Been talking to Rob at the Z factory again about this and he tells me he has some Nissan paper work with some details of HS30 cars being built in 69. I need to get my hands on that!
Arch S30-series Z enthusiast Katsuhiko 'Kats' Endo was given access to some of Nissan Shatai's records a few years ago. One of the topics he was investigating was the question of the first cars produced ( pre-production prototypes, crash test cars, factory production trial cars, etc etc ) and the first cars to be given full serial numbers ( most of the pre-prod cars would not have been given numbers ).
Nissan Shatai's records showed that the very
first car to be given a serial number was 'S30-00001' - and as this was the
first car to be given an 'identity' we can effectively consider it as the the
first S30-series Z.
Second car to be given an identity was 'HLS30-00001' ( an LHD 'Export' spec '240Z' ), whilst the third was 'PS30-00001' ( a Fairlady Z432 ).
Fourth car given an identity was
'HS30-00001' ( an RHD 'Export' spec '240Z' ) - so this effectively trashes the long claimed beliefs of certain USA-based 'experts' that
no RHD '240Z' had been made in calendar year 1969.....
In fact, it appears that Nissan Shatai only made
three HS30s in 1969, and it looks as though the 'oldest' HS30 released for actual sale to the public was 'HS30-00003'. Nissan's 'R-Drive' factory parts lists quote chassis no. 'HS30-00003' as being "from Oct. 1969" onwards, so the 'experts' obviously didn't have an RHD export parts list book in their libraries....
As we know, Nissan Shatai's Hiratsuka plant was a somewhat chaotic place in late 1969 and early 1970. There were problems with crankshaft harmonics on the new L24 engines and other little faults showed up in the 'Kaku U' north American testing ( two LHD cars - one of them an early automatic trans-equipped car - were transported to north America in late 1969 to be driven in a huge arc which included much of the USA and into Canada ) that caused them to halt production of the Export models. Domestic model production ( Fairlady Z, Fairlady Z-L, Fairlady Z432 & 432R ) carried on because they were - obviously - not affected by these L24 crank harmonics. Just under 1000 Domestic market cars were produced before the end of 1969. Export RHD ( ie - 'HS30' prefixed cars ) production was also halted, but it seems there were logistical and tactical reasons for this. 'HS30-00004' may well indeed have
left the factory in early 1970, but its base
body may have been produced in 1969 for all we know, but it's clear that very few Export RHD cars were produced in the first few months of 1970.
What's important about all this? Well, for
years some of these USA-based Z 'experts' have preached that the S30-series Z was designed and made
solely for the USA market. They want you to believe - just like they do - that
all the other models and market versions are just some kind of side-effect or leftover from this big project to design
"An American Car, Made In Japan". This is - to put it bluntly - complete bollocks.
Naturally Nissan had a serious eye on the north American market when they were designing and building the car, and would have received input from their staff in the USA when they were working on it. It was
always going to be the case that the USA market was going to be the biggest potential market for the car, especially if it was sold at an
artificially low mark-up ( as it was ). This had been the case for the 510 Bluebird, and indeed it was the case for other manufacturers like MG, Triumph, ALFA Romeo, Porsche, VW and even Jaguar with their E-type - although you will very rarely see anyone try to make the case that such cars were "American cars", even if the USA was their single biggest export market with certain models in their ranges.
With the S30-series Z ( often mistakenly referred to as
"the original 240Z", as it leaves out the early Domestic models ) you will see people claiming that the whole engineering and layout of the car is biased towards the USA market. This too is nonsense. A close look at the design of the car soon reveals the fact that its layout is biased towards mechanicals that are derived from an RHD-oriented manufacturer. The design of the engine an transmission affect the exhaust routing, and this in turn affects the fuel tank positioning. Chief Designer Yoshihiko Matsuo admits that these factors were inevitably going to affect the overall layout of the car, and that even if they
had designed the car solely for the USA ( which they
didn't! ) then this would still have been the case. Nissan wasn't going to design a new engine and trans series
just for the USA...
But what they
did do, despite this
force majeure of the mechanical layout, was to design a car that very cleverly suited both RHD and LHD, Domestic and Export versions, all of which were made possible by clever design and engineering at the
concept stage. These cars were
always going to be made for a potential 'World' market, and could be adapted in build to suit the different needs of such markets. So there's no real evidence of
priority in the design ( although there IS natural 'Design Concession' ) and it is clear that very serious thought was given to duality of use in componentry ( look at that scuttle base pressing for instance, with two sets of holes for either RHD or LHD wiper layout ). Many details and components on our RHD ( Domestic and Export ) cars are present because they were required on the LHD Export cars, and many details and components on the LHD cars ( and not
just the north American market versions, but the few 'Euro' versions too ) are present because of the requirements of one or more RHD market. There are even details on
every car - regardless of market - that were there purely because the car was designed and built with an eye to sporting / competition use.
All of which is - I think - a very democratic and
inclusive story. A story of a
family of models / variants that were conceived, designed and engineered
at the same time, and with equality. Unfortunately you just won't be told the story that way, because it doesn't fit in with the way that the car was introduced and marketed in the USA. That's why you'll read that
"Car #13 has been found!!!" - even though it is patently
not car #13.....
Alan T.
