sakijo

That's correct: January 23, 1971. But what is it? Company policy for the production line to mark the date that the gas tank went into the car? Japanese "robot worker" graffitti? Delivery date to the plant? Who knows . . . . For the fortune cookie theory . . . The Japanese are immitators, not innovators. Of course they have fortune cookies! They've even managed to convince most of Asia that kim chee is a Japanese product by exploiting a Korean law that forbids large scale production of kim chee in Korea. This law was enacted to ensure that Koreans do not forget how to make kim chee and to preserve obscure kim chee varieties. Korean law makes sense to me. When was the last time you ate a cake made from scratch? Chances are the last cake you ate was made from a box mix or purchased from a bakery.

STOP ! ! ! ! you're tugging at the heartstrings of Z lovers everywhere with this mayhem. No one likes to see a favorite ANYTHING in damaged condition . . . except the vultures who are looking for cheap spare parts.

Watanabes can be had for pretty cheap in Japan, though not inthe condition of 240Ztt's wheels. He's got it all . . . Watanabe rims, caps, and lug nuts. My concern is that the tires are a bit too small for the rims - looks like sidewall bulge to me. Whatever! Great look and great car. I need Watanabe caps and lug nuts for my car . . . .

A zero (0) feedback seller of a "rare" car . . . . C'mon, who you kidding? If you could go there and authenticate the car, maybe it's worth a bid. But the thing can't be a "prototype" with a VIN of S3003841. Yes, it's a early Fairlady Z RHD. But it's definitely not what it's being advertised as . . .

Metal ones usually had pins on the backside and little clips to hold them from behind or plastic inserts that went into the holes in the sheetmetal to provide friction for the pins to keep them in place. Plastic ones are usually flat on the backside and has adhesive tape; sometimes they have locating pins. If it was a model-specific OEM replacement, it should be the same as the one on your car (i.e. metal or plastic). If it was a generic part (i.e. used on many models) chances are that you're getting "modern" replacement parts that look the same, but may be made from different materials. Anyway, that's been my experience.

I am Sakijo. It comes from the Okinawan tradition of giving out nicknames by friends. Yes, my family originally comes from Okinawa. I joined a Taiko club (drum performance club). We were out drinking with our Okinawan teachers and the subjct came up. I got Sakijo - meaning someone who's a "good drinker" or "someone who can hold their liquor well" It's definitely better than another guy in our group who got the name "Oji" which means "old man." I am Sakijo almost everywhere on the internet, except for eBay, where some guy from the Netherlands got it by combining the first two letters of his wife's and daughters' names - - - bummer - - - - who would think. For Bambikiller, hey, where I come from (Hawaii), we have "Bambi-yaki" that's deer meat marinated in teriyaki sauce and grilled over charcoal.

Got a lot of them UGLY Skykines here in Japan. I guess they think it's "cool" to make a racing replica. And then go nuts and put on all kinds of UGLY things on it. People are amazed at how mine looks- stock. They also think I'm rich because I can afford such a car - - - ha ha ha ha ! ! ! ! My car's actually CHEAP considreing they paid $40,0000.00 for their new Fairlady Z . . . . could have bought three of mine and had money left over . . . . .

Yep, ya were a fool alright for selling all that for such a low price to some guy who doesn't appreciate the car. We all know that these are "project cars" that will never be "right" and will consume a lot of time, money and care to keep them running, not to mention hunting down those elusive spare parts. I hope things work out . . . this board doesn't need flames, rivalries, and dissent.

According to a quick search, I found the following: Commencing in September 1980, Motor Vehicle Safety Standard regulation FMVSS-115 required a 17-digit VIN (vehicle identification number) on all new vehicles sold in the United States. (In Canada, the applicable regulation is Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations Standard 115 of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act.) In June of 1983 the American requirements of the regulation moved to Part 565. The vehicle identification number is divided into four parts: the World Manufacturer's Identification (WMI - three characters); the Vehicle Description Section (VDS - five characters); the check digit; and the Vehicle Identification Section (VIS - eight characters). When decoded, the VIN tells the country and year of manufacture; make, model and serial number; assembly plant and even some equipment specifications. So, your 78 and 79 predate the new requirement. I did some research into this when trying to determine if I could bring my motorcycle to the US from Japan. You can learn a lot about your car if your decode your 17 digit VIN.

Aloha from Zushi-shi, Kanagawa-ken. I don't drive a Z, but the people here are really friendly, knowledgable and helpful. I have a 71 Hakosuka and love the technical information. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Of course damaged trim can be repaired . . . but I've never seen repaired trim look like undamaged stuff. What you need is a trim hammer (a really small body working hammer), a hard surface, and a lot of patience. Take the trim piece off and hammer from the backside - slowly, slowly, slowly. The book says to use a spiral pattern, from the center out, Like I said, I've never seen one that came out "perfect" - they always had wrinkles, pits and such. Maybe the body man wasn't all that good . . . I don't know. If it's a daily driver or occasional driver, it will get damaged. Accept that. If it's a show car that doesn't go anywhere, by all means, replace it with new OEM parts.

