26th-Z

Great, kats Thanks.

Yes I did! I know several of the people involved with the sale of the car, originally. I bought the car from the estate of the original owner and remember it from new as it belonged to the father of a good friend of mine. The original salesman and one of the mechanics for Campbell Motors are still alive. They tell me that way back then, they didn't really know what the car was. It was the first 240 Z in Sarasota and there is some debate about this, but the first one in Florida - perhaps. An interesting little "typo", isn't it? Campbell had just added the Datsun line to the dealership. They sold Simcas and Sunbeams. Mr. Campbell didn't want to deliver the car right away. He wanted to have the car in his showroom for a few weeks. I have the reciepts for the payments and even though the car was sold in April, it wasn't fully paid for or delivered until May. I posted pictures in the "hand throttle" thread from my owner's manual and interestingly between 20 December 1969 and 15 January 1970 the manuals were hand edited to delete the feature from the literature. Also note the carpeting feature listed on the shipping bill. That paper would have been used as what we call the window sticker. Some time ago, we discussed whether or not the original 240 Zs came with carpeting or rubber floor mats. The literature also shows Nissan having USA main land distributors in California and New Jersey. My shipping bill shows Jacksonville as the port of entry, indicating a couple of things. First, Her Majesty probably saw the Pananma Canal. But the extra time it took to get to the East coast might explain the November manufacture date stamped on the door jamb. Alan has proposed that the stampings were not done at the factory, but rather (where did you say, Alan?) casting doubt on the accuracy of the door jamb plates. This could explain why my lower serial number car has a later manufacturing date than later serial number cars. 26 may have been on a different boat than 42. What might be possible is to research the shipping records for information about what was shipped where and when.

Yes, I have one of those.

Is there a date on your manual, Andrew? There are pictures of my manual covers in my gallery - page 3. 20 December 1969 It would be interesting to know when Nissan did that to the manuals. I swear if I look at the knobs on page 10 with a magnifying glass, they are the square shape. But all the rest of the drawings show rounded - clearly. Would love to see what you find, Mark.

I hope you guys take this club and the discussions we have with as much pleasure, fun and sense of humor that I do. I try not to offend anyone. :classic: These little faces really do help. Mike, you make a good point. Now that I look at all the various pictures (hand drawings) of the hand throttle and choke knobs scattered throughout the manual, I notice them pointing in opposite directions, square, and rounded. I am impressed with how well the drawings depict actual parts, but it is difficult to say what is absolutely correct. The knobs shown on page 10 of my manual look square. On pages 13 and 15, they point left. On pages 16 and 17, they point in opposite directions! Mark and Andrew, do I understand correctly that your manuals were "edited" with paste-overs deleting the hand throttle feature?

I was just poking fun, Ben. I can't tell you how surprised I was to find the mention in the owner's manual. We had almost come to the conclusion that the hand throttle was excluded from the American market with the exception of a few cars that "snuck" in. Evidently not so.

Why do both knobs point to the left? Perhaps evidence that the car was orignally designed for LHD American export?

I found this in my 1969 Owner's manual - two pages discussing the throttle controls. Notice the round shape of the knobs.

Information is typed inside the front cover. This was a 12 month / 12,000 mile warranty and the tires and battery were covered seperately from the manufacturer. The pages are tear-aways for service intervals and the first few are missing from my book, but the later pages up to 36,000 miles are still there.

Everyone, When this thread started, I got my paperwork out and while looking at it, discovered some great stuff relating to several threads we have had in the past. Throttle controls on the early cars, rear-view mirror types, seatbelts, original tire specifications, and many other things are shown in the owner's manual and would clear up many questions. I will try to go back and find those threads so that I can post pictures of my information. Should be fun! Kats, since you are going to the convention in June, I will bring this information with me to show you. This is the cover of the Warranty and Service Book for my car.

This is the Bill of Sale for my car. I erased the names on the .jpg file for privacy reasons, but everything else is original.

Hi kats, Photographs of my Owner's Manual are in my gallery - page 3. You will notice the printing date of the manual - 20 December, 1969. This is the shipping bill fo my car. I keep these papers safe in a bank. Probably safer than the car!

That's way too funny. Bitter? Hell no, she's angry!!!! Thanks seerex. That eBay made my day :love:

Good morning everyone! What a great conversation. "Zeeological Carcheology" at it's best! :classic: Kats, you always send me scrambling to my boxes and bags of parts to see what I have. You challenge me. Thanks. I will post photographs of the papers for you. The original owner's manual has interesting information also. The only other dated parts I know of (now) are my wheels - date stamped 10 / 69. Alan, I am in perfect agreement with you - especially when you bring up the race car chassis scenario. Good point. The records of Ford GT-40s and Porsche 917s are littered with "spare" and "uncompleted" chassis numbers later used or completed out of production sequence. With the idea that not all cars were date stamped as US delivery cars were, lacking uniformity, we cannot simply apply a birth date. And yes, this discussion could be very similar to a Roe vs Wade debate! I don't want anyone thinking that I claim HLS30-00026 is a 1969 model year car. It is clearly a 1970 model. Evidence points to production in the fall of 1969. And now I will close with words of wisdom from my Porsche fanatic friend; "The VIN is the birth certificate and the OK sticker is the first doctor's appointment".

