When thinking of the S30 chassis Nissan Fairlady Z & Datsun 240Z “sportier” model versions, most will probably point to the Japanese domestic Market PS30 (Z432) and PS30-SB (Z432-R). Some might also think about the Japan-only 240ZG (HS30-H) homologation special with the longer “G-Nose” front. While they are fine and sought-after collectors cars these days and indeed impressive performance cars for their time, there is one model often overlooked:
The European “Final Spec” Datsun 240Z.
In this story, I like to shed some light on the Euro-Spec cars, which are also known by the designation codes H(L)S30Q. How they came to life, who was responsible, the development process, the specifications, the testing and what makes them so special.

Swiss May 1972 sales brochure shows an “European final spec” car

As with all my knowledge articles, I tried my best to get all information from trustworthy and official sources. However, i cannot guarantee that all information is 100% correct. If you have any correction, input or additional information, I appreciate it if you let me know. I’ll update this post whenever i find something to add or change. I am not a professional journalist and I put countless unpaid hours of work and years of research into this post and spent quite a bit of money to buy a lot of original documents, so please ask, before you copy anything. Thanks!

In memory of Rob Janssen, who passed away peacefully on the 30. March 2021, while I was working on this story. Here we see Rob and one of his Datsun Radio Nordzee Racing Z’s

Unlike a common opinion, the S30 Z car was not developed for the US Market solely, but with all global markets in mind. The benchmark cars for the S30Z development were mostly european sporty / sports cars from Germany and the UK, as they were considered the superior, premium and sportiest cars of the time. For the European market, the guys at Nissan Motor Co. (NMC) in Japan wanted to make sure they can compete with the local offerings before touching ground with the new Z-Car, so the focus of development, marketing, sales and production was first set on the domestic Japanese and North american export markets where they thought comfort was a bit more important than pure, raw sportiness. So that mix of comfort and sportiness is exactly what the initial S30 cars for the domestic and export market were designed for.

Left: British Datsun 240Z sales brochure, shows the “European final spec” car (LHD)
Right: Swedish sales brochure shows Euro Final Spec car with swedish number plates

The European market was not very well-developed for Datsun at that time. The few Datsun import companies and dealerships were just at their very beginning and had low market shares. Post-war restrictions, import taxes, high transport costs to Europe and the competition of the local European carmakers offerings led the marketing team at NMC to think that it was too risky to start competing.
When the praise of the 240Z from the USA and Japan created an instant explosion of demand for the car, that opinion quickly changed. They realized they had landed a hit that could also be competitive on European soil, so the marketing department at Nissan Motor Co. Japan started to push the goal to also bring it to Europe and take advantage of their new halo car.

Before we dive into the development story, it makes sense to point out a few people, who were some of the driving forces behind the European spec S30 cars, as we know them today. Of course, they had helpers and teams behind them, so it would be wrong to say that the success of the project is solely because of these people, but I think it’s fair to say that a big chunk of the praise has to go to them.

The team was led by Mr. Michio Takei, Head of the 1st Vehicle testing department (K41) at NMC’s Oppamas vehicle design department. He speaks fluent German and French and studied supersonic aerodynamics at Tokyo Aeronautics Research institute. During his studies, he joined Fuji Precision industries (aka Prince Motors) where he was asked to work on the aerodynamics of the Prince R380 Race car. After Prince and Nissan got merged, he got involved in the design of the R381 and R382 successors and then moved to Nissan Oppama in charge of the First vehicle testing department, where he got involved with the “second Z Project” – the Japan-only Z432 (PS30) testing. This same department later also became responsible for the “European spec” car development

Michio Takei 2015, in front of a Z34, developed by his successors

The Nissan Oppama Plant with its test tracks, Wind tunnel & shipping port, built on reclaimed land.

