Glovebox Inscriptions on S30Z's

[gav240z]

From Alan @HS30-H re: glovebox markings.

Quote

Hi Gavin. BINGO! That's exactly what I was expecting/hoping to see. I wanted to see destination/market identified, and usually the automatic export cars are identified as such. So...
Yours reads (katakana, so phonetically) 'Oh Su To' and 'ToRuCon'. 
'Oh Su To' is typical pronunciation of 'Austo' (from 'Au su to ra li ah' and 'ToRuCon' being slang for 'Torque Converter' (meaning Auto transmission equipped). Perfect!
It would be interesting to see if you could coax other owners in Australia and NZ to have a look to see what their cars say. There is usually some variation (due to time scale, batch size and the person actually doing the writing) so don't be surprised to see that they are not all the same. There's also more than one way of writing essentially the same thing.
Thanks for showing!

I'm gonna go and look at HS30 00150 to see if similar markings still exist and will start a new thread to see what comes out of it and if others have interesting markings to see.

Edited December 8, 2019 by gav240z
Split topic and added globe box markings

[RLY240]

These are the marks on my 71 #1410.

 

[gav240z]

I've split the thread so others can add their own images.

Please let us know what car it came from (chassis no. if possible) if it was an AU market car and if it was originally auto or manual.

Here is HS30-00150's glove box.

[gav240z]

5 hours ago, gav240z said:

I've split the thread so others can add their own images.

Please let us know what car it came from (chassis no. if possible) if it was an AU market car and if it was originally auto or manual.

Here is HS30-00150's glove box.

Translation from Alan.

'Australia' (OhSuTuRaRiA) in full! Nice! He's written it out properly. Presume the 'M' means Manual...?

[HS30-H]

8 hours ago, RLY240 said:

These are the marks on my 71 #1410.

 

 

Nice! This one comes across as being written quickly, but confidently.

"Aust M 223"

At this point I don't know what the numbers signify, but I'm guessing it is something to do with logistics. And these are - after all - not meant for the use/reference of us civilians. They are factory in-house markings, for use whilst on the production line and/or component transportation/movement etc.

 

[HS30-H]

8 hours ago, RLY240 said:

These are the marks on my 71 #1410.

 

 

 

Ah, that's a nice variation. Sometimes the 'graffitoes' on the column support frame of the dashboards come across as in-jokes or indecipherable (by us) messages between line workers, but this one is a lovely "Aust TorCon 10". 

However, both 'M' and 'TorCon' on the same car? Are they both original to 'HS30-#1410'? That would not appear to add up...

One thing about the dash column support frame graffitoes is that they are covered up when the dash is installed. That means - obviously - that they cannot be written, or read, when the car is fully assembled, or even just when the dash is in the car and the column is bolted through it. In contrast, the writing on the glovebox bases is always visible (although you have to look for it...) so this may signify a difference in use and/or point of application?

Lots of guesswork here. I've been looking at these things for years and I still don't understand them fully.   

[gav240z]

I've got #1410 down as an auto car originally, my car is #1415 and given that cars were made in batches of configurations (colour codings) and transmission/spec I'd say it's likely #1410 has the original dashboard but another glove box fitted at some point.

[RLY240]

13 hours ago, HS30-H said:

 

Ah, that's a nice variation. Sometimes the 'graffitoes' on the column support frame of the dashboards come across as in-jokes or indecipherable (by us) messages between line workers, but this one is a lovely "Aust TorCon 10". 

However, both 'M' and 'TorCon' on the same car? Are they both original to 'HS30-#1410'? That would not appear to add up...

Definitely a factory auto for 1410 but can't vouch for the history of the glovebox.  It's in great condition so may well have been swapped over at some point.

[RLY240]

Are the dash / loom different for auto and manual cars such that there would need to be separate items for each? I know the auto has a light for the selector mech and there is a kick down switch and start lockout switches but assumed the dash would still be the same ie be wired for both.  Guess not though.

