Love for the Z is strong in Northern California

The Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) is one of the oldest Z car clubs in the nation. In its prime they had over 600 members with close ties to Yutaka Katayama (“Mr. K”) and Nissan USA. We had a wonderful time attending their 50th Birthday Celebration at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, Ca on June 5, 2022.

 

Despite some morning rain the turnout was impressive for a relaxed gathering. No judged car show or awards, just Z-Car fans catching up with old friends and meeting new enthusiasts. (above) Aerial photos by Bryan Delohery.

Highlights from the show

Still to this day, 240Zs are the most represented model in the club. Expansion over time currently includes all recent Z models and the GT-R, but also reaches back in time to include the Datsun Roadsters and 510s.  For their 50th Birthday Celebration, ZONC assembled a “generations” display in front of the museum with samples of S30, S130, Z31, Z32, Z33 and Z34. Sitting front and center was the 2023 Nissan Z!

 

Racing History

 

A selection of Datsun race cars also joined the “generations” display. Datsun 510 guru and racer Troy Ermish displayed his 1971 B-Sedan 510 “Penny”:

 

Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou displayed his FAR Performance 240Z. This Z has a very rich racing history, driven in the 70’s by Loren St. Lawrence in VIPS Restaurant livery.

 

Glenn has vintage raced this Z at several high-profile events. He turned a track-mishap into an opportunity to perform a total-restoration (again) and bring this Z back in “Bay Area Datsun Dealers” livery as raced by FAR Performance privateer Walt Maas.

 

Rob Fuller of Z Car Garage displayed his #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z. An interesting note, both Glenn and Rob’s race cars have ties to ZONC gatherings decades ago.

 

Linda Williams’ 1972 Datsun 240Z OMS Pace Car Duplicate was staged next to the #49 IMSA GTU race car (the original OMS Pace car). Z Car Garage revived this historically-significant Z from its slumber to make it a nice driver for Linda while retaining its survivor status. She loves driving it everywhere.

 

The New Nissan Z!

 

ZONC teamed up with Nissan to display the new 2023 Z as part of the “generations” display in front of the Blackhawk Museum. This is the Performance model sporting a 6-speed manual and Passion Red paint. And Z Car Garage got to drive it back to our shop at the end of the event!

 

Z’s, 510s, Roadsters and More!

 

Here are a few of my favorite S30 Z cars from the gathering, starting with this flared beauty on Watanabe wheels:

 

Flared Series 1 Z with G-nose and Works-style wheels:

 

We were pleasantly surprised to see many Z Car Garage clients so let’s take a look at what they drove. Ed B is the original owner of this 1971 Datsun 240Z ZCG has maintained for almost two decades:

 

Bob Russell is the original owner of this S30 we will have a full report on zcarblog soon!

 

Representing the G35s were our clients Larry and long-time client Jason:

 

Eugene and long-time client Craig showed their 350Zs:

 

 

Richard M’s ZCG-modified 370z was representing Z34s

 

Here is a video from the 50th Birthday Celebration with load-in of the #49 IMSA Datsun 240Z, walk-around of the displays and the new Z leaving, enjoy! More highlights below…

 

260z and 280z

 

S130

Who could forget the S130 280zx! We spotted 4:

 

Z31

Three Z31s, including David’s sweet 25th Anniversary edition. This was his first ZONC event, welcome and thanks for bringing your Z out David!

 

The Works Rally Z

 

In the middle of freshly painted/detailed Datsuns and Nissans was this rather dilapidated S30. Upon closer inspection viewers were treated to the tremendous revival of this real-deal Nissan WORKS rally car. Recently I had just posted a blog report on Randy’s East-African Rally Tribute, so seeing an actual, surviving rally car in person blew me away. We all geeked out pretty hard on the details, and they were impressive:

 

This is chassis #2 of 4 that were built by Nissan for the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally.  It is the project of Tom K and noted Datsun expert Steve Pettersen and their restoration website is a must-visit for history and feature documentation (as shown above). The Z remains largely intact with original parts like the Nissan competition exhaust manifold and roll bar. Period-correct parts like the Ikeda Bussan rally seat and reclining navigator seat were sourced. Check out the heater-port to defrost the headlight covers, Nissan-branded acrylic windows and more:

 

 

Authentic Magnesium rally wheels and Kanto Seiki 8krpm tach! Thanks Tom and Steve for bringing it out to the ZONC event!