Mr. Takei was in charge of a team who made this all possible, but so far I was only able to figure out two of his team members:
Mr. Miyazaki, who also provided many of the test report details shown in this story, and was involved in at least some of the aerodynamic tests. In some cases, he’s also referred to as a “team leader” for the European Z test team.

Left: Young Miyazaki during road tests of the Z432 in Japan.
Right: Mr. Miyazaki in 2023 (Photo by Kats)

The second name which I found is Saka Hikota Moto, one of the team members, which participated in the high-speed testing at the Yatabe test circuit.

Team members of the test department conduct high speed testing of the standard 2L Fairlady Z and Z432 at the Yataba proving ground. The man on the far right is young Takei.

Rob Janssen was one of the first Dutch Datsun dealers in a time when Datsun had only 4% market share in the Netherlands. He also used to be a racing driver.

• In 1970 he drove the London-Mexico world cup Rallye in a Datsun 1600 SSS in 46h 1 min with Jaap Dik as Co-driver.
• In 1973 the Dutch offshore radio Station Radio Norzee founded the “Datsun Radio Nordzee racing team” like many other offshore radio stations had done before. The team quickly became one of the Netherlands largest racing teams and also got support from Datsun Netherlands in an attempt to push the relatively new brand awareness in the Netherlands.

Left: A photo of the radio Nordzee offshore station with a Datsun radio Nordzee racing team sticker.
Right: Rob racing in one of his Radio Nordzee racing team Z’s. (From the Janssen Family Archives)

He later also was the temporary owner of the Nissan Rally Monte Carlo works car with carnet plate TKS33-SA-986, which he also used to race in Zandvoort and other places later.

Due to his racing efforts, and being one of the first Datsun dealers in the Netherlands, Rob had very close ties to Datsun Netherlands. Without Datsun netherlands respecting Rob so much, we probably wouldn’t have the car we got later. as you will read in a minute.

Even before the development of an “European spec” 240Z started, some export spec cars were shipped from Japan to europe for displaying and most probably also to gauge the interest of the dealers and public. Aside from at least one HLS30U (North american) spec Car which made the round on the shows in the early seventies, there were three cars which are a bit unique.
These three cars were sent to europe before the mass-production of the “European spec” cars even started (while american and Japan spec production was already in full swing). As you will see the three were actually more of an “Australian Market Specification” than anything else. At least when it comes to the appearance:
For your reference, here’s an example of an Australian spec car in the Australian sales brochure:
Note bumper horns, no rear side markers and clear front turn signal lenses, no front / rear spoiler, no external mirrors.

Australian Spec car from an Australian 240Z ad.

On the 24. January 1970, a white 240Z was shown at the “49ème salon de l’automobile” in Brussels, Belgium.
Sadly, I don’t have any indication how or when exactly this car came to Belgium, and to what specification it was built.
If you look closely it seems like a full “Australian spec” car with additional chrome fender mirrors (Similar to later European door mirrors), in the position of the Japanese fender mirrors. Australia spec means: Bumper horns front / rear, no rear side markers, clear front lower turn signal lenses and no spoilers front / rear.
What makes this car very special though, is that this one is left-hand drive!

Datsun expert Heiko pointed out that the chrome mirrors have too long stalks to be actual Z door mirrors, Instead they could be the collapsible (in case of a hit) fender mirrors as shown here on his Datsun 2400 Super six.

In their March 1970 Issue, the British «Car Magazine» shows the white Z (with photos taken in Brussels) and comes to the conclusion that it might probably not be available in the UK sooner or later, since it would be a too strong competition to the local offerings.

This car is no doubt the most unique car to exist in Europe. It is a somewhat LHD Australian spec car, must have a very low VIN number and is probably the first ever LHD car which has been exported to any country. It is however by no means an “European spec car”.

It also seems that these car photos were as used in one of pictures in the 1970 Datsun Switzerland 240Z Sales brochure. It even seems that it got the same number plate installed as in the pictures above. I guess the pictures were made in Belgium and just used in the Swiss brochure, and the car was never actually in Switzerland. As all the other photos in the same Swiss brochure are from different cars.

