Fuel-Saving Tips
“Whoa! Look!” My friend Stoker stopped in his tracks and pointed, his finger trembling. I looked and fell in love.
It was blue with white GT stripes running off-center up the long bonnet and over the roof. Left-hand drive – an import. Round headlights recessed in sloping channels, like the torpedo tubes on a U-boat. Between the lights, under the edge of the bonnet, a sharply sloping shark mouth grinned.
Two doors, a long sloping rear window ending in a cut off back, rectangular tail lights. Lots of chrome.
It was the mouth-numbing, eye-watering beautiful Datsun 240Z and we had never seen one before. But then, we were from PE.
It was the early ‘80s at the Rand Easter Show and the Datsun was in the parking lot. The Z-Datsun had been available in South Africa for a while by then, but they were scarce. Stoker was a petrol head who drove a Triumph Spitfire with 2.5l straight six shoehorned in under the hood. When I saw him many years later he was driving a Z.
The Datsun 240Z burst on the scene at the New York Motor show in 1969, the year of the moon landing. It was a small step for man, a giant leap for Japanese cars. The 240Z oddly named the Nissan Fairlady Z in Japan, shone a bright light on the econoboxes then on offer by Datsun and other Japanese car makers, carrying them until the petrol crunch of ‘73s made them world beaters.
The Z was sleek and wonderfully curvy, a cross between a Ferrari and an E-Type, but priced like an MGB. The 113 kW straight six in the relatively light body gave it plenty of oomph and the Z soon became a force in racing and rally.
Emission control regulations in the States grew the 240 to a 260 and then a Z280. A 300 was later launched, but by the late ‘90s, the Z had grown a bit tired and was phased out. Only to be reborn around 2002 as the 350Z, later the Nissan 370Z.
So now the beloved Z is 50 years young, and to celebrate this half-century of sporty excellence, Nissan (as Datsun became around 1984) is launching the Anniversary Edition 370Z. Fifty of these special cars will have a paint job inspired by the famous ‘70s BRE racing team.
Fifty years after Woodstock and the Z are still rocking the road. I have not seen friend Stoker in many years, but I bet I know what he’s driving today.
Tags: Datsun