[gav240z]

12 minutes ago, RLY240 said:

Are the dash / loom different for auto and manual cars such that there would need to be separate items for each? I know the auto has a light for the selector mech and there is a kick down switch and start lockout switches but assumed the dash would still be the same ie be wired for both.  Guess not though.

I noticed the kick down switch in mine, thought it was aftermarket at first. Then remembered it's an auto.

I have #150 sitting in the garage and was comparing wiring when I removed my alarm recently. They look fairly identical, I am not sure if the lock out switch for the auto is present in the manual car. I am fairly certain the looms remain similar if not the same. Aside from those differences you mentioned.

[C.A.R.]

HS30-00149 - original car.

 

[gav240z]

First part of your 1 looks like mine #150, but the last 2 parts in the circles I have no idea about. Interesting.

[HS30-H]

3 hours ago, C.A.F. said:

HS30-00149 - original car.

 

 

Again, 'Australia' written out in full in Katakana (phonetic) characters.

Letters circled at the end could be '1 M' (manual ?) and possibly a Romaji letter 'G' (?) at the end.

Dash column support single character appears to be a stylised number '4'.

[gav240z]

I'm wondering if this puts to rest the idea that a boat headed for the UK of early 240z's was diverted to Australia? If cars were assembled with intention to be here and it's scribed on their glove boxes then no such boats were ever turned around. Unless someone hopped under all the Z's and changed factory markings.. but that I doubt. I don't recall where the rumour started but it seemed to stem from the fact that the UK got 2 early cars but Australia seems to have received the majority of early low VIN # 240z's, then the UK and other RHD markets caught up later.

[C.A.R.]

1 hour ago, HS30-H said:

Again, 'Australia' written out in full in Katakana (phonetic) characters.

Letters circled at the end could be '1 M' (manual ?) and possibly a Romaji letter 'G' (?) at the end.

Dash column support single character appears to be a stylised number '4'.

Yes Alan - car is a factory Manual.

[HS30-H]

On 12/9/2019 at 9:59 AM, gav240z said:

I'm wondering if this puts to rest the idea that a boat headed for the UK of early 240z's was diverted to Australia? If cars were assembled with intention to be here and it's scribed on their glove boxes then no such boats were ever turned around. Unless someone hopped under all the Z's and changed factory markings.. but that I doubt. I don't recall where the rumour started but it seemed to stem from the fact that the UK got 2 early cars but Australia seems to have received the majority of early low VIN # 240z's, then the UK and other RHD markets caught up later.

I think the whole 'boat load' and 'diverted' thing is just nonsense. For one thing, the cargo ships were carrying other cars as well as Zs, and were often carrying other cargo besides the cars. Ships didn't get turned around mid-voyage unless there was a major problem (war, huge weather event, mechanical problems) and if they had to divert it would not have been far off course, and likely to a port they were already scheduled to call at.

I think it all started with TWO Australian market-designated cars being held back from being sent to Australia, at short notice, and being sent to the UK instead. So just a matter of the two cars being put on a different boat for a different final destination (unloaded in Belgium, then sent on to UK). You can imagine the chinese-whispers type scenario that ensued. People just weren't all that well informed back then. 

The failure of the UK/Euro market-designated cars to meet the newly introduced Type Approval legislation (they failed on front lighting/signalling minimum heights) caught Nissan on the hop, and a hasty re-design/re-positioning of the front indicators and side lights was necessary. This was a fairly significant bollock drop for Nissan Europe, and possibly (reading between the lines here) had its root in poor communication between Datsun UK (at that time a concessionaire rather than being wholly owned by Nissan) and head office back in Japan. It seems this held back UK/Euro-designated production and Australia/NZ may have been allowed to have more cars, earlier, than originally scheduled. It seems to make sense.              

[gav240z]

@HS30-H curious what is usually written on the globe box of a Fairlady 240Z and Fairlady 240ZG? Or for that matter PS30? And was there anything written on a PS30-SB since they didn't often have a glove box lid, but may have had a glove box shelf still? Even seen that?