In 1970, two red RHD cars (see next chapters) which were intended for Australia were re-routed to be sent to the UK for “testing the waters” with at least one of them being scheduled to be shown at the Earls court show on the 14.-24. October 1970. The ship with the two cars was detained on high sea and therefore the cars wouldn’t make it to the show in time. To have a car on display, they took the white car from Brussels and brought it to the UK instead (see previous chapters).
According to Brian Long’s book “Fairlady Roadster to 280ZX”, the white “Brussels” car was bought straight off the booth by a very delighted Robin Herd (Co-founder and engineer at the March grand prix racing team). The car is said to still exist today.
Unfortunately I don’t have any proof, chassis number, registry plate number or anything else of this car.

Despite the fact that the two red Australian-spec cars didn’t make it to the Earls court show, they eventually got released from customs and arrived at Datsun UK in Worthing soon thereafter and got registered in the UK as the two first official Imported 240Zs intended for the British market:

Bought by Ken Kay (one of the first Datsun dealers in the UK), and registered with British number plates UAR 603J.

The car was likely registered in the UK at the same time as the following car (January 1971).

It was later used as a race car, got restored at least once and is rumored to have been taken to New Zealand or Australia when the last owner moved there 20 years ago.
Please note the Australian specifications.

Early photo of Ken Kay (3rd from left) and his UAR 603J Z in front of his shop. Shared by Steve Burns on zclub.net

The Z Club Magazine, Summer 1993 issue, showing UAR 603J in it’s original (red) color and in it’s later racing appearance.

Red colored RHD car, registered with British number plates MBP 72J, registered in the UK on 13th January 1971.

According to previous long-time owner Jon Newlyn “it was featured in both Autocar and Motor magazine and all performance figures were taken from this car.”
Please note the Australian specifications:

The car still exists today in the UK, but has undergone an extensive restauration by Jon a few years ago. A detailed report about it can be found in the “Classic Monthly” Magazine, November 2005 issue:

It is likely that also other cars were sent to selected dealers and Datsun importers for homologation and marketing purpose in different European countries in the tame-span when the first cars shown above (in 1970) got imported until the official introduction of the “European spec” cars in summer 1971. But be careful, all of them are either US-spec models or have been imported later.
For e.g. Australian Spec car HS30-00099 (green): Despite being close to the two above-mentioned AUS cars, it was a regular Australian market car which was imported to the UK much later. (currently partially owned by the same Jon Newlyn, which used to own HS30-00035)
Or HLS30-00243, which was used to homologate the 240Z on the 6th of May 1970 in Switzerland. However, if you look closely, it appears that this was in fact a US-Spec car built in 1969.
Here is part of the Swiss Homologation fiche, mentioning rear side markers. This indicates a US-spec car was registered. However, it might also have been a prototype or pre-production car with a non-standardized specification.

After the North American Export Model 240Z and Japanese domestic models went on sales in early 1970 and sales / production was ramping up quickly, it was pretty obvious that it is becoming a big hit. The confidence in the Marketing department at the NMC HQ in Japan got big enough to give a green light for the car to be put on the European map too. The Project was given a 6-month timeline.

“Even though it was a hit in the United States, it will not be recognized as a real sports car unless it is well received both domestically and in Europe”

Due to some European regulations and market requirements, but also to ensure the car was on par with the local offerings, it was decided that a specific 240Z for the European market shall be developed. The H(L)S30Q project was born.
HS30Q = RHD (right-hand-drive), HLS30Q = LHD (Left-hand-drive).
A complete project report from the very beginning (February 1970) to the End of the European S30Q development project (March 1971) was provided by test team member Mr. Miyazaki and shared by Kats.

In February 1970, Michio Takei and his team at the first vehicle testing department got assigned to set the specification for the European export market model version.

