Production numbers/Dates

[Mr Camouflage]

gilltech, so is yours a feb 74 or a sep 73 compliance ? its a nice low number.
definetely agree about the lag time. The compliance plate was usually dated and fixed to the car when the motor & gearbox where dropped in on the assembly line..common Japanese practice.

I could be wrong but.....

I have always been under the impression the the compliance plate (which in the case of Australian cars, is an Australian Government produced item), was fitted when the cars arrived in Australia, by Nissan. ( lets not confuse the Nissan ID tag with the compliance plate).

If so, there would have been a time lag between building the car, shipping it, and it receiving a compliance plate when it got to its destination.

Whereas the USA cars got nissan ID tags in the door jamb with actual build dates on them, which would have been fitted on the assembly line.

Of course, I could be wrong.  I'll check with a guy I know that worked for a Datsun dealership back in the 70's.

[chris240]

hmmmm actually Mr Camo, I think your correct, it was probably installed when the cars landed in Oz...Be nice to find out anyway.
Warren, my zed is HS30 - 102904  fairly late on..

[NZeder]

I believe Mr Camo is correct that due to local rules etc there were no manufacturing date ID tags on our cars (NZ, AU and no doubt other RHD countries too ie Japan I have not seen a Manu date on any of these you have to look at things like the QC date stamps on the tach, speedo (if they are still there)) so we are guessing most of the time and as Gilltech (Hi John) states build and sales dates can be very different. Like Gilltech my new 240z (John you will know the car ex Paul DeLatour) sold here in NZ new and first registered Jan 1972 but it is not a 72 car as the chassis code is too low for a 72 it is a late 71 car. So gilltech 260z is a 73 build but sold 74.

Today it is a different story with cars ID tags have more info on them like the factory they were build, if Auto or manual and even the diff and ratio on the ID tags (talking Nissan here - I know it is different for other makes ie look at the Mustangs - older than our Zed cars but they had things like the K in the chassis number, any Ford/Mustangs want to answer what the K stood for.......moving back to topic)

So with the S30 range it is very hard to tell what you have - was it an auto when it left the factor or a manual? Is it an early bodied 240z or a later one? Also we did not get cut over cars like the US did - ie they can say that upto chassis code xyz the car has this body with this type of center console etc. We can't say that, 1. we don't have manu date ID tags/cods on the car to help, going by all the 240z/260z zeds I have seen it looks like the RHD market cars were made using the parts that were in the parts bin's at the time so if new parts came out they were phased in not just a cut over, also if there were two production line many one line used up the older parts first then the next was still using some of the older parts. This might help explain you I have seen two cars with very close chassis number but the newer/later chassis number had earlier stuff on it that the other car did not.

So your guess is as good as mine and Nissan did not keep any of the accurate information on the production figures/dates due to a worker/employment issue so this info was lost to help management cause (we did not produce that many cars so the works don't need that pay increase, and all that stuff, it still happens today in different work places all over the world) So even the info I put on this site from the Parts Catalogue is vague ie do you think if Nissan got to a 260z that was chassis number 15000 by 3rd of July 76 that they would stop production until Aug 76 to start chassis 15001 no so this is just approx info anyway.

[NZeder]

gilltech, so is yours a feb 74 or a sep 73 compliance ? its a nice low number.

compliance? WTF we are talking a NZ new 260z that John has now imported to his new home in OZ land there were no compliance anything. It is always good to see the ADR tag on a 240z/260z here in NZ as we know it was imported from Oz at some point in time we can then compare to the non ADR tagged cars to see the differences between a U spec and M spec car and remember we are also talking about the 70's when Nissan was still selling the cars to the export market as Datsun's so if the marketing or sales when wrong the home market brand (as it was only used in Japan back then) "Nissan" would not be damaged. It was funny back then when you looked at a Datsun you lifted the bonnet and there was Nissan all over the engine and then you had to ask who is Nissan and why are they making engines for Datsun (we had not heard of Nissan back then and there was so internet to search and find out either and hell I am only 36 I was just born with petrol in my veins not blood)

