Congratulations to our client Randy Jaffe on his win at the Amelia Island Concours D’ Elegance! Z Car Garage is proud to prepare the iconic, the 1976 IMSA GTU Championship-winning Transcendental Racing Z for Randy and we will have a full report coming to zcarblog.com shortly. A few words from Randy at Amelia:
“Brad & Terrye FRISSELLE made the trip from Colorado to see their former 1976 IMSA GTU Championship early VIN 01543 Datsun 240Z race car co-driven by John Morton.Thanks to so many of our friends that made the trip to support us! Of course the guys at Z Car Garage made it all happen!! Thanks Rob!!!”
An amaZingly talented driver, Morton brought Brock Racing Enterprises (BRE) four National SCCA Championships from 1970-1972: two C-production championships in the Datsun 240Z and two Trans-Am championships in the Datsun 510. Enjoy our photos with John Morton over the years and let’s all wish him the best birthday!
Rob and John at the Velocity Invitational 2022
Morton, Pete Brock and Steve Millen at Laguna Seca 2018
Road Atlanta 2010, with the John Morton Army (JMA)
BRE Reunions in 2008 and 2010:
The Mitty, 2018:
Honored to spend time with John Morton on the racetrack. Happy Birthday!
In November 2019, racing legend John Morton and co-driver Rob Fuller piloted the #46 BRE Datsun 240z in the HSR Classic 24hr race at Daytona International Speedway. The team was heading for a class win until the second session when a Chevron panicked and cut hard right in front of John Morton, causing the Z to flip up in the air landing on its roof.
Team manager and owner Randy Jaffe sent the Z back to Z Car Garage for repairs and improvements and it is now back on the road in fighting form. Enjoy our report with photos and video chronicling the rebuild from dyno tuning to applying the famous livery on the BRE Datsun 240Z.
Racing at Daytona
The Classic 24 race featured six race groups with 4 (1hr) sessions and cumulative time deciding the winner. Each session had a 3-minute pitstop with mandatory driver exit during fueling. It was an incredible sight to see the #46Z out on the high banking with serious race cars like the Smith Motorworks 1980 Porsche 935 K3:
Despite heavy rain the team carried on, making changes to the car and improving with each session:
Randy:“As you drive into the infield at Daytona and look at that 31% banking it’s super intimidating and as Rob stated you cannot look straight out of the car as it’s always bending left and he has never experienced that before. Rob did an amazing job of adapting to not only the car but to the track within a few laps as he cut down six seconds. John Morton has not run Daytona in over 20 years and he got right in the car and turned a great time which is what professional race drivers do! At 77 years old it’s just amazing how he is so calm and so smooth around these tracks!”
The bad weather and lack of track experience didn’t hold the team back. Rob was ecstatic not only about the Z’s performance, but also being able to co-drive with his hero:
Rob: “Ben from Retrosport with Alan Terpins’ 1979 Porsche 935 MOMO car kicked ass and won their class. They were clocked on the front straight under braking at 188mph. The BRE Z did 156mph top speed and our lap times (Morton and Fuller) were within a .1 of each other. I can’t describe the feeling of going from total fanboy to being a co-driver with John Morton. All of this comes from Randy Jaffe’s generosity, drive/passion to celebrate this car and era. These heroes that were making history and didn’t even know it 50 years later. Watching people from all over the world find John Morton to have him sign something, shake his hand, tell him a Datsun story. It’s surreal.”