The K42 (Car / Chassis test department) had already conducted various tests and studies about the crosswind stability and other tests (see also YouTube video in chapter 6) during the development of the USDM / JDM cars, but it was halted when the timeline forced them to finalize the project for production.
Here’s an example of another test done with the USDM / JDM Model, taken from Hitoshi Uemura’s “240z Engineering development” Book, describing a “Belgian Block road Test” for Suspension durability:

Takei himself was part of the original USDM / JDM Test team and involved in the Second Z project (The Z432), but says he thought the car was not finished when they had to hand it over to production.
At this time it was already known that the High-speed and cross-wind stability of the S30 was not the best, which was also confirmed by various feedbacks from US and JP and even by Yoshihiko Matsuo himself. It was clear to them that for the European market, this needs to be improved. So the focus was set on improving the suspension and steering for the Euro spec cars.

Page 1 of the countermeasurement report shows the goal of the measurements, the previously done tests, the period of the whole development, etc.

The goal was:

• Improving cross wind stability
• Raising the Top speed
• Ensure safe driving on Expressways
• Good running performance on winding roads (For e.g. the Hakone Turnpike in Japan, etc.)
• Reduce “Hopping” at low speed turns

The starting point for the european spec project was a HLS30U (North american spec) car, where the tests and development succeeded in May 1970 at the Japan Automobile Reasearch institute Test circuit facilities in Yatabe (Ibaraki)

The basic specifications were a no-brainer and therefore are not talked about much in the development reports: L24 Engine (due to the simpler handling / tuning and higher torque compared to the S20) without the America-required exhaust emission regulating parts, E88 cylinder head, no Fuel vapor tanks, 5-speed Synchro-type manual transmission (FS5C71A), no US-spec bumper horns, no air-conditioning system, no rear side markers, export-spec “horizontal bars” front grille, etc.

Picture from the Eaglemoss series, quoting Michio Takei: “The european Specification L24 Engine – it was the best masterpiece”. In the Whole text he declares the S20 a great engine, but difficult to tune. so the L24 was the best choice.

Top: Standard lower corner valance with hole for turn signal. Bottom: Euro spec corner valance without hole.

The European law required the front turn signals to be mounted higher up, so they quickly added some above the bumpers, which means “blanked” lower corner valances had to be designed / produced, without the holes for the Domestic / US-export Turn signal lamps.

The headlamps too were found to be illegal, and new units incorporating a ‘side-light’ bulb – and the wiring to suit – had to be fitted. This is for e.g. also noted in the Swiss homologation sheets from 1970.

After wrapping up the tests, at the Yatabe reagent society meeting in June 1970 the specification for the first European market cars were set and approved.
The complete specifications were:

• Rear spoiler: Installed
• Front spoiler: None
• Under cover: Installed
• Blunt Nose (= G-Nose): Optional
• Springs Front: 1,82kg/mm (Same as Z432), Rear: 1,92kg/mm (Same as Z432)
• Stabilizer Front / Rear: 18mm
• Shock absorber Front: 50/23kg, Rear: 95/20kg (same as all Z’s at that time)
• Tire: 175 HR14
• Rim: 5J-14

Countermeasurement Report: The center column shows the standard Z configuration, right side shows the first Euro spec configuration. On the top the date is mentioned and at the bottom the fact that they used the sames suspension as the Z432 (PS30)

Until then, the European spec cars had only been tested on Japanese soil, as the management thought the environment is pretty similar in Japan and Europe. According to the counter measurement reports they didn’t expect harsh roads in Europe.
After the specifications were set in June 1970, two “euro spec” cars got built and shipped to Europe (Netherlands) in August 1970, intended to kick-start a sales success similar to the one in the American market.

According to the Dutch Number plate registry date reference list, the following two test / press cars got registered in the Netherlands in October 1970: Plate numbers 11-49-PP (silver) and plate numbers 11-50-PP (red), which must have been the two cars mentioned earlier (shipped from Japan in August 1970).

