Five Classic Trials
It may be ‘just’ a Datsun, but the 260Z has style aplenty, promises true motoring satisfaction and is even vaguely sensible to boot
Datsun 260Z
You could be forgiven for feeling a little conflicted as you step over the high sills and settle down into the handsome seats of this beautiful Datsun 260Z. While that dramatic bonnet, unapologetically ‘E-type’ in its sweeping proportions, might lull you into expecting the veneered interior of a gentleman’s GT car, the lack of wood, the low driving position, and the trio of instruments clustered purposefully in the centre of the dashboard, suggest a more focused sort of driving machine. Sporting pretensions and stunning looks, then, but can a near-50-year-old Datsun (the name that Nissan used in the UK prior to 1984) still deliver here and now in 2017?
The first Datsun Zs arrived in the UK in 1970, a year after their launch in Japan where they were called ‘Fairlady’. Aiming to do battle with the British in the competitive American market, Japan’s offering was decidedly European in concept, with independent suspension, a lightweight bodyshell, agile handling and a 2.4-litre straight-six engine, earning it the 240Z moniker.
The 1974 car featured in our photos ( loaned to us by Doug Blair, and fresh from a top-notch paint job) is a later 260Z, its name denoting its stroked 2.6-litre version of the 240Z’s engine. UK 260Zs did without the lower compression engine demanded by the US market for exhaust emissions purposes, and so were good for 165bhp and 115mph. This put it squarely in MGB GT V8 territory, but it felt like a much more modern car.
Sales were huge. The 240Z managed about 130,000 in the US alone, much to the embarrassment of British Leyland, with production of the first-generation Z cars totalling 622,649.
Today, the UK possesses only about 300 of those, so values have soared over the last decade or so. They used to offer a pauper’s route into high-performance classic motoring, but now projects start around £5000, and prices continue to rise.
Forget the figures, though; the 260Z is quite simply a fabulous driving machine. Even this American import’s slightly strangled engine revs with impeccable sweetness, delivering an impressive surge of power from the mid-range onwards, so there’s no particular incentive in thrashing the pants off it. Instead, the throttle prefers to be massaged firmly and booted only occasionally. Meanwhile the gear lever responds best to short and decisive inputs, slotting into each ratio with a clean, positive action, and the brakes – which feel a little woolly if you’re too gentle with them – bite heavily when given sufficient encouragement.
It’s also incredibly handsome, especially when ( like our car) it wears Euro-spec chrome bumpers rather than the lumpen rubber impact alternatives that were required on US models from 1974. Those rear haunches. That Jaguar-esque bonnet. That whiff of Ferrari 250 GTO… there’s no question that it’s one of the most elegant GT designs of its decade, one that conferred hero status upon its creator, Yoshihiko Matsuo.
If you’ve ever thought of owning a firstgeneration Z car, now is unquestionably the time to do it. The days of bagging sound, cheap examples disappeared more than ten years ago, so hop on the Z train while you still can!