 

 

This Z deserves its own spotlight, but enjoy this walk-around video until we can visit Tom and take some proper coverage:

 

Z32

 

Z33 and Z34

Our client Steve’s Nismo Z33 and a brace of 350Zs in the generations display. Good to see a build from way back, Tom’s supercharged 370Z.

 

510s

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Jay’s 510 features our Z Car Garage CV Axles. We will have a full report soon as he just completed a DWA rallye in the Sierras!

 

Matt’s 510 with turbocharged KA24DE:

 

Andrew’s 4-door Hakosuka Skyline and Josh’s 620 truck

Roadsters

The lone Datsun Roadster was Hotep’s ’69 2000 with L-series drivetrain and factory, OEM hardtop!

  

This rad little B13 Sentra b13 packed a full SR20VET engine from a Nissan X-Trail and 6-speed transmission!

 

 

S12, and S14 Nissans:

 

 

R35 Row

A very large showing of R35 GT-Rs parked together

Plenty of cool, modified cars but this one caught our eye, it is a GT-R “T-Spec”.

 

Only offered in two colors, Millemium Jade and this Midnight Purple finish made iconic by special-edition R34 Skylines. Inside, a Mori green interior and alcantara touches really set it apart from other models. Best part? The owner drives it everywhere despite being an ultra-rare and pricey variant.

   

Driving the New Z to Z Car Garage!

 

I had the opportunity to drive the 2023 Nissan Z from the ZONC show back to our shop in San Jose with a group of die-hard Nissan fans. Huge thanks to Nissan! We had the Z for a few days to enjoy so stay tuned for a full report!

Happy Birthday ZONC!

Spending the day at the ZONC 50th Birthday Celebration reminded us to (in the words of the late Mr.K), ” Love cars. Love people. Love Life.”  This is a club that keep the Z community together year-round and we are excited for their next events. Don’t forget to check out our picture gallery below! Big thanks to the ZONC organizers and Nissan for bringing the new Z out. Stay tuned for a full report our time with the 2023 Z!

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Z Car Garage has built several cars with our client Randy Jaffe including the Rocketbunny Series1 240Z and #46 BRE Datsun 240Z driven by John Morton. In 2020 he acquired this cool 240Z East-African Safari Rally tribute and we helped him take it to the next level.

 

History and Acquisition

Randy’s Safari Z is a tribute to the original #11 car piloted to victory by Edgar Herrmann and Hans Schuller in the 1971 East African Safari Rally. Nissan campaigned three of these S30s in the rally, finishing 1, 2 and 7th place while handily beating Porsche’s and other marques along the way. It was a grueling race spanning over 3,800 miles and quite an achievement for the drivers and Nissan. #11 is currently displayed at the Zama Museum in Japan, still wearing its battle scars (more period photos in the gallery below):

 

Randy has always admired the Safari Z, keeping a 1/18th scale model on his desk for decades:

“I always loved the 1971 story where the Datsun Rally Z cars finished on the podium and just kicked ass over 3,852 grueling miles of torture!! A friend of mine built this car from an oddly enough a Safari Gold series 1 240Z – VIN 03227 with a 4/70 production date, Jim Faria – I almost bought the car from him in 2014 at San Diego ZCON but he decided he and daughter who do a few rally’s together which they did.”