The red car was used as a test / press car and can be found in various press photos released by Datsun Netherlands.
I wasn’t able to find out what happened to this car and or if it still exists. Also, the chassis number is unknown to me.
Note EU-spec Turn signals above the front bumpers, while lower corner valances are blanked and the Z432 rear spoiler with the two additional vertical reinforcements, door mirror on driver side only, missing (US-only) rear side markers and missing antenna

official Datsun Netherlands Press Photos from 11-50-PP

The Silver car was given to Datsun Dealer and Race car driver Rob Janssen by Datsun Netherlands for testing:
After extensive testing of the car, he decided to modify it on his own to improve handling. He switched to harder Koni Suspension dampers, shortened suspension springs and added that famous homemade Front Chin spoiler.
This car is a bit of a unicorn car with the additional fender-top mounted positionining lights / blinkers (which never made it into production) and the special modifications by Rob Janssen. This particular car can be called the reason why the European cars as we know them exist.

Rob bringing the Z to it’s limits (PEP magazine Feb. 1971)

I wasn’t able to find out what happened to this car and or if it still exists. Also, the chassis number is unknown to me.

Note fender-top mounted positioning lights / turn signals, (never made it into any production), EU-spec Turn signals above the front bumpers, while lower corner valances are blanked, Z432 rear spoiler with the two additional vertical reinforcements, door mirror on driver side only, missing (US-only) rear side markers and Antenna installed.

On a funny Side note: I once sent Rob Janssen’s son (Marcius Janssen) the above photos of the silver car and asked if he remembered it. This was his answer:

"This car also had scratches on the bonnet and the roof. My father took my mother and me for a drive through the countryside, but he became a victim of the Z's understeer, and we dove under the barbwire in a meadow. My mother was furious"

Strangely not the red (factory standard), but the modified silver Rob Janssen Car was used in many Magazine tests and therefore, luckily, quite some information and photos exist about it:

The Dutch Car Magazine Autovisie had the honor to have the 240Z the first road test of an European spec car, which was released in their February 1971 Issue.
They mention that it was a test car sent to Datsun NL and that Rob had made very extensive and detailed testing with the car and figured out a front end lift and issues with crosswind stability at high speeds, which was the reason he modified it.
The Test results were (probably also thanks to Rob's modifications) very positive. In that issue it is already mentioned that the Japanese will incorporate those modifications based on Rob’s suggestions in the Serial production cars. At the same time in Japan the «final euro spec car development” with all these changes was only 4 weeks away from being finished.

First Pages of the February 1971 Auto Visie Magazine 240Z test

In February 1971 the same car with the Rob Janssen mods was tested in the Dutch «PEP» comic magazine with a generally very good feedback. It is also mentioned that this specific car will be shown at the AutoRai Show in Amsterdam from the 11th of February 1971, as a first public appearance of an “Euro Spec” 240Z. Note the installed Front spoiler and missing hubcaps.

At the 11.- 25. February 1971, the same silver car was shown at the “64e RAI Personenwagen’s” Exhibition in Amsterdam.
It was the first public appearance of an official “European spec” developed car.
Note the special fender-mounted positioning lights / blinkers. Rob’s backyard-engineered front chin spoiler got removed for the show, which makes sense. The car also got the Japanese fender mirrors and the chrome door mirrors got removed, for whatever reason.

Rob’s Z (without front spoiler, but with JDM fender mirrors) at the 1971 AutoRAI show wonder what happened to the red (non-modified) car, as constantly this very special silver car was used at shows and even for advertising printwork of Datsun Netherlands. For the 1971 AutoRAI show, they released a special printed newsletter, where the Rob Janssen Z is shown with the homegrown front spoiler:

After Rob and the team in NL had thoroughly tested the cars, they sent feedback to the development team at the NMC headquarter in Japan in November 1970:
“The side wind stability is very bad”

1. This is caused by the following points:
2. the Center of Gravity is a bit too high.
3. Too much body roll caused by bad shock absorber
4. Roll bars in front and rear are too light.
   Note Text written in English on the original Japanese development reports, so I guess it’s an 1:1 transcript of what they got from NL.