$3,500 in 1984. Daily driver in reasonable shape. She is now a garage queen and if I have less than $20,000 in the restoration, I will be surprised.

The previous thread asked the question if there were any real 1969 cars and I wanted to respond here with the idea that the model year and build date are often confused. I always prefer to use the build date as the year of the car rather than an arbitrary model year date, although that could lead to some confusion. As far as I know, the Datsun 240-Z Coupe was introduced as a 1970 model year even though the construction dates go back to September 1969 for production customer sale cars. I have been meaning to get out the paperwork for my car and with this discussion I did. Down to the bank to retrieve the documentation - Her Majestys' Papers. To my surprise: Her Majesty the 26th was ordered April 3, 1970. She was delivered April 29, 1970. Her original port of entry was Jacksonville, Florida and the shipping bill lists her as HLS30U-00026 907 (green). She came standard with carpeting as listed on the window sticker. The suggested retail price including shipping and dealer prep (antifreeze) was $3632, however she sold for $3791.13 (taxes)and wasn't paid for until May 4, 1970.

$3,600 in 1970 equals $17,000 today. The "factory" restoration cars are literally brand new. $25,000 for a brand new sports car is pretty cheap.

What a great discussion and I want to thank all of you for participating. I have many questions and a couple of opinions. I bought some old seat belts to use as parts for the restoration of my originals and they are date stamped 2 / 1972. This makes no sense to me for several reasons. By 1972, the seat belts found on NA cars would have been retractor type with the later push button style buckles. All of my parts fiche information indicates such. My lovely HLS30-00026 is manufacture date stamped 11 / 69 with an engine serial number L24-2338. The seat belts are 9 / 1969. Cars with later serial numbers (such as #42) and lower engine numbers are stamped 10 / 69 and the production figures kats supplied would indicate my 26 was manufactured in October. I would say that the car becomes a car when the OK sticker is slapped on. Prior to that, it is "under construction". I would say that a "production" car is a production model intended to be sold and the rest are "test" or "study" examples. When we discuss production cars, we should exclude those cars which were not intended to be sold to the public. Finally, for lack of better information, I suggest the stamped build date be used to identify and date the car to the letter. We have no better information and it would be purely subjective to discuss a date earlier than what is stamped on the door jamb, or in the case of the AU cars, the engine bay plate. What and where were the domestic cars stamped? Is there such a chassis as HS30-00026? PS30-00026? What were the build dates for those early cars?

Oh heavens! Car magazines are filled with tours, shows and excursions of enthusiasts who take their cars to a country and "enjoy the ride". I read of BMW events, Porsche events, Ferrari events and such all the time. Yes, it is a small group that participates, but you must remember the most common place for the Z is America. This is where all the junk is. Everywhere else, the marque is an expensive collector car. Go ahead. Slap me for sounding like a snob. :classic: In the American collector car world, the 240Z is the cheapest game in town.

Your explanation is correct, Andrew. I don't have pictures of mine, but that is how it works. Louvers in the panel, rubber flaps in a steel frame attached inside. Please ask Santa to bring me a brand new one in Butterscotch ROFL

I'm watching this conversation with great interest, you two!

Hello kats, My engine shop manual is printed November 1969 and specifies Hitachi LT145-35, 12V - 45A. The pictures show the "grapefruit" cut away back plate. Pages EE-13 through EE-20. My alternator is packed away in a box, but I will look at it tonight and respond.

That's GREAT news, kats. I arrive Wednesday and look forward to meeting you.

No hijack at all, Gary. I have the brochure I picked up at the Mitty. www.lamin-x.com Clear protectant film for headlight covers as well as painted surfaces. I am seeing this stuff more and more, especially on the front of race cars because of the stone chipping problems. You almost can't see it once it is on and it comes in colors. This is a 12 mil vinyl that is applied with soapy water and a squeege. When the water film dries, the vinyl adheres like a decal and it can be peeled off. We have dreadful bugs this time of year in Florida - the kind that eat the paint - and this film is something I am considering for my car. I don't know if an MSA headlight cover kit would work in the factory frames, but if I had the problem, I sure would try it.

Another one of the "Don't Miss" events if you are in to seeing great cars. Please post pictures of the Datsuns!