Hey, check out some pictures I just uploaded on my tranny swap out. It was a total overhaul. New clutch, pressure plate, bushings, etc, etc, etc. Take a real good look at the transmission mount - new urethane bushings that replace the totally destroyed rubber ones. And look closely at the machined flywheel - there's two extra holes because it was balanced.

Hi all, My friend just got his web site up and running and asked me to introduce it to the world. Ha ha! Like I know the world . . . . Anyway, he wants to have foreign people visit his web site and is interested in Skylines in foreign countries. His is a 1970 Skyline 4 door with an RB26 motor in it and the "ultra rare" "Yayoi" sakura design wheels. Very clean car. And here's the link: http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~toyaworks/index.htm Sorry - all in Japanese but you can filter it through a translator.

The idiot who bought this car must have been on drugs or an eccentric millionaire with nothing better to do with his money. Come on! A 25 year old car with 35 miles on it? This thing's a museum piece looking for a museum. Drive it? Forget it! What? With all the rubber pieces deteriorated to the point of needing replacement would you drive it? Rubber deteriorates . . . period! How much engine time has it got? You gotta run the engine to keep it in running order or it will seize. We have cars in Japan that have low mileage that are driven every day and spend hours in the traffic jams. That equals extra wear and tear on the engine as we all know that idling is hardest on the motor. I say that this thing is an expensive restoration project for anyone who wants to drive it or an expensive piece of art that's too big to fit in the house.

You want ridiculous? In certain neighborhoods in Hawaii, they have Associations with "rules." Breaking these "rules" can mean fines or destruction of the "offending" object. Unkempt yards. Laundry hanging to dry in the carport. Walls too high. Acceptable colors for your house. And my favorite: any vehicle in a garage or carport must be wholly inside the structure. There were actually people going out and measuring or taking pictures of the offending vehicle. People whose boat trailer tongues stick out by as little as 6 inches were cited by the neighborhood association. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you can't park on the street and can't keep things in your yard. And they all wondered why I didn't buy there - all the other young people did. And the homes were new. Ha! I bought a 45 year old house in an established neighborhood with no rules what-so-ever. My house is green, and my neighbors' are pink, dark maroon, yellow, light purple, gray and white. The guy down the street has so much junk in his garage that he has to park his car on the street. FREEDOM! I feel for all of you who have to live with neighborhood Nazis.

America usually got the "plebian" models so as not to siphon off sales from their "premium" cars (i.e. the Z). The marketing strategy was to have a "complete" line-up of cars ranging from "cheap economy cars" to "family cars" to "sports cars" and no cross-overs (i.e. sport sedan - Bluebird SSS, Skyline GT, etc) to "cannibalize" sales. I remember these: 310 - mid 60s (my aunt owned one) 1600/2000 Roadster (Fairlady 2-seater - my cousin had one with dual mikunis) PL510 68-72 (Bluebird - we had a 69 wagon and a 71 sedan) 610 (bigger successor to the 510) 710 (smaller car to fill the gap between B210 and 610) 1200 (Sunny - I had one as a project car) B210 (Sunny) 810 (round body - the first luxury Datsun) 810 Maxima (square body - going further upscale) 240Z 260Z 280Z 280ZX 520/620/720 Pick-ups When they switched to the NISSAN brand in 83, it was became easier to cross-reference. Here in Japan, there are cars that are simply not exported at all. The auto makers must have at least 50 models and variations there of for sale at any given time and I wonder how they manage to sell them. Take for example the Toyota Crown line. There is the top line Crown Majesta, the Crown Athelete (sports model), the Crown Super Saloon (base model), the Crown Royal Saloon (mid line model), the Crown Comfort (taxi cab line which can be bought in non-taxi configuration). Then, of course, the options . . . . .

Aloha from Japan. I'm originally from Oahu and my brother lives in Hakalau. Lots of great information to be found here - just search before you ask because much of it has been discussed before. Other sources of information I use are: www.zcar.com, zhome.com and www.zcar creations.com. This is the BEST forum by far.

Welcome aboard mate! Geez . . . I'm gettin an Aussie accent hanging around here. You are correct - the car in question was sold in the US as an Infinity M30 and here in Japan as a Nissan Leopard. The Nissan Leopard was a fairly high-end luxury sports coupe here, but Nissan took it to the US to be the low-end car in the Infinity line. It didn't last too long. Lots of technical information here and friendly folks who don't mind sharing. My Skyline has benefitted . . . . .