(first posted 4/12/2013) The revolutionary Datsun 240Z (CC here) had a long and somewhat tortuous development process. Albrecht Goertz was a consultant to Nissan, and the results of his early efforts with the Nissan design studio ended up being picked up by Toyota for their 2000GT. Nissan then cultivated its own designers, and they continued to evolve a number of various ideas for several years. When I ran into this one on glen.h’s collection, I wondered where it fit in. A little searching turned up a fascinating short video put together by the Z’s design team, that places this one among so many others:
Quite the range of ideas, but one theme from early on keeps coming back. And it gives an insight into how many designers were involved, and how the process is evolutionary.
There’s also this non-fastback version too.
The various frontal treatments echo many other sports cars and coupes I saw Triumphs Stag in there and the early profiles look Triumph Spitfireish the notch back has an Alfa look about it. They really did try everything and got it right in the end.
It is remarkable how derivative so many of the prototypes look — mostly a lot of variations on generic Euro sports cars of the day. And yet the final car ended up so much more distinctive and modern looking.
I’m seeing Saab Sonnet in the overall proportions of the top one, compared to the production 240Z.
Interesting, the main difference (excluding styling flourishes) from the final product appears to be the roof height is lower, perhaps they had yet to check on room for taller Westerners, or were still in ‘unrealistic concept’ mode, notice the A pillars are impossibly slim too.
I once saw an ad offering a Datsun 24oz for sale. Anyway, I recall reading that British car journos were offended that these Japanese upstarts were daring to make a cheap imitation XKE, as they described it. Don’t those beastly foreigners know their place??
I agree, the Sonnet does come to mind.
Datsun made an E type that sold great went well and was hugely popular of course the Brits were upset it didnt leak enough oil for them to like it
As I mentioned on another 240Z thread, I owned one of these in late ’70s/early ’80s. And if I’m not mistaken I seem to remember back then one of the major US car mags also sneering at the Z for being an ersatz E-Type that “no serious person would ever own.”
Well, maybe that makes me an unserious person, but my 240 was a terrific sportster for the price. And as a fan of the XKE, the fact that a minimum-wage 19-yr-old like me could own a car in the same general category, body shape and performance stats of the Jaguar, without paying Jaguar prices (not to mention paying Jaguar mechanics’ bills), was a major reason for buying the thing. It was an XKE that, when you turned the ignition key in the morning, would actually start. An XKE that could be driven 12 months a year, rather than four or five.
And that was a most interesting video documenting the design evolution (including a few blind-alley meanderings and missteps along the way) of the beloved Fairlady Z. I’d say they chose the right one in the end; although there also a few others that I wouldn’t have minded seeing go into production too. Especially the convertibles: I never did understand why Datsun didn’t do one, as any two-seater sportscar that sells well with a fixed roof is pretty much guaranteed to sell well as a droptop too. As much as I enjoyed my fastback, if there’d been an open-air Z available I probably would’ve bought one of those instead.
I remember speaking with a fellow on a side street in Newport Beach, cheerfully working on his XJ12 while his wife shopped. It takes a special sort of dedication to put up with a Jag, then here Datsun comes along & makes them look silly.
I had a pleasant coworker once who raced a 240Z in SCCA events (preferred over the 280 for its lighter weight). Since he was from Argentina, I asked him about Fangio & of course he was a HUGE fan. He showed me a family photo with a ’30s Mercedes roadster in it, so the man definitely had motoring in the “sangre.”.
Did they actually build all of these mock-ups, or are they scale models? That’s a ton of very diverse work!
I imagine that that the notchback one is a roadster with a hardtop, since Datsun was still making the MGB esque 2000 Roadster at the time, they must have at least considered a roadster 240Z.
They might have been caught up by the ‘convertibles will be banned in the US’ movement – or would the 240Z have been a bit early for that?
Often, when looking at the design evolution of a car, we see initial sketches and models that are way out there, and the design gets gradually toned down into something suitable for production. The Z design seems to have gone the other way, particularly once the decision was made to do a closed car; the early ideas were very conservative and it looks like they had to make a couple of faltering tries to be more daring before finally biting the bullet and doing it.
Too bad they didn’t go ahead and build an open car too. A9 looks like a Miata a quarter century before its time.
As the owner of a 1968 Datsun 2000 Roadster, I thought the slideshow picture of the SP310 Hard-Top was interesting. If I had the time and the fiberglass skills I’d be tempted to try fabricating a fastback hardtop for mine – though it would probably look all wrong on a high windshield model.
Those early prototypes l\bear a strong resemblance to certain Ferraris, Maseratis, and Fiats of the era.
Don’t see Sonnet at all, maybe because I’m a SAAB fReAk.
I do see a little Daimler SP-250 in the front qtrs. for sure.
I see the original 311 Fairlady origins in the first picture. The size of those wheels look to me like they started with the Fairlady as a base and only later went to a larger chassis (after the acquisition of Prince?). I see a lot of the CSP311 Silvia in the notch-back…
Albrecht Goertz is famously credited with the design of the BMW 507 and I can see that influence in the prototypes, especially the notchback coupes and convertibles, moreso than in the fastback that made it into production.
Several things. The side profile is closest to the 240Z. But shorter and more vertical. From the back I see a lot of Porsche 914. But from any angle I see huge tires. Not so much wide, as has been in vogue for sometime now, but diameter. But with a small wheel. Like a 60’s pickup truck tire, a real truck tire, on a 15″ wheel. TR6’s kind of had that look, but not as much.
My father wasn’t what I would call a car nut but any means but the first time he saw a new 240Z it made a huge impression on him. He was surprised that such a good looking, sporty car was so affordable.
BTW, it should be noted that in the late 80s a company was marketing a kit to turn your 70s Z car into a roadster complete with removable folding top…it looked quite attractive and not all that difficult to build. I often considered looking into that idea as my 76 280 had a tree damaged roof.
I can’t believe those tires – I know this was before low-profile became common, but they look like they’re from a tractor.