might just be the lighting and angle of the light source etc. That said - if it looks gray or has blueish undertones etc when you see it in person- it isn't factory. Factory Silver in person looks Silver as in that picture. Factory Silver used "Fine" silver metal flakes only. My first 240Z was Silver... got a scratch in the passenger door about 14 months after I picked it up from the Dealer. Spent several months trying to find the right body shop that could match the paint - the fourth shop got it right. Spent months looking very closely at that Silver from the factory. Very hard for shops using completely different types of paint today to blend the correct color - it can be done - if they are willing to shoot enough test panels large enough. Chevy Guys - have the same problem getting Cortez Silver correct as well on Corvettes/Camaro's/Chevelles from the 60's/70's. I had that on my 1970 SS396 El Camino - it is all but identical to the original silver on the 240Z's. Sill if today you look at a hundred pictures of Cortez Silver - only about 1 in 20 looks like the correct shade. Too many of them have gray or blue undertone, or a sand/gold undertone. FWIW Carl

Has To Have A VIN - or it didn't happen.

Hi Kats: That is correct - it did not comply with the normal “model year” marketing system here. The normal model year 1971 here started 1 Oct. 1970 and would run into 30 Sept 1971. These are dates New/Improved models go on sale at the Dealerships. Don’t confuse the Dates of Sale with Dates of Manufacture; although there is normal relationship between them. Cars have to be manufactured some time before they go on sale at the dealership. So for some reason Nissan continued to build/sell the same model as both 1970 and 1971 model year offerings from Oct 1969 through all of 1970 and into 1971. Four months (Oct.,Nov., Dec. Jan.) into the normal 1971 model year Nissan introduced a second and different model also sold as a 1971 model year offering. This affected only the Datsun 240Z, the 510’s and Pickup’s for the 1971 Model Year were in the showroom for sale in Oct. or Nov of 1970. I can only guess why that was done with the 240Z; I would guess Nissan was delayed for some reason getting the normal 1971 Model introduced back in Oct./Nov. of 1970. That delay may have been due to ever changing US Emissions and Safety Standards during that period. With required changes made, the cars had to under-go US re-certification before being sold. (another delay). The same thing happened with the introduction of the 1975 Fuel Injected 280Z - it was delayed by 3 or 4 months into the normal 1975 model year. However that time it only involved selling one model year 1975. You may recall that Mr. Kawazoe was assigned to work in Washington D.C. to represent both Nissan and the Japanese Auto Industry to lobby the US Congress for changes, reductions or delays in implementing the strict standards. (same as all the US manufacturers did at the time). Also to inform Japan of pending or proposed new standards. Keep in mind there was no “Internet” then that allowed real time communications of documents or drawings. International communications of complex technical documents could take a week or more.

Hi Kats: The short answer to your question is NO - No discount, however because I was on active duty with the United States Air Force at the time (and Military Pay was very very low), the Dealer did not mark up the Retail Price. Dealers in the US had such demand for the 240Z's, mostly because the report of the 240Z published in "Road & Track Magazine" which hit the News-Stands Dec. 1, 1969 with the 240Z on the Cover!. (the Cover Car was one of the US Road Test 240Z's, that Nissan had given R&T early access to) So by March 1970 there were long waiting lists for 240Zs, especially in California and on the West Coast. Dealers were adding $1,000.00 to $2000.00 to the MSRP of $3526.00. Then adding more for additional accessories like Mag Wheels, Body Side Molding etc. Because there was a large Air Force Base in Spokane, and because military pay was low, the military personnel bought a lot of very affordable Datsuns locally. So the Dealer wanted to get the first Z's shown/seen on the Base. So I got the first one there... The Dealer I purchased my first Z from was Paul Jaremko. If you read John B. Rae's book; "NISSAN/DATSUN A History of Nissan Motor Corporation in U.S.A. 1960 to 1980" - you would see that Paul Jaremko won Datsun their first SCCA Regional Championships on the West Coast in 1964 driving a Datsun SPL 310 roadster to 14 successive victories. The Jaremko's were one of Mr. K's first 100 Datsun Dealers in the USA (they owned 3 Dealerships). Of course I did not know that when I met him. However I was driving a 1967 Porsche 911S at the time and we started talking about sports car and racing in general as I was test driving the 240Z with him. I had done some limited racing and rallying with the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Club so Paul and I hit it off right away. We are friends to this day.

I bought my first 240Z 14 March 1970, in Spokane, Washington - HLS30 01777. Had to leave it on the Dealer's Showroom floor until May 1970 when they started to actually get their first "supply" of 4 240'z. (all of which had been pre-sold). Then the last guy on the list had to leave his there..for a while.

Yes, and several others found out that you can not drive a 240Z over the concrete parking stops at the shopping mall or grocery store. (without getting hung up or damaging the frame rails).

They were titled as whatever the Dealer put on the original application for a new title at the local DMV, in any of the 50 States. In the 50's, 60's and even into 1970 many Import Car Dealers held their Model Year consistent with whatever was common practice in the country of origin. Many of the early Datsun Dealers were already Import Car Dealers when they took on the Datsun Brand. So they followed their normal practice when applying for a new car Title. VW for example held their model year consistent with the calendar year, as did Porsche and Jaguar as I recall. So if a VW was produced on say 31 Dec. 1960 it was titled as a 1960 VW no matter when it was sold, if the VW was produced on 3 Jan 1961 it was titled as a 1961 VW (even though there was no real difference between them). At that time, part of the reasons given to buy a VW Bug, was that there was no "Planned Obsolescence” due to changing the model completely every year as was done by the American Mfg.s. in the 50’s and 60’s. If you drove a Bug it always looked like a new one! The downside to holding the model year consistent with the Calendar Year for the Import Car Dealers, was that their “new models” arrived at the US Dealerships about three months after the First of the Year. That was 5 or 6 months after the New Models from the American Manufactures went on sale. Model Years also affected Resale Values later in the market - as cars depreciated year by year - a car tilted as a 1960 VW was worth less in the resale market than one titled as a 1961 model. (in the eyes of the banks that loaned the money - as well as the customers buying them). Over time, with increased competition and new laws/regulations from the Federal Government; Domestic and Import Car Sales practices started to normalize. Nonetheless today looking back 40 or 50 years everything looks abnormal.

Now 50+ years later, it is impossible to know for certain. It is certainly “possible” that one or two newer or older parts made their way onto the wrong car. Possible but with a very low probability. If we were talking American Cars with the UAW workers on the line - yes - high probability of things screwed up. A world class car assembled in Japan by workers with great company pride and Total Quality Control training etc. … very low probability IMHO. The highest VIN we have recorded so far for a Series I HLS30 240Z, is HLS30 20533. Purchased from the original owners family and refreshed by a friend of mine. In the exchange of pictures and information over the months he worked on the car, we did not find any of the Series II changes or improvements on that 240Z. (it was an A/T car BTW) Another outlier - is HLS30 19860, a Series I example that should have finished production in 01/71, but did not -and was finished in 02/71. It was advertised for sale on BAT in 2017 and pretty completely discussed at the time - but none of the Series II changes seemed to be present on that Z at that time.

According to the Date of Mfg. on the cars - production started in 08/72 and ended in 08/73. Highest VIN for 1973 found so far is HLS30 172767.

No - by the 1973 Model Year the US Emissions and Safety standards required both here. Flame retardant interior materials were also mandated for 1973 here.