Unfortunately our hopes of a first or second place finish in class were cut short at the second session. John Morton got an epic start and as they all went into turn 1 on the first lap (at night) a Lola T 70 lost its grip, then a Chevron panicked and cut hard right in front of John. There was nothing he could do and the car was so low that it flipped us up in the air and onto the roof:
John Morton was able to exit the Z safely, without any injuries. The Z was towed in, covered and our race ended. We all had hashbrowns and coffee late night at Waffle House:
Randy: “Of course all of us were freaked out wondering if JM is OK and Sylvia was a cool as a cucumber. When he returned to the paddock from the care center we were all gasping as we were not aware of his status! Racing icons such as Jochen Maas, Ray Everham, Bob Leitzsinger came over to check on JM as we covered the car. The roof was caved in like a V and almost down on the dash. Body panels were a mess, a broken control arm, sail panels were wrinkled, front rad support bent and various other pieces destroyed on the front end… all of us went to lunch the next day on Daytona Beach and I ordered upside down dessert for Morton and we all had a lot of laughs knowing he was OK. He relived his racing career at the table and it was either #6 or 7 for flipping cars and 1 airplane event!!”
You can see video with in-car footage of both John Morton and Rob Fuller and the crash in our 2019 report HERE. Enjoy the triple-Mikuni carb’d music and wild banking of Daytona!
The BRE 240Z Rebuilt at Z Car Garage
The #46Z was shipped from Georgia back to ZCG for a rebuild after damages from the Daytona crash. We know that owner Randy Jaffe goes to 11, and this was his chance to correct every little detail on BRE car as it was raced in 1970. Our goal: make this Z absolutely perfect. Let’s dive into the restoration.
Bodywork
Bodywork and paint was handled by our man William from William’s Auto Body. We provided OEM parts from our stash like the hood, fenders and new Euro front bumper. Everyone wanted to see this the Z revived and even Nissan donated parts including original headlight covers, BRE spoiler and fiberglass headlight buckets for a Series 1 car.
Randy: “There was never a doubt in my mind to repair it with Rob’s guy William. Over the next 2 years every inch of the car was worked on including cleaning up a few OCD details on stripe positioning, size and scale of the JM on the doors along with using single stage paint like it was painted back in the day by Dave Kent – the master! The thought that JM and Rob were running the car at 157 mph with ONLY the original 46 Z roll bar that JM himself had welding in VIN 00492 was a bit scary after the fact! The car protected JM and made us proud of how the Z chassis held up!”
We obsessed over the paint and livery: the shade of red is not the same between the BRE Datsun 510 and Z cars! There was a heavy focus on the “Datsun” script, its location and kerning on John Morton’s name on the doors. The BRE livery was applied by The Real Ralph Newman. You can see his hand-painting details in the time-lapse video below. Ralph nailed it.
Chassis
With the bodywork, paint and livery sorted we started re-assembling the chassis. Freshly plated parts and hydraulic lines were installed:
Suspension
Suspension parts original to the 1970 BRE 240Z chassis that John Morton raced were re-installed.
Drivetrain
The engine was refreshed while it was out along with the supporting drivetrain components. The Z was going to be aesthetically and mechanically ready to race again. The original, multi-piece heat shield was re-plated:
Enjoy this video showing a walk-around, dyno tuning, warm-up and more!
Details
Full weatherstripping including hatch and door seals were installed and even the small door/window pieces can be seen in the photo gallery below:
We excel at the small details and accept challenging ones like re-creating period items:
Randy:“Rob, Josh and Nick were just unbelievable – all 3 went to the ends of the earth to take their time to makes sure all of the crazy details were secured. The original 46 Z had Interpart quick release hood pins at the from hinges and the Z Car gang fabricated them to the T!! Morton just saw the car 2 weeks ago for the first time and forgot about them and said ‘those were EXACTLY what was on there’!”
The interior going back in the car:
Enjoying The Ride
After finishing the restoration of the BRE Datsun 240Z at Z Car Garage we shipped it back back to Randy in Georgia for him to enjoy. He wasted no time:
“So the car arrives back in Atlanta in Feb 2022 after 26 months of being in CA just in time to take it and the 46 510 to the Daytona Hall of Fame Induction with Peter Brock. Entering into the arena including Jack Roush, Helio Castroneves, Harley & Davidson and a handful of other racing icons. We staged the cars in front of the first Monday night dinner and Peter had a smile from ear to ear. We then displayed the 510 in front of the hotel where the other events took place. The juice was worth the squeeze!”
