The Z-car is a series of sports cars manufactured by Nissan Motors Ltd.. The original Z was sold in October 1969 in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z and was exported as the Datsun 240Z. Since 2009 Nissan has manufactured the newest Z, the 370Z. Enthusiasts praise the cars for their looks, reliability, performance, and affordability. Nissan Z cars currently hold the record for best selling sports car series of all time with around 1,685,000 in five generations. Every Z car has been sold in Japan as the Fairlady Z and elsewhere under the names 240Z, 260Z, 280Z, 280ZX, 300ZX, 350Z and 370Z.
History
Nissan was a relatively small company when in the 1960s it partnered with Yamaha to design a new sports car prototype. Nissan executives saw the prototype as a halo car that would improve their company's image in the minds of consumers. By 1964 Nissan realized that Yamaha's DOHC 2.0-liter engine was not meeting Nissan's expectations and the project was scrapped. Yamaha later finished a prototype and took their design to Toyota, resulting in the Toyota 2000GT. Yutaka Katayama, the president of Nissan USA at the time, realized the importance of an affordable sports car. Nissan had already produced the successful series of Fairlady roadsters that competed mainly with English and Italian roadsters, and product planners envisioned a new line of GT cars that would be stylish, innovative, fast, and relatively inexpensive through the use of interchangeable parts with other Nissan vehicles. Prototype work began in 1966 with a clay mockup.
The 240Z design project was carried out primarily by 10 people:
- Mr. Yutaka Katayama (President of Nissan USA, known as "Mr. K")
- Mr. Teiichi Hara (Manager, Nissan Design and Development)
- Mr. Kazumi Yotsurnoto (Manager, Passenger Car Styling Section)
- Mr. Yoshihiko Matsuo (Chief of Design, Styling Studio #4)
- Mr. Akio Yoshida (Assistant Designer on Exterior Design)
- Mr. Sue Chiba (Interior Design)
- Mr. Eiichi Oiwa (Styling Studio Assistant)
- Mr. Kiichi Nishikawa (Styling Studio Assistant)
- Mr. Hidemi Kamahara (Design Engineer)
- Mr. Tsuneo Benitani (Design Engineer)
First generation (S30)
Production of the Nissan Z Car started on October 1969, with 2 separate versions: one for the Japanese market and one for the US market. The Japanese Fairlady Z featured a SOHC L20A inline-6 producing 130 PS (96 kW), while the US 240Z featured a 2.4L L24 inline-6 with twin SU carburetors that produced 151 hp (113 kW). A third Z, the 432Z(PS30) shared a performance version of the DOHC 2.0 L S20 engine with the Nissan Skyline.
In Japan, the Z car was still known as the Fairlady to keep the car in line with previous Nissan sports cars. However, Yutaka Katayama ensured the American version had all Nissan badging replaced with "Datsun" and prevented all dealer shipments until they were replaced.
The 240Z was released in America on October 22, 1969. Combining good looks, powerful performance, and luxury features, it sold over 45,000 units through the '71 model year and over 50,000 and 40,000 in 1972 and 1973, respectively.
The 260Z was released in 1974 and featured an increased engine displacement of 2.6 L and an available 2+2 model. Despite the engine size increase, power decreased to 139 hp (104 kW) in most areas of the US due to new camshafts, carburetors, and lower compression that were introduced to comply with new emissions regulations. In other export regions the power was increased to 154 PS (113 kW).
The 280Z was released in 1975 in North America (not to be confused with the 280ZX, which is a second-generation Z-car) and featured another engine displacement enlargement to 2.8 L. A major change was the introduction of Bosch fuel injection, replacing the previous SU carburetors. This resulted in a power increase to 170 hp (127 kW), offsetting increased weight from added luxury features and an enlarged bumper that met US Federal regulations. Export markets outside North America continued to receive the Datsun 260Z until the introduction of the Datsun 280ZX at the end of 1978.
