Filed under: Automotive History
by Forbes @ 12:01 pm on December 9, 2009
Sadly the man who went behind Nissan’s back and began importing Datsuns to the USA passed away last month on November 13th. Nobushige Wakatsuki initially saw Nissan/Datsun as a company that could export well to the US market but was shot down for some time by the head execs until he took the job into his own hands.
He started importing the cars in 1960, three years after Toyota, and it took another full year to convince Nissan Corporate to take over the small dealer network. Thankfully for all of us the plan worked and Nissan began importing cars like crazy over the following years. Now almost 50 years later Nissan is a household name on these shores and we owe it all to him. Maybe I will name my ’71 510 “Waka” as a thank you.
I haven’t been posting over the past week or so due to my laptop dying on me. I have now borrowed another one until mine is fixed/replaced so normal posting will now resume. I’m working on a couple of things that will be up shortly.
Here is the video that goes along with the release of the 40th Anniversary Edition 370z. It shows a little bit about the Z’s history and has some cool Z info. One of the funniest parts that I found about the video is that the 240z that he drives away in the end has the same plate as the 350z track car that is featured below this post, although it is spelled differently. Z people rule.
Many of you know the huge impact that Mr. K has had on our lives. For those who don’t, Mr. K is the person responsible for the both the original Datsun 240z and 510. Holding those credentials makes him a very important person in my book. So when I came across an article on Autoblog the other day I was astonished to read that he preferred driving his Nissan Versa over the 350z that he owns or even the new 370z!!
Most of his feelings seem to stem from the fact that modern day sports cars have gotten too heavy and are now overly controlled by computer systems. At one point he goes on to mention that the Mazda Miata is more of what a modern 240z should be like.
Another point that he makes against modern Z cars is that they have gotten too expensive. The high price point really drives away the customers that the Z was initially designed for. The original 240z had an MSRP just over $4,000 back in the early seventies before options, now the price can regularly top $40K!! I can see his point.
The article goes on to mention that he would like to see the “Datsun” moniker return to future sporty cars from Nissan. I haven’t really thought of Datsun ever coming back, but why shouldn’t it!? It would be a great way for Nissan to branch out and offer cars at a lower price point in the future, sort of like what Toyota did with Scion. Seemed to work pretty well for them. Maybe we will see a lightweight sedan come back to the market and channel some vintage 510 styling. I’d buy a couple of those, rear drive of course.
Thoughts?
Side note: Mr. K’s 100th birthday was on the 15th of this month, so happy belated B-day to him. He’s still a feisty old dog isn’t he!? Good for him.
Filed under: Automotive History
by Forbes @ 8:03 pm on September 10, 2009
I found this while scanning around on YouTube today. I absolutely love the IMSA GTP series and especially the Nissan #83 and #84 cars. If you have an extra $650K burning a hole in your pocket I can point you in the direction of one of the most rare #83 cars that happens to be for sale. The engine in these cars was based on the Z31 and Z32 300ZX engines so yes this video is relevant here on ZCarBlog. Hahaha.
Side note: I’m actually named after Elliot Forbes-Robinson (EFR) who raced for Nissan in these GTP monsters. Kinda cool. ENJOY!!!
