This famous car was considered a beautiful beast with brilliant styling
The Nissan S30 “Fairlady 240ZG” was once called “a beautiful beast with gorgeous styling. It was a car with outstanding looks and proportions as a sports car, and at the time, there was even a saying, “A good thing is born beautiful. We spoke with Yasuhisa Hirota, who spent 10 years restoring such a FAIRLADY 240ZG.
Mounted with one of the largest power units in a Japanese sports car
This Nissan S30 “Fairlady 240ZG” was set up in 1970 exclusively for export to North America, where it received rave reviews and created a sensation in the market. Following its huge success overseas, it was eagerly awaited by fans in Japan, and in November 1971, a right-hand drive model was added to the domestic market. The car was equipped with an L24 engine with a displacement of 2,393 cc and maximum output of 150 hp and ma aximum torque of 21.0 kgm, making it one of the largest power units for a domestic sports car at the time.
There were three grades available in Japan: 240Z, 240Z-L, and 240ZG. Everyone admired the cool “G nose (aerodynamic nose)” appearance of the top-grade 240ZG. The unique style, consisting of a sharply elongated FRP nose piece at the front, headlight covers, and over fenders to accommodate the wide tires, was not only beautiful but also marked the highest Cd value in Japan (0.390), which indicates the aerodynamic drag coefficient.
In addition, it reached a top speed of 210 km/h, and with its cool styling and overwhelming speed, it reigned as the coveted sports car for car enthusiasts.
The restoration took 10 years
Yasuhisa Hirota, now 52 years old, has always loved old cars, and has mainly driven cars from the 1980s, but when he reached a good age, he decided to drive a Fairlady 240ZG, which he had always wanted. He started to look for a good car, but due to the recent price hike of old cars, he could not afford to buy a car of good condition. For this reason, he started looking for a car on the premise of restoring it, but even so, it was not easy to find one.
At any rate, there are a lot of people who want a Fairlady 240ZG, even if it is battered and bruised, as it is a very popular Fairlady 240ZG. So, I was looking for a right-hand drive car, but the domestic version was too expensive, so I set my sights on a left-hand drive car and bought it. It took about 10 years of hard work to restore the car to its current condition. Incidentally, this was a coincidence, but the car he acquired was close to the year of Mr. Hirota’s birth, so he felt it was a fateful encounter.
translated by DeepL