In June, Randy attended the Highlands Motor Festival in North Carolina. Both John Morton and Sylvia Wilkinson were there to enjoy the event as well.
Randy: “So my mind starting spinning as I thought this was a chance to get JM back into the car for at least a shake down session! I called a friend of mine Matt Crouch who has been a member of AMP – Atlanta Motorsport Park in Dawsonville, GA (property was sold to them by Bill Elliott) since it’s inception 10 years ago and asked him if he thought we could get on the track with no other cars the day or so before we left to go the event in NC. Track owner Jeremy gave us the track from 3-4pm by ourselves with corner workers, etc on the house! Jeremy and his crew were ecstatic to have a racing icon drive on their track! “
The car ran perfectly and John Morton was back in the car at speed at 80 years old!
Randy: “I gave my three friends 3 laps each in the right seat and they all were dazed with excitement It was a great day, great car, great shop to make it that way and great times!!! The Z was a huge hit at the event in NC – had it’s own parking area and JM & Sylvia sold books and signed autographs all day!”
Thank You!
We are grateful to Randy Jaffe for giving the opportunity to be part of this journey. It has been a wild ride and we admire Randy’s passion to share the stories of John Morton.
Randy and the BRE 240Z Build
While many have seen the BRE 240z at racing events and shows, there is a great story behind this car as told by owner Randy Jaffe:
“I met John somewhere around 2012 and told him I was going to build a tribute to his championship 240 Z car and I’m sure he’s heard that hundreds of times and he was kind of bored with the conversation. Then I started sending him and Peter Brock emails to build it correctly then after I spent several years at an attempt to do a tribute I was with both of them one night and asked about the real story on the remains of the original car. Both of them looked at each other and back at me and I was like – what was that look for? They went on to tell me that the story I had heard for years about the car being totally destroyed and no longer around was not true. Dan Parkinson who lived about a hour and a half north of Los Angeles had the remains of the car that he had re-bodied after a 1977 ball joint failure at phoenix motor Speedway. Casey Mollett – another Datsun racer back in the day was a few hundred yards behind Dan Parkinson when he hit that wall and he was part of the teardown and reassembly to the 1977 to 80 Z that Nissan gave Dan to rebuild a car. They were going to repair the original 46Z which now wore the number five livery of Dan Parkinson but the painter said it would take a month and a half to two months and they had to race in a few weeks so they use the 1977 280 Z that Nissan gave Dan.”
“The long and short of it is that they raced the 1977 shell for a few years and retired the car and racing in 1979 and all of those parts just sat there until 2016. Dan and I have had conversations for over a year and many many people were trying to buy these parts because they knew what they were but for some reason he felt comfortable and asked me one day do I really want all the stuff and of course I said yes. John Morton actually said since he owned the original chassis plate which he had taken off the car when he installed the remote Traco oil filter back in 1970 he kept that Vin plate in his toolbox until he gave it to me at the Petersen Museum in 2016. I had already completed my car as a tribute to the BRE team and John Morton when Dan sold me all of the surviving pieces. I then ripped the entire car apart and installing every little piece I could that had integrity and that’s when Rob Fuller stepped in to finish the car build like it was back in the day.”
Pictures from the race prep of Randy’s Z at Z Car Garage:
A sampling of the original parts is shown below including the exhaust header with megaphones, SW gauges, and BRE remote oil filter/cooler. Original BRE heat shield and fuel block pictured above. All assembled by the crew at ZCG prior to testing:
Randy’s fanatic attention to detail and our team’s prep culminated in John Morton enjoying the Z at several race events:
“So many of the remaining pieces along with the 1971 championship motor is on display at my shop. After going to a few shows with John Morton in the car I told him I wanted to race it and he kind of smirked and said it’s a show car not a race car and my reply was we’re gonna race it will you drive it and he Sylvia was nonchalant and said yeah maybe… when we signed up and got into the first Rolex reunion in 2017 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.”