[HS30-H]

On 12/14/2019 at 10:52 AM, gav240z said:

@HS30-H curious what is usually written on the globe box of a Fairlady 240Z and Fairlady 240ZG? Or for that matter PS30? And was there anything written on a PS30-SB since they didn't often have a glove box lid, but may have had a glove box shelf still? Even seen that?

In my personal experience (sticking my head into the footwells of other peoples cars...) there's some variation, as we might expect, but generally speaking:

'S30-S' model Fairlady Z 'Standard' = 'S - S', 'Z - S', 'S30' and 'Std' (there might be other variations too)

'S30' model Fairlady Z-L 'Deluxe' = 'S30 - D', 'S - L', 'Z - Dx' and 'Dx' (ditto)

'PS30' model Fairlady Z432 = 'PZ', 'PS - D' and 'P - D' (ditto)

'PS30-SB' model Fairlady Z432-R = 'PZR' (also written on column support) 

L24-engined Japanese models followed the L20A-engined pattern, but with an 'H' prefix ('H - S', 'H - D' etc):

'HS30-H' model Fairlady 240ZG = 'H - H'

 

*BIG CAVEAT: None of this is written in stone. The guys writing this stuff had their own systems and it was for internal, Factory, use and not for us 'Civilians' to make sense of. We must expect some variation depending on who wrote it, and when. I feel like I've looked at a lot of cars in Japan (the owners often surprised that there's anything written there...) but truth be told it's just a tiny, tiny sample of total production. 

 

 

[gav240z]

Is the H-H photo out of your old car?

I guess it's 1 way to check if a car is a legit HS30-H..

[PeterH]

Photo of the glove box box from my spare dash. No idea of the year of the car it came from.

The steering column mounting mark is not visible in the photo but it is "AST" the same as the dash out of my car which is the clear photo. Cant find the glove box liner from my car to see what is written on it. It is a late 1973 car # 103779

 

[gav240z]

I'm gonna guess AST is short for Australia.

A2 though, no idea.

Which reminds me to look at my other dashboard in storage. It's missing the original glove box, but should have a mark where the steering column mounts up still.

[gav240z]

Currently there is an Hitachi TM-1081ZB(S) radio on eBay and it has similar markings on the outside casing. I've never seen these on all the radios I've come across so far.

But it looks like it says "Oh Su To" also, similar characters to the ones on my original post out of my 71 240z.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Datsun-240z-Original-AM-Radio/193181639912

 

 

[HS30-H]

8 hours ago, gav240z said:

Is the H-H photo out of your old car?

I guess it's 1 way to check if a car is a legit HS30-H..

It's from my GP White ZG, the ex-Masami Kuwashima car. The GP Maroon car had almost identical markings, and most of the manual trans ZGs I've looked at in Japan had very similar markings. Quite a few of them were made around a similar period of time, so that might explain the similarity.

Have surprised a few owners in Japan by pointing the glovebox markings out. They are not - generally - common knowledge. Trouble is, the more people know about it, the more they can be faked... 

[HS30-H]

7 hours ago, PeterH said:

Photo of the glove box box from my spare dash. No idea of the year of the car it came from.

The steering column mounting mark is not visible in the photo but it is "AST" the same as the dash out of my car which is the clear photo. Cant find the glove box liner from my car to see what is written on it. It is a late 1973 car # 103779

 

Lovely! Thank you.

[HS30-H]

34 minutes ago, gav240z said:

Currently there is an Hitachi TM-1081ZB(S) radio on eBay and it has similar markings on the outside casing. I've never seen these on all the radios I've come across so far.

But it looks like it says "Oh Su To" also, similar characters to the ones on my original post out of my 71 240z.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Datsun-240z-Original-AM-Radio/193181639912

 

 

That's a first for me. Love it.

I'm wondering if this might have anything to do with radio waveband range needing to be region-specific?