When a wave of imported Japanese cars threatened American jobs in the early 1980s, Ford workers took sledgehammers to old Toyotas and Datsuns. Of course, it was never a Datsun 240Z because that would have been, well, desecration.
Beautiful and sturdy, with a powerful six-cylinder engine, the 240Z was one of the most popular sports cars of the era. It cost £2,288 in Britain in 1970, and spawned a long line of successors, later sold under the Nissan brand with the suffix Z — hence “Z cars” (not to be confused with the Z Cars TV police drama).
The latest model — the Nissan Z Nismo — boasts 420bhp compared with the 150bhp of its ancestor, but one glance will tell you it’s a direct descendent of the 240Z, which is remarkable considering the design is more than half a century old.
Over the years Z cars have excelled in track racing and rallying and starred in films and video games. A 280Z features in the excellent indie film Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) and the 350Z is a favourite in the games Forza and Need for Speed.
None of this would have happened without “Mr K”, full name Yutaka Katayama, the first president of Nissan Motor Corporation USA. Facing resistance to imports from politicians and unions who claimed 1970s Japanese cars were cheap copies of British and American originals, he needed a car that was too good to turn away. The 240Z was his secret weapon. But even as the speedy Datsun 280Z was topping sales charts in 1977, Mr K was recalled to Japan and forced to retire. Ever a maverick, he had ruffled feathers among Nissan’s bosses. Recognition for his achievements would wait 30 years until Mr K was finally inducted into the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame.
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You can buy a 240Z today for £15,000 or £50,000 fully restored. Our favourite is the series 1 adorned in Nissan’s racing green — colour code 907. Come to think of it, it bears a striking resemblance to British racing green. Who says the Japanese didn’t copy?
