Administrators gav240z Posted September 30, 2014 Author Administrators Posted September 30, 2014 Came across this photo the other day. Caesar's Palace Formula 1 in 1981. I love the DATSUN sign in the background. Quote
dalee Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 few more old photos I have come across gav240z 1 Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted April 30, 2015 Author Administrators Posted April 30, 2015 Found some great photos the other day in this thread. http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78309 I didn't want to 'dump' them here and take them out of context so best to read that thread. PS: No prizes for guessing who 'PZR' might be, it's easy to identify this person across many forums . Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted April 30, 2015 Author Administrators Posted April 30, 2015 Man I want to frame that and put it on the wall. Don't suppose there is a higher resolution shot of it? I love the big DATSUN written on the boat. Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted April 30, 2015 Author Administrators Posted April 30, 2015 San Francisco! Quote
Moderators PB260Z Posted April 30, 2015 Moderators Posted April 30, 2015 Some truely amazing photos, keep 'em coming Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted May 24, 2015 Author Administrators Posted May 24, 2015 More photos of Len Brennan's 240z racing. Sadly Len doesn't know the original Chassis # or Engine # of the car. But along with those photos he told me this. There is a story as well this is one of my early races, I was cleaning up the field no end, I had taken the muffler off and put a bit of straight pipe in its place and it just screamed, my family were telling me later that it bought every body out of the pits to see what this screaming machine was they could hear me right around the circuit, when I came to shell corner at the end of the straight each time the wheel came off the ground while I was still braking and the wheeled was stationery for one hundred metres around the old shell corner the kids said they could see the tire valve still, then it gave a little squeal as it touched down right around the corner. I was running Michelin XAS asymmetrical radial tires, that front tire held up the entire weight of the cornering force and never moved a fraction, they were unbelievable tires, I would kill to have them again, they were better than anything now, I was sponsored by ROH wheels and later by Tattersals lottery that was about the time it started here, I think they paid me twenty dollars to carry there decal sign in each race. The car was impressive it was white with sky blue irredesant upholstery with a polished aluminium roll cage with the same blue trim colour and the cage welds, when the car was being scrutineered I couldn’t get near it, I had trouble getting in it to leave the scrutineering bay, there must have been hundreds of photos taken at that time, the reaction then was about the same you would get with the latest M1 McLaren now or better. This pick featured on the front of a motor magazine at the time. The car was still brand new with only about 6K on it, I won my races against a Bolwell Nagary V8 plus a heap of MG’s and Healey’s. It was a great time, when the day was over I drove back to South Gippsland at faster speed than on the track, I drove all the way as fast as it would go and that was about 135 MPH all the way except in the towns, I drove the car to Melbourne about every second week to get parts for my garage which I could have had delivered for almost nothing but I wouldn’t get to drive my awesome adrellin pumping beast. It was an extremely strong drug and I was hopelessly addicted to it,. It was a crowd puller everywhere I went. I drove it to Sydney that year and only saw one other Z in Sydney on the whole trip. All my racing success was developed on the highway from driving my Z I will attach a story I wrote about(The Day I Bought My Z.) It was an absolutely unbelievable f#c$i$g motor car and I was totally obsessed and addicted to it. *Edit to include third photo. Len tells me. This shows the front wheel off the ground well before the corner, you must remember that was a high speed corner and I was coming into that corner from 18 0KPH, so my turn would have started 50 metres back from the corner that was how it managed to stay off the ground for nearly a hundred metres. Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted May 24, 2015 Author Administrators Posted May 24, 2015 The story behind Len's 240z and how he came to own it. Quote THE DAY I BOUGHT MY 240Z, THE BEST GIRL IN MY LIFE. I think it was late 69, I was reading the local rag, “The Yarram News” when I noticed a small add, white square with a black side on silhouette picture of this cute little sports car. The add was about a 4" x 3" with this small plain black picture, and the Sale (East Gippsland) dealers name on the bottom. Written across the top of the box was, “Datsun 240Z”. Underneath was the caption “At 125 mph you select 5th gear”. It said nothing else, but it really caught my attention, I just couldn’t believe the speed. As I had an insatiable lust for speed, I cut out the picture and stuck it on the wall. I couldn’t stop thinking about this car and its speed, so the next time I went to Sale, six months later, I just had to have a look at this 240Z. I found they had none in stock, in fact, I don't think they had ever had one, at that stage. So I had to wait even longer before I could see