After popular demand we decided to dedicate this weekend's classic car photo tribute to Nissan's first generation Z sportscar, the ancestor of today's 370Z. Codenamed S30 and S31 for the mid 70s facelift versions, the first Z made its Japanese market debut in November 1969 as the Nissan Fairlady Z and remained in production until 1978 when it was replaced by the Nissan / Datsun 280ZX. Depending on the market and the engine displacement, the Fairlady Z was also sold as the Datsun 240Z, 260Z and 280Z.
The rear-wheel drive Nissan Fairlady Z was launched in Japan with a high-revving 2.0-liter inline 6-cylinder engine producing 160PS at 7,000 rpm and 177Nm of torque at 5,600 rpm, while the first U.S. spec model, the 1970 Datsun 240Z, was equipped with a 2.4-liter straight six engine cranking out 150PS at 5,600 rpm and 206Nm of torque at 4,800 rpm. Soon after, the Z was upgraded with two larger 6-cylinder engines with a displacement of 2.6 and 2.8-liters.
Even though it was no easy task, we did manage to find a descent number of high-resolution photos of various Fairlady Z and Datsun Z models, including competition and rally cars, and a Japanese patrol vehicle that served the Kanagawa Prefecture Highway Police from March 1972. The gallery also contains numerous commercial photos of the European-market Datsun 240Z and 260Z, some of which are pretty weird indeed...
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