“John wasn’t really excited about racing the car Rob and I could see that even when he got belted in the car. When he came back after 6 to 8 laps a different man had returned he immediately walked over to Sylvia and said what are my times – He knew he was turning really fast laps and was getting really fired up! He told Brock down at the Carmel car show that the show car was truly a fast racecar! That weekend he terrorized all kinds of Porsches including 935s and was running up front in the top 10 out of a group of 40 to 50 cars. This became really fun so we’ve done it now at Road Atlanta Laguna Seca and now Daytona!”
Big thanks to Randy Jaffe, Sylvia and John Morton, the ZCG team Josh and Keith Corwin, Meghan Fuller, Michael Eberhardt and Vintage Racing Company and HSR this was a memorable event we can’t wait to come back to next year. More pictures in the gallery below:
Happy 86th Birthday to our hero Peter Brock! You have been and continue to be inspirational to us Datsun fans worldwide. Here a few pictures we enjoyed taking with you over the years:
Jack Atkinson, friend, extraordinary designer, fabricator and creator of the Primadonna Z, left this world on July 15, 2022. He was 68. Jack and his wife Yolanda have been a part of our lives since the beginning of Z Car Garage. We send our deepest condolences to Yolanda and their family.
Being lifetime members of The Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) and supporting our shop along the way, we are forever grateful to them. This is our tribute to you, Jack. We miss you and know you are out there Enjoying The Ride!
Design and Fabrication
In the automotive space, Jack was a visionary designer and self-taught fabricator. Many enthusiasts in the Nissan/Datsun community to this day are still impressed with his iconic “Primadonna Z” based on the 1970’s Datsun 240Z sportscars. This is a very special Z car with a history that will be shared in a (deservedly) separate blog post. Briefly, Jack Atkinson built three totally custom 240z cars in the early 80’s. In 2021, Z Car Garage helped reunite Jack and Yolanda with his first Primadonna Z build:
Heavily influenced by the wild IMSA Z ‘s and Porsche 935 bodywork, Jack hand-fabricated the body pieces and affectionately named the cars “Primadonna Z’s”. Only three Primadonna Zs were made. This red car is the first one Jack built, here is a period photo of it:
Jack would go on to build and eventually sell the Primadonna kit, spawning black and white versions:
The whereabouts of the black and white cars have been fairly well-documented over the years, eventually landing (and thankfully) in the hands of caring owners. The white car (known as Jettlag) and red car (known as Z Bait) are currently with Eric and Allison Knutsen of Southern Florida Z. We have so much to tell you about this car’s history, from its current whereabouts back to inception in the skillful hands of Jack. For now, a nice primer can be seen HERE.
Datsun Destiny
Thirty-six years later Jack was reunited with his first creation, Primadonna Z #1. The Z arrived at Z Car Garage and we were able to get it started and take both Jack and Yolanda for a spin. It was incredible to see this Z in person and even sweeter to witness the reunion. This would be Jack’s last ride in the car he built by hand before he passed.
Here is short video of Rob and crew getting the Z started and rolling on the street:
Back in Z Game
After a 20 year hiatus, Jack’s creative mind and passion urged him to get back into modifying Z cars. This time he chose the Nissan 300ZX (Z32) as his canvas, building two “Primadonna Z32” sportscars.
The first Z32 was a 1993 convertible (above) that was transformed into a widebody with several iterations of livery, wheels and color schemes. That was Jack: always seeking to improve his designs:
“I wanted to take an already nice looking Z and make it look like a super car. Even though this car is a one off, my insurance is the complete set of molds, from which the components you see were made. I made the fiberglass molds from the hand-sculpted prototype body of wood, aluminum, styrofoam, fiberglass and bondo. Body components were constructed using hand laid S-Fiberglass, Carbon Fiber and Kevlar and rolled out with a high temperature resin.”