this mystery car in the flesh, I was able to pick up a brochure off him though, which I drooled over every single night for the next two years. I never stopped reading and looking at the brochure, (which I still have today). I was fascinated by the whole design, and engineering. The whole construction was inspiring, especially the all four-wheel independent suspension, rack and pinion steering, five speed gearbox, disc brakes, finned alloy rear drums, intermittent wipers, plus the list of accessary that bogle my mind, none of these things were even heard of in other cars. They were just not available in anything made locally. Of the imported cars, only the Jaguar, and the Porsche, both of which were very rare, and very expensive, few people could afford them. The richest guy in Yarram at the time had an older Jaguar. This was not many years after my brother bought his new Vanguard ute. Its optional extras were, inside sun shades, passenger side wiper, hub caps, and a glove box lid. At the time of the Z the release, only local options here were an AM radio, sometimes a heater, and a tow bar, and sometimes dare I say, even two tone paintwork. I kept thinking of the Z, and how I could possibly afford, or justify one, I had six kids, national debt, carving a dairy farm from scratch out of the forest, etc. I had a 63 Falcon wagon, 58 Zephyr ute, and a new Honda 450 road bike, a cattle truck and a tractor, and a very expensive imported New Holland bale wagon. How could I possible justify owning a two-seater sports car as well. My father would disown me, he would think I had brain failure, I would sure cop a lot of flack. It was on September 1, 1971 that I headed interstate on my fairly new 450 Honda bike to organise my hay carting contracts around NSW cattle stations. I had bought this big American New Holland self propelled automatic baled hay carting machine, a hydraulic masterpiece which cost me nearly five times what they wanted for a new Z, hence the need to work the big NSW cattle stations during the hay season to pay for it. There was no way I could possibly justify buying a sports car as well. I was on the way to a property near Albury to price a job when I got soaked to the jocks, and only the jocks! At last I found an excuse to buy my dream car, I mean, you can't go around pricing contracts with a wet crotch. Although the Honda was economical to use, wet weather transport it wasn't, I was able to pick up a lot of work on the bike, I think they took pity on me. I called into the Datsun dealer as I headed into Wodonga. I walked up to the manager and said, if you give me new price for my Honda 450, I will buy a 240Z. His eyes lit up, he had a look at the bike which was still as new anyway, he replied I think we can do that, lets do some paper work. He then told me he didn’t have any Z’s in stock, I will have to order it in for you. I said, there are two conditions, the car had to be white, and it had to have the iridescent sky blue interior. He said there was no such thing, I said, yes there is, he then said no again, I just looked at him and shrugged my shoulders and said, well I have seen one. He then went to his office and made several more phone calls, returned and said there are, but there are none available in the country with the blue interior, only black. I had been told that several were bought into the country for dealers, for special display vehicles, or dealers personal ownership. so I said no blue, no sale. I then left as the rain had cleared to get some lunch, he went back to the phone. The truth be known, I was so desperate to get my Z, I would have taken anything. My desire for such a long time had now turned to lust. I just had to have one to satisfy my addiction, I had become obsessed. When I returned after lunch he said to me, I have found you the car you wanted, I lit up inside. He said if you new how much juggling I had to do with a Melbourne dealer who had it ordered for his personal car. I had to trade away several of my own hard to get cars, to do the trade for yours. Then the next shock, he told me it had just come off the ship, and it would be at least a week before he could get it to Wodonga. I died inside, I just couldn’t wait that long, now that I had made the decision, I refused to wait any longer, I had already been waiting for two years. What am I going to do to get my car quicker. Now that I had found an excuse, I was committed to my obsession, to the lust of my life, now I just wanted it. I new it was going to be a long and close love affair we were going to have. I had to make it happen so I said to him, give me the paper work and whatever else I needed to collect the car myself. I said you can’t do that, so I asked him why, he went on with some story about him having to pick it up, official paper work blah blah etc, but I persisted, I knew my local Ford dealer would send other people to Melbourne to pick up new cars. I wasn’t going to be deprived of meeting the new girl in my life. So I stuck to my guns and asked him to ring Datsun and see if I could, which he did, and they said OK. After shakily handing over my deposit cheque, and with dealer orders, trade plates etc under my arm I parked my Honda bike in their workshop, picked up my gear and started walking down the Princes Highway toward Melbourne. Trying to hitch a ride, gave me a lot of time to think. The feelings that came over me, and the thoughts I had were very strange. After a couple of year of waiting, I was actually on my way to get my very own