DATSUN 240Z

It started the Z car revolution that continues almost half a century on and when I first laid eyes on it I thought it a better looker than an E-Type Jag, though I had my suspicions it was a copy of the pommy classic.

A teacher, Mr Edwards, arrived at my school in his gleaming white example and immediately won kudos from every student with an interest in cars, of which there were many. After falling for its looks thanks to Mr Edwards (who on weekends raced a Bolwell Nagari), I had a drive of one and it didn’t disappoint. It had a good turn of grunt thanks to the twin Hitachi-carbed 2.4-litre six in its snout, did a reasonably good job of stopping and wasn’t too bad at scooting through corners. And I loved the sports seats, dash layout with the ancillary gauges having their own housing and the three-spoke steering wheel.