At the New York Auto Show these days, a different model made its debut. It's a Nissan 370Z with a strange colour scheme and a "50th" on the sides. It is the anniversary Z, with which the Japanese brand pays tribute to the legendary Z series, which is celebrating half a century of life.
Standing next to the colorful, anniversary 370Z on display in the Big Apple is a Datsun 240Z, the model that essentially introduced Japanese sports cars to the American automotive scene. Perhaps that's why Z's, and Datsuns in particular, are so popular in the collector ranks, in the US. To mark the 50th anniversary of the Z-series, Nissan today takes a look back at the legendary brand.
The Datsun Z prototype designed by Kumeo Tamura in 1968, a year before its world debut
When the original Datsun Z made its debut in 1969, it was a revelation to the automotive world.An economical, reliable sports car with style and comfort that could be used for everyday driving was unheard of at the time. With a base price of $3,626, the Z (also known as the Datsun 240Z) in North America was a sports car with an affordable price tag.
In a short time, drivers around the world were enjoying the "freedom" of sport driving on their favourite routes. In 1970, world sales exceeded 40,000 cars. Just like that, the first generation Z laid the foundation for a legacy whose value, style and performance continued to lead the way for automotive innovation, keeping the Z Series at the top of the class for decades.
Over the next five decades, Nissan released several anniversary versions of the Z, including :
1980 Datsun 280ZX 10th Anniversary Edition
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first Z, Nissan has released a special, limited-production model of the 280ZX. The success of previous Z-series cars gave Nissan the opportunity to equip the 280ZX models with luxury materials such as leather seats and hi-fi stereos, as a welcome "departure" from the sporty, but economical approach, of the original 240Z.
With just 3,000 cars, the 280ZX 10th Anniversary Edition is now considered a very collectible model.
1984 Nissan 300ZX Turbo 50th Anniversary Edition
The 1984 Nissan 300ZX Turbo 50th Anniversary Edition was launched to mark the 50th anniversary of Nissan's founding in December 1933. Only 5,148 of these cars were built for the U.S. market, with an additional 300 built for Canada.
The year 1984 marked not only a milestone in Nissan's history as a car manufacturer, but also for the Z-series models as the best-selling sports cars in America.
1989 Nissan 300ZX (Z32)
The second generation of the model that replaced the 280Z was impressive to say the least and, perhaps, the most beautiful Nissan ever built. The 300ZX TT wore a fearsome and formidable 3-liter twin turbo V6 with 208 kW (283 hp, with an automatic 268 hp), an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h, and came in coupe, convertible and T-bar (targa) versions.
The 300ZX was so good that Car and Driver had it on their Ten Best list for seven consecutive years! Two or three little things you won't know about the 300ZX, is that the model was marketed in the "Version R" version which was "inflated" on the outside and wore Recaro seats on the inside.
In America, the last 300ZX produced were sold in 1996, with special stickers and certificates of authenticity. In 1990, in Texas, Waco and HKS created the Nissan 300ZX SR-71 which, at the time, was the fastest car in the world.
2005 Nissan 350Z 35th Anniversary Edition
After a temporary pause in sales in the Japanese market in 2000 (and since 1997 in North America), the new Z "shone" again in 2003. The first reborn Z was built on Nissan's innovative FM (Front Midship) platform with a high-performance, 3.5-liter, atmospheric V6 engine. Known as the VQ (short for VQ35ED), this engine produced 287hp and 371Nm of torque.
In 2005, Nissan created a special edition to mark the 35th anniversary of the Z. The Nissan 350Z 35th Anniversary Edition was available in Ultra Yellow, Silverstone and Super Black, and was accompanied by a tuning and performance upgrade suite.
2010 Nissan 370Z 40th Anniversary Edition
In 2009, the capacity of the 350Z's VQ engine was increased to 3.7 litres, resulting in the car's name being changed to the 370Z. A year later, Nissan launched the 40th anniversary version of the 370Z. Limited to just 1,000 cars, the special edition model was equipped with a manual transmission and a sport package that included front and rear spoilers, sport brakes, 19-inch RAYS lightweight alloy wheels, a limited-slip differential and Nissan's innovative SynchroRev Match®, Nissan's groundbreaking transmission technology.
The first Z model was first built in 1969 as an economical, everyday sports car. Since then, this philosophy has remained at the "core" of the construction of every Z model. It's no coincidence that those who get behind the wheel of a current Z are just as excited as those who have been behind the wheel for the past 50 years.
Bonus: Why the Lamborgini Diablo has more than 300ZX on it
Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't: In 1999, when Lamborghini gave the Diablo a facelift, it had to get rid of pop-up headlights, which had been banned for safety reasons (read here how much we like pop-ups). Given that Lamborghini had already started working on the Diablo's successor, the Murcielago, the makers at VAG (which owns Lamborghini) weren't too happy about having to spend millions on developing new headlights for an outgoing model.
The solution came with the method of... sharing. After obtaining the necessary permission, Lamborghini used the 300ZX's front lights on the Diablo. The hint is that the Diablo's headlights say "Nissan", which the Italians masterfully hid under a carbon fibre "lip".
