The Datsun 240Z – or the original S30-chassis Nissan Fairlady Z, if you happen to hail from Japan – is one of the earliest hints at what the Japanese performance car industry would become during its ’80s and ’90s golden age. With its 2.4-litre, 138bhp straight-six, balanced chassis, fully independent suspension setup and stunning looks, it’s rightly regarded as a legend of its era, together with the Hakosuka Skyline and Toyota 2000GT.
As a result, they cost a pretty penny these days, but not, we suspect, as much as these beautifully restored versions that are coming from Dutch outfit S30.world. It’s launching a low-volume series it calls The Masterpieces, intended to return these pretty coupes to the specification they left the factory in in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
S30.world Fairlady Zs
The process involves stripping down the shell of each car and returning it to factory condition, recreating each spot weld as they were applied in Hiratsuka over 50 years ago. Every single component of each car is either fully reconditioned or, where necessary, remanufactured from scratch.
S30.world’s founder, Chris Visscher, says: “No expense or effort will be spared to achieve this peak level of quality.”
Takeo Miyazaki
Ah, you’re thinking, but he founded the company – he would say that. Fair enough. Three of the complete cars, though, have been tried out by Takeo Miyazaki, who was on the 240Z’s original development team, and has given them the thumbs up of his own.
Naturally, we now deeply want one of these, although we dread to think how much they’ll go for. The first one is being auctioned off on Bring a Trailer in the US on 23 October, 56 years to the day after the 240Z was first introduced to the world at the Tokyo Motor Show. Anyone want to help us out a bit?
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