 

Credit goes to Jim Faria for adding livery replicating the Herrmann/Schuller car with period front and rear spotlights, Nissan mud guards, rear grab handles, hood-mounted light pods and replica East African Safari plates:

 

The interior also features period touches like navigator’s equipment including 70’s route map, microphone headsets and rally timers:

 

Randy finally acquired the Z in 2020:

“Fast forward 6 years later at the 2020 Z Car Convention in Nashville.  Jim placed the Safari Tribute for auction on Bring a Trailer. I was like ‘Jim you are selling my car!’ Eventually I won the auction and the Z was immediately shipped to Z Car Garage and featured in a Nissan commercial – from there on together with Rob we took this tribute to the next level.”

 

Z Car Garage Preparation

 

Randy shipped the Z from Georgia to our shop in San Jose, CA and we were first tasked with preparing it for a Nissan TV commercial. The Safari Z tribute would be in the “60 Years in 30 Seconds” commercial as part of “The New Nissan” ad campaign starring actress Brie Larson. Here are a few shots from the filming location:

 

With a little green screen action and some actual dirt driving (somewhere in SoCal) Randy’s Z looks like it is actually ripping through the desert plains of Africa, watch the actual TV commercial below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a7oSMoU-Eg

 

Photos from the off-road adventure were used in subsequent social media posts by Nissan…this montage shows video clips from an Instagram post with the Safari Tribute getting loose in the dirt:

 

After performing its duty filming with Nissan, the Z returned to ZCG so we could add the remaining touches that Randy wanted. Here it is at the shop, still wearing its dirt after a quick rinse. Let’s take a look at the details we added.

 

Drivetrain

 

Randy wanted to proudly display this historic tribute in his collection, but more importantly (also why we love him), he wanted to drive it so people can see and hear the Safari Z in action. The stock L24 with SUs wasn’t going to cut it, this Z was getting the Jaffe-treatment with an engine to give it some go. A new 3.0 Rebello street race motor using a 10.5:1 head for pump gas was installed with a new 1982 280ZX 5 speed transmission and OS Giken 4.11 LSD.

 

We provided him with triple-Mikuni ph44 induction (as the original #11 Safari Z ran) complete with Harada intake, velocity stacks, linkages and Z Car Garage Heat Shield covering the Fujitsubo exhaust header:

 

Rob dyno tuned the 3L, producing 254hp/228tq at the wheels:

 

Enjoy this video of the Safari Tribute 240Z in action!

 

Details

 

Small details can make a big difference, like functional Works-style side jacking points, rear bumper steps and twin-exit exhaust system. We worked with Randy to knock-out his list of items:

“Rob and Gary found a source for the rear mudflaps that are a dead copy of the originals along with their brackets and the vinyl mat that sat in the rear hatch area with the 2 spare tires on top! So many custom pieces to get it right and Z Car Garage made it all happen. We installed new race type seats from Jay at JDM parts along with his version of the original Seiko wheels which the car really needed! I found some 175 x 14 tires made for Postal Jeeps that look very much like the Dunlops originally spec’d. Of course the original car is right hand drive but I’m good with what I have done to the car – maybe find the set of Heuer Monte Carlo stop watches that ran on the dash and that will be it!”

 

Those rear bumper steps were fabricated to be just like the original pieces. Original car on the left with Randy’s tribute on the right:

 

At ZCON in 2020 Pete Brock demonstrated how these were used (with grab-handles) by the Safari drivers to literally “rock” the Z out of sticky situations:

 

Randy enlisted help from industry veteran Dan Passe (Director, Nissan Corporate Communications) who had a Zama Museum contact measure the O.D. of the twin-exit exhaust tail-pipes so we could replicate them:

 

Mudflaps wearing the “Datsun” (as the original Safari Z) logo were sourced to replace the existing “Nissan” units and also proper steel hangers were installed:

 

The original East-African Safari Rally cars wore Kobe Seiko Competition Works Rally-Magnesium wheels. These are difficult to source but reproductions are available. Randy is running a set from Jay Ataka of JDM Car Parts. Tires are hand-cut from a Postal service Jeep by Bryson from Classic Livery (of Leh Keen Safari 911 fame). Original on the left:

 

Inside, the original style REPA race belts were replicated as close as possible. The original Safari car ran Z432 seats, as seen on the Salt Flats 240Z we helped revive. These are also difficult to source so we used race-style seats from JDM Car Parts to replace to stock units:

 

Here is the Z at home in Georgia with Randy now featuring all of the parts/details:

Enjoying The Ride

 

Before heading back to Atlanta, Randy enjoyed driving the Safari Tribute during Car Week at Monterey. What a car to cruise in, and he even visited the paddock at Laguna Seca. Here are a few more shots from Randy of the Z in Georgia. We love his new “ZAFARI” (previously “SAFARIZ”) license plate:

 

We have many photos in the gallery below and don’t forget to see the Safari Z featured on Hoonigan Autofocus (now Larry Chen’s own channel) also looking at Randy’s epic Datsun collection.

 

Thank you Randy for your passion and continued support. We loved working with you to re-create fun details for the Safari Tribute. Long Live The Z!

 

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Z Car Garage is proud to offer 13×7 Panasport racing wheels for your Datsun 510. These are +3 offset and perfect fitment for your B-Sedan/TransAm series Datsun 510 running vintage-class spec 205/60/13 Hoosier R7 (and other) tires. Price is $250 per wheel.

 

Shown above: Rob Fuller and Masayoshi Kobayashi, President of Panasport/Mag Formula Inc at Laguna Seca with the 13×7 Panasport wheels we run on our Bay Area Datsun Dealers 510. Here are the 13×7 Panasport wheels featured on a few client 510 race cars:

Kelvin’s Ex-Ted Gruner TransAm 510

 

Gabe’s B-Sedan:

 

Todd’s Far Performance 510

 

Ed’s 510

 

More photos of the wheels can be seen in the gallery below

 

Contact us: rob@zcargarage.com or call 408-452-0350 to order your set!

 

Panasport wheels for your Spec Miata!

 

Yes, when Z Car Gargage is not supporting and racing Z’s or 510s we are avid Spec-Miata fans. ZCG now sells 15×7 +35 offset Panasport racing wheels for your Spec Miata. Price is $250.00 per wheel.

 

Panasport wheels for your Z car

     Treat your Z to a brand new set of  Panasport Wheels! We special order this offset to enable fitment of a 225/50/16 tire on the 1970 to 1978 S30s. Price is  $325.00 per wheel

Contact us: rob@zcargarage.com or call 408-452-0350 Limited availability (pallet pictured)

Wondering how a set of Panasports would look on your Z car? Please enjoy pictures below of ZCG customer cars in just about every color imaginable with Panasport Wheels:

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Today we received a surprise package from Sung Kang at Z Car Garage. Inside was the limited-edition FUGUZ Steering Wheel along with some very cool gear:

 

The steering wheel is 1 of 73 pieces, comes with its own briefcase and engraved quick-release adapters. How amaZing is it that Sung gave us steering wheel #49!!! Naturally we had to take a photo with a very happy Rob Fuller next to the #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z:

 

 

Thank you Sung for this incredible gesture. We admire your Z car passion and efforts to help the car community thrive. Long Live The Z!

You can see more pictures below!

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This is a new vintage racing event created by the Laguna Seca Raceway Foundation and Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) to raise money for charity. It is an open sound event with multiple races for each race group, charity rides and more.

***Admission is FREE! Download your pass HERE.***

 

Join Z Car Garage at Laps for Laguna as we will be running the #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z:

 

Racing into 2022!

 

Z Car Garage is amped for this year’s race season. Here is list of events we will be attending. Please join us!

April

4/1-3  Sonoma with CSRG (Finished, report soon!)

4/21-24 Laguna with SVRA

4/28-5/2 Sonoma with SVRA

May

5/21-22  Laps for Laguna with CSRG

August

8/13-14  Laguna with HSR Pre Reunion ( NOT CONFIRMED)

8/17-20 Laguna  with HSR  Reunion ( NOT CONFIRMED)

October

9/30-10/2 Sonoma with CSRG Charity Challenge

9/13-16 Laguna   VI

November

11/4-6   Thunderhill with CSRG