Second generation (S130)
The only thing that was left unchanged from the previous 280Z was the 5-speed manual transmission and 2.8-liter L28 inline-6 engine, while the entire car overall was made more luxurious to meet growing consumer demands. Major changes for this new generation of Z-cars include t-tops, introduced in 1980, and a turbocharged model introduced in 1981, complementing the naturally aspirated (NA) 2-seater and NA 2+2 models. Coupled to either a 3-speed automatic or 5-speed manual transmission, the turbocharged model was capable of 180 bhp (130 kW) and 203 ft·lb f (275 N·m) of torque, over the 135 bhp (101 kW) and 144 ft·lb f (195 N·m) of the NA engine.
Notable models include the 10th Anniversary Edition, featuring gold emblems, gold alloy wheels, and two-toned paint in either gold/red and black, with luxury features such as leather seats, headlamp washers, and automatic climate control.
The 280ZX was wildly popular, being hailed as Motor Trend's Import Car of the Year for 1979 and going on to set a Z-car sales record of 86,007 units in its first year. While on the one hand it received praise for taking the Z-car to further levels of comfort and performance, many enthusiasts also lamented the further emphasis on luxury over driving fun. This would continue with the third generation of Z-car, with a clean-sheet redesign that would take the Z-car to further heights.
Third generation (Z31)
The Z-car was completely redesigned in 1984, and introduced Nissan's new series of 3.0-liter V6 engine, dubbed the VG series. The same engine was used in the Electramotive (later to become NPTI) GTP ZX-Turbo that dominated the IMSA GTP races in 1988 and 1989. These were available in both VG30E naturally-aspirated and VG30ET turbocharged forms producing 160 and 200 bhp (120 and 150 kW) respectively, although some VG30ET powered Z-cars exported outside of the US produced 228 bhp (170 kW) due to a longer cam duration and less emission restrictions. These were showcased in sleek new wedge-shaped styling and given a new name, the 300ZX. Like its predecessor, it also proved to be wildly popular and was the second-best selling Z-car in history selling over 70,000 units due in part not only to its new styling but also to even more added luxury features and high performance. When the 300ZX Turbo was released in Japan it offered the highest HP available in a Japanese standard production car at the time. Much like the 280ZX that preceded it, the first-gen 300ZX was thought by enthusiasts as more GT than true sports car. It had improved handling, acceleration, and refinement on any previous model Z-car.
Nissan made various changes and claimed improvements to the Z31 model through its entire production. In 1983 Nissan first offered the 300ZX in Japan. It was introduced in the US one year later. All US-market 1984 model Nissan vehicles carried both Datsun and Nissan nameplates. Along with the arrival of their new flagship sports coupe, Nissan launched an aggressive marketing campaign to promote the brand name change from Datsun to Nissan. The 1984 Models can technically be considered the only year of the "Datsun 300ZX". The 1984 300ZX 50th Anniversary Edition was released in celebration of the company's 50th anniversary year. It was based on the standard 300ZX Turbo, but was outfitted with every luxury feature available, a unique black interior with "bodysonic" leather seats in addition to widened fender flares, requisite badging, rear quarter panel flares, and sixteen-inch (406 mm) wheels (400 mm).
For the 1985 model year, Nissan dropped the Datsun name brand for good, but the car dealers were still known as Datsun dealers. Paul Newman raced in the 1985 GT1 Challenge and won. This was Newman's 4th national championship. Minor changes were made to the 300ZX including a water-cooled turbocharger, smoked taillights, and body-color bumpers.
The 1986 model saw wider flared wheel wells, and the rear quarter panels were designed specifically to accommodate factory ground effect style side skirts. 1986 turbo models were equipped with an ordinary hood, markedly losing the turbo "scoop" on the drivers side.
In order to keep up with quickly aging aesthetics, another slight redesign happened in 1987, consisting of new rounded, restyled and longer front and rear bumpers, new headlights, and new tail lights. The black trim on turbo models was now a charcoal instead of gloss black, and 1987 Turbo models came with special "smoked" turbo-finned wheels. All 1987 model year turbo cars also received an upgraded manual transmission, larger and more powerful brakes, and turbo cars produced from 4/87 and later came equipped with a clutch-type limited-slip differential.
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