[gilltech]

Yes hi there Mike, you've got a good memory! My 260Z & Mustang both got here to (Brisbane) un-marked thanks to a very careful shipping company.
Yes my NZ-new car just has the factory chassis ID plate as per the upper image in Aegean's post on page 1; no 'compliance' plate was required to be fitted; therefore no helpful date data as the Australia-new cars seem to have received.
A former Nissan assembly-plant employee told me many years ago that he thought that approx 200 240z & 260z cars were imported & sold new by Nissan NZ, which doesn't sound like much until one remembers that Jap cars were still fairly new on the scene in the early 70's; but that is the only import info I've ever heard of. The rest of the Zeds we see around in NZ are apparently personal imports from Australia (mainly), ex-UK or Hong Kong, & quite a few ex Japan as 'grey' used imports (often with 2L motors & lots of rust), plus a few in LHD or ex-LHD form from the USA or Canada or Europe or wherever. Anecdotally I've heard that there are an estimated 600 Zeds in NZ, but how people can even begin to work that out I don't know - I would presume that the majority of those are in varying degrees of condition & completeness & stashed or secreted away as 'future projects'. Mike, you can probably shed some light on the above as it is interesting. I would like to know what the situation is in Australia; I generally see well-optioned 2+2's around over here but not many 2-seaters.
Regarding the 'K' in Mustang chassis numbers - it refers to the factory-fitted engine specification, being in this case a high-performance 289 cu in V8 rated at 271 hp. Not very common, as most purchasers opted for lower-hp-rated small-blocks, or, from 1967-on, a (cheaper) big-block. So if you know someone with a 'K-code' Mustang then they have something pretty desirable today.

[NZeder]

Regarding the 'K' in Mustang chassis numbers - it refers to the factory-fitted engine specification, being in this case a high-performance 289 cu in V8 rated at 271 hp. Not very common, as most purchasers opted for lower-hp-rated small-blocks, or, from 1967-on, a (cheaper) big-block. So if you know someone with a 'K-code' Mustang then they have something pretty desirable today.

Yep I was at Manfield the other weekend and Neil Tolich had his K-code GT Mustang ie just before the Shelby GT350 was released - you will know the car given you love the pony car too it is the ex Fleetwood GT Mustang and the first Mustang race car in NZ back in the 60's. Did you know it still has all the original panel's (some need bog to keep them straight these days) and is period correct with all the same kit it raced back then = brakes are a problem.

Anyway good to here both cars made to OZ in good shape.

Re the number of zed in NZ the ZClub records show more than 500 different S30 (240z,260z,FairladyZ, import 280z) how many are still on the road these days is a different story - take me for example I have 2 S30 my 260z which has been of the road for 10 years, then my 240z (Paul had it off the road for 9 years and it is currently off the road getting the head gasket fixed)

[260Coupe]

Guys

Without highjacking this thread, I came across some sales figures many years ago.

Anecdotal evidence I uncovered many years ago suggest that less than 2000 260z coupes (2 seaters) were sold in Oz from 74 to early 79, (the last of the 78 models)  2+2 sales outstripped them almost 4:1 due to the modest cost increase for the 2+2 over the 2 seater.....and the majority of the 2+2 were autos.
The sales receipt for my 8/76 build 2 seater is for $8500 sold in 3/77.....huge money back then !!! (you could buy a house for that !)
I believe this makes the 260z 2 seater the rarest of all S30's


cheers

Alan

[zedevan]

good info, fwiw my 2 seater was bought in feb 76 for $7660 including registration, 3rd party insurance, stamp duty and pre-delivery service. was also possibily bought from brighton nissan if they are still on male st?

out of curiosity did the numbers start at rs30-01XXXX or at 0? just if there were less than 2000 sold how did they get up to #10000?