The build started in July of 2005 under a canopy in his backyard and took 6-months to complete-including paint. Below, build documentation and the Primadonna Z32 in all-black:
The second Z32 was a 1996 Twin-Turbo with only 13,400 miles on it. This stunning ZX was one of the last Z32s to roll off the line (#247 of the last 300) and Jack’s hand-made body-work highlighted the car’s lines, while leaving the ‘looks-new’ interior in full view through the windows and t-top. Jack garnered many awards for both Primadonna Z’s including Best of Show and First Place at ZDay in Pismo Beach:
Jack’s LS3-Powered Z32
Jack developed a love for Corvettes and we helped him bridge his passion for the Z by performing an LS3 engine swap into his Primadonna Z32 Convertible. This was a dream come true for Jack, earning him a prize in the Z32 Ultra Modified category at ZCON 2021. Here are a few photos of us wrapping up the LS3 swap with road-testing and dyno tuning. Full report soon!
It even sports full A/C and OEM shifter for the automatic transmission. The Z was loaded up with the OMS pace car and heading to ZCON 2021! You can hear Rob discuss Jack’s LS-powered Z on this episode of Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen from the 34th Annual Z Car Convention (ZCON) hosted by ZCCA in Colorado Springs.
Fellow Z car enthusiast and ZONC board member Ann Devor on Jack’s creative work. Jack inspired many Z-car enthusiasts, including younger folks:
“Jack, with Yolanda’s assistance with fiberglass molding, designed and fabricated all manner of auto body parts – fenders, noses, tails, splitters, wings, all to accommodate the bigger wheels that were necessary for his aerodynamic designs. And the wheels were big! Wheels for Jack’s cars were custom made and it was always one of his favorite jobs to put his new wheels on for the first time. And to his last days, he wanted a set of new wheels for one of his cars. Jack was always thinking about the next big thing he wanted to do, whether it was a road trip or a new design for a car.”
“When Jack started working with vinyl applications and graphics, a whole new world opened up and added to Jack’s already respectable number of design innovations. Jack’s cars visually popped with their huge wheels covered by muscular fenders, big wings, splitters just barely clearing the asphalt, and car paint clothed in colorful spears, stripes, arrows, and emblems. There is nothing else like Jack’s cars.”
Roadtrip Leader
Some of our greatest memories of Jack are the numerous roadtrips he led (with Yolanda’s help, of course) with ZONC. These memorable drives would kick-off at Z Car Garage, with Jack briefing a large group of enthusiasts. You could also count on seeing Jack’s car equipped with a CB radio antenna, whether it was a Z car or NSX. This desire to share the road and its adventures carried with him later in life to the Santa Clara Corvette club where he would lead them on epic cross-country drives.
Datsun Family
Jack and Yolanda have supported Z Car Garage since we opened our doors in 2004. They helped us design and produce special t-shirts and swag (more on the way!) that you may have seen at various race events and gatherings. We are forever grateful for their friendship.
Love. Jack and Yolanda were in love for 43 years. Their partnership was inspirational, doing everything together including working side by side as business partners and enjoying automotive hobbies. Indeed, it was tough to get a picture of them apart, so most of my photos are of them together 🙂 Here are Jack and Yolanda in 2008 at a Z Car Garage dyno day, in their NSX:
We Miss You Jack
On October 22, Z Car Garage attended a Celebration of Jack’s Life in Bakersfield, Ca. There was an incredible outpouring of love from friends and family at the event. Jack’s passion and love for sharing spanned across different marques, eventually reaching NSX and Corvette clubs.
The celebration of life also brought people together. We met Eric and Allison Knutsen, current caretakers of the Primadonna Z cars all the way from Florida. The parking lot was a mini car show with Jack and Yolanda’s cars as well as friend’s rides. We think Jack would be right at home seeing the gathering of cars and people. Enjoy the photo gallery below:
Jack is at peace, and his story will continue to be told. We were fortunate to be in his presence and cherish the time we spent Enjoying The Ride. He truly embodied the words Mr. K said best, “Love cars. Love people. Love life.” Our sincerest condolences go out to Yolanda and Jack’s family. We will miss you Jack!
