Tony H acquired this 1971 Datsun 240Z through our friends at Bring a Trailer and visited Z Car Garage for mechanical sorting. We are big fans of BaT and despite not winning the auction outright Tony still ended up with the Z…

 

“I bought my Z directly from a seller on Bring a Trailer after being the high bidder but not reaching the seller’s reserve. I drove down to SoCal to pick up the Z car with my friend. We test drove it and it seemed ok but I knew it definitely needed a good tuning. We made a deal and on the trailer it went.”

 

 

Z Dream Car

Tony’s Z story is simple: “My Dad had a body shop when I was growing up. I saw tons of cars come through but the one that wowed me the most was the 240Z.  I remember wishing I could own one of these cars one day. The rest is history!”

 

The Safari Gold ’71 was on display at Dublin Nissan before coming to Z Car Garage and it isn’t the only Datsun 240Z in Tony’s stable. His silver S30 was also on display in the showroom, right next to our 2023 Nissan Z!

 

Spotlight with Nissan

 

Making this Z even more special was its role in a 2021 Nissan commercial with actress Brie Larson featuring the debut of the 2023 Nissan Z. The previous owner kindly provided Tony with media containing outtakes from the commercial (see video below) filming:

 

Mechanical Sorting at Z Car Garage

 

As Tony mentioned, the Z was in great cosmetic shape but needed some mechanical work to be enjoyed. Starting in the engine bay we installed a new battery hold down with frame and new cables.  All cooling hoses were replaced and we replaced the existing brake booster vacuum hose with a braided unit:

 

We installed an MSD coil, dialed-in the the SU carbs, adjusted the valves, corrected issues with the choke cables, added a ground to his Pertronix install and set the timing. More photos of the engine bay work in the gallery below:

 

The exhaust was replaced with our ZCG exhaust system using a Magnaflow resonator/muffler and slash-cut tip:

 

Dyno Tuning

We dyno-tuned Tony’s Z with a baseline of 136hp/138tq. After Rob’s tuning the Z made 143hp/148tq at the wheels:

 

Enjoy this video showing the dyno runs, walk-around and the Nissan commercial this Z was featured in:

 

Chassis

 

The braking systems was overhauled with new hoses and brake lines. Rotors were roughed-in with chamfered pads, lubed all suspension parts and poly bushings and bled the brakes. All 4 struts were replaced and we installed Tony’s springs, trimmed for best fit with urethane MacPherson bump stops and full in-house alignment services:

 

We also replaced all of Tony’s fuel vapor hoses in the back of the car. Z Car Garage developed a small kit as these vapor line pieces are NLA.  This will help eliminate fuel small that can enter the cabin when filling up your Z.  We always fill up the fuel tank to ensure our vapor hose kit works perfectly:

  

Enjoy The Ride

 

Tony was happy with the work Z Car Garage performed, and we loved to hear his feedback:

“When I brought Rob my car it was was not running right. It felt lethargic. It was miss firing and most of the time wouldn’t start up. When I got to Rob he pointed out some issues with the engine bay set up. He said he would take care of all the issues and did just that! When I picked up my Z it felt like a totally different car. I remember thinking to myself that this must be the way it felt when the car was first driven off the dealership lot. Rob did an amazing job tuning and cleaning up the engine bay! Z Car Garage is great!”

 

Thank you Tony for trusting your Z with us, we enjoyed working with you and loved seeing both of your Z cars on display.  More photo of Tony’s 1971 Datsun 240Z in the gallery below:

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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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