brand new 240Z. I was already so much in love with it, I was high on adrenalin, I couldn't stop smiling, laughing, and talking to my self, I could not believe that I was really on my way to pick up my own 240Z sports car. It felt like a dream and any at minute I was going to wake up. The anticipation was overwhelming, if I could have run all the way, I would have. At that moment in time the world was a beautiful place. I have to say, I felt a tiny bit like that again a few year ago when I handed over my cheque for my present red 1976 260Z and it became mine, it was a bit déjà vu, but quite incomparable. I hitch-hiked to Melbourne, then took a train to Cranbourne, then hiked to Welshpool in South Gippsland in record time. I got picked up from Welshpool, getting home about 1or 2 AM. The following morning (with out sleeping) headed off in convoy, (all the staff and equipment had been prepared the previous day) for NSW, and 60,000 acre Widgawa cattle station via Datsun at Braeside. As I neared their factory, and could see the building, I don't know why but I was shaking, my heart was going twenty to the dozen. It was a bit like the feelings I used to get as I approached a circuit on a Formula 2 race day, or meeting a lover for the first time, a mixture of anticipation and excitement I walked into the office and handed over my bundle of paper work, not knowing what was going to happen. This old guy checked out the paper work, then called this young chap into the office, he was handed a piece of paper, the old guy turned to me and said "do you want to go and help him find it. I thought he would never ask, I nearly knocked him down in the rush, I think he knew how I felt. We walked up and down the rows of 100’s of Datsun’s, all mixed up, looking at every white Z, Is that one mine, no, maybe this one. We were looking for a particular number on the windscreens, eventually he yelled out to me "here it is", I couldn't wait to see it. I got to it and I must say it was less than inspiring, it looked like a used car, completely covered with dirt soaked travel wax, papered over windows, but through it all I could see those nice looks. I knew that sporting performance was in behind all that dirt, just waiting to be unleashed. He said you cant drive it like that, so the young chap asked me to drive it to up the wash bay and proceeded to remove the paper and clean its windows, while I was standing there watching and thinking is this dirty but beautiful sports car really mine. I just wanted to get behind the wheel. He checked the oil and water and when I saw the size of the engine I thought wow!! what a monster. Then I sat in the plastic covered drivers seat for the first time grabbed the wheel, and looked out over that big long bonnet, and I thought to myself, sex is bloody great, but this is really something else. The purr of the engine, the smell of the new plastic, the wooden wheel and gear lever knob, I felt like I had just got behind the wheel of a Formula 1. The chap put my box of wrapped up hub caps, jack, and tools in the back and I headed out the gate. Once behind the wheel I was totally in love, and could not believe it had all come true. I parked outside the gate and off loaded as much equipment and tools as I could fit into the back of the Z and headed for Widgewa Station. I had lost quite a lot of time organising the Z and when we got to the cattle station we had to go straight to work on the hay, so the Z went straight to work too. Running around in the red dust to other properties, up and down to Narrandera, several trips for parts to Melbourne. A week later I rang the dealer and he was asking where is the car and trade plate and when I was bringing the Z in for pre delivery? I said as soon as I can, I think it was nearly two weeks later when I rang him to say I would be there Saturday morning and that he only had 2 hours to do the service and clean it. They couldn't believe it when they saw it. It had so much red dust and mud added to the travel wax, there had been no point in trying to wash it, and it was hard to tell that it was white. It had done 4,000 miles by then. (They really did pile the travel wax on in those days.) I returned two hours later to pick up my glistening 240Z and headed back the 200 miles to work, cruising along the long country roads with the hand throttle holding the speed at exactly 100 mph.. It really was true love, I was so full of pride, I felt like I would burst. Beautifully designed and engineered, beautiful styling, beautiful handling, a total thing of beauty. Never has anything in my life given me so much personal pleasure and enjoyment, living in the country I was able to drive at full race speeds everywhere I went. It wasn’t car ownership, it was a loving and caring relationship, it knew what I expected from it, and it showed me what it was capable of. I went on to race it in Production Sports Cars series, circuit racing, and club events as a member of the Datsun Car Club, before quitting, deciding it was too good to get it damaged on a race track. It sadly, was eventually traded at the Datsun Sales Centre in Elizabeth St Melbourne on a 260C family wagon. I couldn't be a hedonist all my life, and deprive my wife and six children of modern comfortable transport. I shall never forget the personal enjoyment and satisfaction I enjoyed, and the experience of owning my 240Z -just one of the great loves of my life. I have been searching for my old Z for many years, I am hoping that the (Where is it now) article in the club mag recently discovers its whereabouts. Story by Len Brennan, 47 Lyall St, Hastings, Vic, 0417 500 965. Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted May 24, 2015 Author Administrators Posted May 24, 2015 @Len - this 240z was also white and blue combo. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=3365.5 I'd kill to know how many were sold in that combination in Australia. As you say the dealer said it wasn't even available. I've not seen many if any of them in that combo come up for sale here apart from the car in that thread above. Quote