[benny]

hey guys i got a 74 260z 2+2 number 960 is that rareish??? is it number 960 out of all rhd delivered countries??

Ben

[aegean]

Numbers started at 0. Mine is 000692.

[sydney mike]

My 260z 2 seater, Auto with aircon, RS30-015093 compliance date says 12/76,original sales invoice states  delivered to its first owner  by Lennock Motors Datsun ACT on the 10th DEC 1977 with extras headlight covers and NSW rego driveaway price of $11,979. Compliance plate does state the transmission as automatic. Hey Zedevan, your original owner must have got a hell of a good deal, I mean back in '76/'77 $4,300 difference in a year, even considering automatic & air con??

[zedevan]

that is quite a difference huh? the story i've been told (bought the car off someone who worked with the orginal owner and had owned it for a year) is he had a 1600 but had always wanted a 240z, then decided to make the upgrade at last, so mayb he traded it in? although there is no mention of it on the invoice that i could see, mayb i should look closer...

flipping through all the recients for services and maintainance performed on the car makes you realise that its worth paying a bit more for something you like driving since there is so much cost for just running any car! not including petrol/insurance/rego

[NZeder]

Guys you are starting to sound like (dear I say it) American's as in we are the only country that counts. Now remember that the production figures vs sales figures will be different as you are going by AU only sales figures of approx 2000 260z 2 seaters. The production figures (remember these are not confirmed as genuine production number just the chassis numbering orders that was used for given dates) I posted earlier (from the Last printed parts catalogue) are for all RHD Export markets so this includes AU, NZ, UK, EU etc basically anywhere that was outside of the JDM that was RHD.

In AU you might find that the 260z 2 seater was imported in smaller number than the 2+2 this might have been the public choice or Nissan marketing back then to try and appeal to a larger market ie families so even if you wanted a 2 seater they priced them too high so you when for the 2+2. If you look at the US market it is hard to find a 2+2 260z or 280z or even a 280zx they loved the 2 seater.

I believe the same can be said about the NZ and UK markets with more 2+2 sold than 2 seaters yet the chassis numbering system shows similar numbers in total, or was this just the number system and has no reflection on the actual numbers of cars produced (more likely). You see Nissan might have started a RS30-000001 and hoped to make RS30-005000 by sept 74 but what if the demand for the car was such that they only got to RS30-002431 (just a number I made up) did they continue in Sept 74 with RS30-002432 or did they move to RS30-005001. We will never know unless we have some firm numbers from Nissan (unlikely as stated earlier Nissan Japan did not keep these records so it will only ever be a best guess) or if we could find every RS30 ever make - highly unlikely or at least see if anyone has one of the number listed for the end of a given run ie RS30-005000, RS30-010000, RS30-015000, RS30-021000 - we know number exist between these ones but do these one exist at all. This might help prove that 21384 shells were produced (note I did not say sold but produced). If however we can't find any of these chassis numbers then it is conceivable that say only 10000 ish or less might have been produced and the chassis numbers and production numbers are not the same.

Either way you look at it the RS30 ie 260z 2 seater could well be the rarest of a single model run of the export market S30's (remember in the JDM there are some other rare beast known as the Fairlady Z432 and 432R with the R the most rarest of rare beasties)

[260Coupe]

My 260z 2 seater, Auto with aircon, RS30-015093 compliance date says 12/76,original sales invoice states  delivered to its first owner  by Lennock Motors Datsun ACT on the 10th DEC 1977 with extras headlight covers and NSW rego driveaway price of $11,979. Compliance plate does state the transmission as automatic. Hey Zedevan, your original owner must have got a hell of a good deal, I mean back in '76/'77 $4,300 difference in a year, even considering automatic & air con??

Wow........mine also was an Otto with Air and $8500 sold in March 77 ........nearly $3500 cheaper nine months earlier........certainly a wealthy mans toy back then !

Al.