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Ford Reveals the Maverick LoboThis Vintage ‘73 Datsun 240Z Remains Revolutionary
The Datsun 240Z is a certified classic. Quick and stylish, the 240Z rewrote expectations for what Japanese carmakers were capable of.
The Datsun 240Z Changes the Game
Today, Japanese brands like Toyota, Nissan, and Honda have proven their bona fides both on the racetrack and the showroom floor, proving equally capable of building performance machines as they are economy cars. But there was a time when US-market Japanese cars were exclusively occupied the realm of small, reliable economy cars. That was until Datsun 240Z.
The Datsun 240Z proved Japanese carmakers could produce a sports car that easily rivaled and often bested those built in the US and Europe. Not only could they build a great performance car, but they could also do so at a lower price point and with a higher build quality. Cheaper, better, and (arguably) more beautiful, the Datsun 240Z was a revelation when it debuted here in the States in 1969.
Today, we’re highlighting a show-stopping 1973 Datsun 240Z finished in Metallic Brown. The condition of this rolling time capsule is absolutely stellar. The car does not look to have aged a day since it rolled off the assembly line over fifty years ago.
Why Datsun was Nissan in the US
First a brief aside to answer the obvious question: how did Datsun become Nissan? Datsun was itself an evolution of the Kwaishinsha Motor Company (founded in 1911) with its name derived from the company’s first car, the DAT (an acronym of the investor’s sir names). The original formulation of Datson, as in son of DAT, was shifted to Datsun, trading a negative connotation, son can mean a loss in Japanese, for a positive one, as the sun holds a significant place in Japanese culture. In 1933, Datsun was bought by Nissan Zaibatsu. With the Datsun name well established in international markets, Nissan continued to use the brand name in the US and elsewhere for decades to come.
Origins of the Datsun 240Z
The Datsun 240Z was the first of Nissan’s now long-lived line of “Z-cars.” And while the 240Z appeared novel, both visually and mechanically, in 1969, its origins dated back at least a decade. Central to the Z-car story is Nissan executive Yutaka Katayama aka “Mr. K.”
The iconoclastic Katayama was given the task of researching a possible expansion in the US market in 1960. He found a market ripe not just for affordable, well-built cars but also one eager for something sportier. At the time, Datsun’s efforts in sports cars involved closely emulating those of British roadsters. This made a certain amount of sense, in a partnership with Austin, they’d been making what were essentially British cars since the 1930s.
Datsun’s Fairlady (Sports) roadster was modeled after the likes of the Austin-Healey 100-4 and the MG MGB. The Fairlady 1500 was the first of these to make it State-side in 1963. The car saw success not only as a road car but as a competitive racer in SCCA with drivers that included Pete Brock, Bob Sharp, and Paul Newman. I was around this time that Nissan began working on a next-generation sports car.
From Fairlady to Z
The new car would be a major departure from the British roadster style Sports/Fairlady. Katayama was calling for a large, more robust coupe, a new sports car for the brand that could compete on equal footing with Jaguars, Porsches, and Corvettes. Nissan’s leadership was also concerned that US regulators might institute a ban on convertibles and agreed that a new coupe was in order. Recall that these same concerns lead Porsche to develop their Targa top in 1967 over this roll-over regulation scare.
A working partnership with Yamaha had produced a prototype, the YX-30, in 1961, but by 1964 things had unraveled between the two companies. Nissan felt Yamaha’s DOHC 2.0L four-cylinder was not proving up to their standards for the new halo car and cut ties and shelved the project. Yamaha took their DOHC engine to Toyota, where it was applied to the now legendary Toyota 2000GT.
Around this same time, Dr. Shinichiro Sakurai of Prince Motor Company was hard at work developing and deploying racing engines for the company’s Skyline. The heart of this effort was Prince’s new G engine, a 2.0L SOHC inline-six modeled after Mercedes’ overhead cam engine. With it, the Skyline managed to meet the new Porsche 904 on equal terms, taking a third-place finish at the 1964 Japanese Grand Prix. Nissan’s merger with Prince Motors in 1966 gave them Prince’s inline-six G engine, and a new nameplate, the Skyline (Sakurai would continue to work for Nissan on the Skyline for many years after).
The new six-cylinder engine was first modified for the Sports/Fairlady 1600 and later for the Datsun 510/Bluebird, trimming it down to the four-cylinder in the process. The engine also revived the next-gen Fairlady project. The new Fairlady Z added back the two missing cylinders to the SOHC inline-six, displacing 2.0L in the Japanese version while the US got a slightly larger 2.4L version.
Styling for the car combined elements of the Europeans tourers the Z-car was to emulate, taking cues from the Jaguar E-Type and Ferrari GTs, with a bit of American muscle car bravado tossed in. While the Japanese market version carried Nissan and Fairlady badging, Mr. Katayama wisely chose to simplify US marketing by retaining the familiar Datsun name and replacing the Fairlady (a reference to the musical My Fair Lady) with 240 (indicating the larger 2.4L displacement of the US spec).
The Datsun 240Z was thoroughly modern in its design. It featured a monocoque chassis, front disc brakes, and a fully independent suspension, MacPherson front and Chapman rear. The 2.4L SOHC inline-six made 150 horsepower. The Datsun 240Z wowed reviewers and car buyers alike with its theretofore unseen combination of handling prowess, power, and refinement all at a prince point well below comparable rivals. The 240Z started at $3,526 in 1969, on par with high-end muscle cars like the Pontiac GTO and well below similar two-seaters like the Chevrolet Corvette, Jaguar E-Type, or Ford Thunderbird.
The Datsun 240Z put the car world on notice. Japanese carmakers could do performance cars as well as they could economy cars.
This Datsun 240Z
All that heritage makes this 1973 Datsun 240Z even more compelling. This example is finished in Metallic Brown with a brown interior and looks as trim and proper as a perfectly tailored leisure suit. The 2.4L inline-six is numbers-matching and pairs with the standard four-speed manual transmission. The Ziebart hubcaps are also original and have been recently rust proofed. The tires are new. In all, this is among the best condition 240Z examples you’re going to run across. It’s priced accordingly at $61,500.