Enright2 Posted May 24, 2015 Posted May 24, 2015 Howdy all, my name is JP. I bought my series 1 240Z in 1999 (HS30 00063) and it was silver but had blue interior. I had it resprayed silver again and had the interior redone as it was shabby. This included painting the interior panels and diamond pattern vinyl black and installing some reasonable seats from a 260 and chucking the blue ones which were in a horrible state. A year or so later I had some work done at Zspares and an older gentleman who happened to be there on the day said "that's my old car!". He told me he had sold it to Lindsay at Zspares and that is where I purchased it . I remember when I first laid eyes on it, and that the series one 2400 OHC rocker cover, rear quarter badges and the fact it had matching numbers engine pulled me in. I had to have it. Anyway, the older gentleman's name was Frank from memory and he told me he had his own datsun workshop back in the day and that he had bought number 63 in 1987 and put a lot of work into getting it back on the road. I asked him if he new more about the car and he told me that it was originally white with a blue interior, and that it was purchased by the previous owner off the floor of the 1971 Melbourne motor show. I drove this car as my daily driver until 2010 when I parked it up. In 2011 I was doing some surfing on the net and found a photo on the national library of Aus (trove) site of a white 240z at the 1971 motor show. I thought WOW, that could be my car!. I then decided that when the time came, the car would be restored in the white with blue interior combo. Unfortunately, with young kids and house improvements, I decided that I would have to let someone with more time and money do the job right. I sold my old 240 in 2013 and purchased a 75 260 2 seater in much better condition. I am very happy with this 260z but feel a bit sad when I think if my old 240 and the potential of the white with blue interior and the background story of the car. I have seen many on here talk about the kalahari tan/920 gold being a great colour, and I agree, I love the Z in that colour. White with blue interior is the ultimate look for a Z in my opinion and I really enjoyed reading Len's stories! JP Quote
Riceburner Posted May 24, 2015 Posted May 24, 2015 Great story! From the way it is told it's almost like it happened yesterday. That blue interior is really nice Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted March 30, 2016 Author Administrators Posted March 30, 2016 http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/forum/garages/datsun-nissan-garage/287845-vintage-datsun-bluebird-road-racing-images http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/forum/garages/datsun-nissan-garage/287814-vintage-nissan-skyline-racing-images http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/forum/garages/datsun-nissan-garage/287661-vintage-datsun-fairlady-z-and-240z-racing-and-rally-images My reaction when I saw these photos in particular..... This looks like 'The Safari Head' Part No. 11041-E4621, refer to this page. Kobe Seiko Wheels? Oh my... Wide Steelies, looks great! I nearly fell off my chair like this guy.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4va0yanY_z4 Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted April 9, 2016 Author Administrators Posted April 9, 2016 Somewhere in Japan, circa 1980s.. Check out the Skylines, and RX-7. CBR Jeff 1 Quote
Moderators PB260Z Posted April 9, 2016 Moderators Posted April 9, 2016 Check out the rim & tyre combo on the series 1 RX-7. Quote
260DET Posted April 10, 2016 Posted April 10, 2016 Those racing pics of Les Brennan's car, amazing Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted April 10, 2016 Author Administrators Posted April 10, 2016 Jason? Dat2kman? Picking on those Air Cooled 911s? Quote
Andrew_L26 Posted April 10, 2016 Posted April 10, 2016 My girlfriends dad gave me a few old car mags, I'll scan all the datto stuff in properly when I get the chance. Interesting ZG style 2/2 As well as some fender mirrors I've never seen before Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted April 10, 2016 Author Administrators Posted April 10, 2016 I've got a magazine with what appears to be the same car, note the mirrors on it? Those are export market fender mirrors. (see 2006 update) http://datsun30z.o.oo7.jp/fairady.html I'm pretty sure Alan has mentioned a Fairlady 260z was in the making before the idea was shit-canned. It's likely a Fairlady 260ZG was also on the cards but cancelled. I see a lot of GS30's (2+2's) in Japan with the Gnose treatment, so perhaps they should have gone ahead? Edit yep found it. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/14263-jdm-fairlady-z-s30s31/?p=169669 Quote
260DET Posted April 10, 2016 Posted April 10, 2016 Some pics here worth saving but how is that done? Right click and 'save as' does not work. Quote
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