Feedback from the Netherlands, as noted in the HLS30Q counter measurement reports.

In November 1970 Michio and his team took the negative (“disastrous”) feedback very seriosly, but says it motivated them really to get things straight.
Takei said in an interview that the marketing team asked him when the car will be ready as they were very motivated to start sales in europe as soon as possible and not miss the opportunity, and he noted it will be ready “The next spring”. According to him, that was a lead time of four months only.

Before they started with development of the second iteration of the “Euro spec” car, the Japanese wanted to know what the Europeans would expect. According to Michio Takei, he called the guys in the Netherlands and asked them for their minimum requirements. Their answer was pretty clear and also set the goals for the cars' development:

“In cold (winter) weather, with horizontal cross winds of 20 knots (= 10m/s), a car should be able to do max 200 km/h and a cruising speed of 180 km/h”

This time they used a Monte Carlo Rally spec car as a starting point reference (counter measurement tests 1). They realized that it was too harsh, and difficult to handle at low speeds, so they toned down the springs and shock absorber rates (while still being harder than the original Euro / Z432 spec cars), but kept the 15 mm lower stance and the Laurel 30 steering rack mount bushings. To the same time, the increased the front stabilizer diameter to 22 mm while lowering the rear from 22 to 18 mm. After those modifications, they made another test round (counter measurement tests 2)

This modifications led to improved handling, especially at low speeds, without real disadvantages at high speeds, however they realized that a bit of additional fine-tuning could be useful. At this time it was also decided that a front spoiler (as suggested by Rob Janssen) will be installed, and the rear spoiler got a redesign (not the same as the Z432 anymore). Once the parts were set and installed. They conducted the 3rd and last round of counter measurement tests, which confirmed the following settings to be used for the “European final spec” cars.

Second counter measurements mentioning the Monte Carlo Rally base. Middle column was the current (first) Spec, on the right side the second (new) spec. Below you can find the test result details and actions taken.

Counter measurement reports. Center Column = Final (3rd) specification = European Final spec

On the 27. March 1971, the “Euro final spec” cars specification was set and approved, and the project finalized and handed over to production.

Mr. Miyazaki said the S30 front end is so wide that it leads too much air coming through the radiator. Then the air can’t go through under the engine because the air is blocked by the air stream which is flowing underneath of the car. At the end, the pressure of inside the engine bay becomes positive, it lifts the front end up, making the car unstable at high speeds. The higher the front end gets, the worse the Cd (Drag coefficient). The front end lift was around 10mm at cruising speeds. This was one of the reasons why the front end got lowered by 15mm in European final spec cars.

If you’re interested, this video (partially taken from the Eaglemoss DVD), shows a lot of original engineering footage and Aerodynamic details of the Z, including the effects of the 240Z rear spoiler (starting at around 2.40):

The G-nose / Blunt nose has been in development in parallel to the euro spec cars, but finished before the euro spec development was completed.
The G-Nose HS30-H 240ZG Car was released in March 1971. You can see in the very early euro spec development reports from 1970 that the Blunt nose was already mentioned (but not used).
It’s interesting that – for whatever reason – they decided to not use the G-Nose and complete a different set of spoilers for the European cars.
The effect of the "European" Front / Rear spoiler combo is reportedly similar to the G-Nose, which is reported like this by Yoshihinko Matsuo (Project leader of the original S30 design team):

The reports show an increase of 0,5km/liter fuel and an increased top speed of 210km/h, despite the added 5kgs of the extended front-end.

HS30-H from the Fairlady Volume I Book

Michio Takei at the wheel during some tests with an LHD “European Final Spec” car in Japan.

The new developed parts were sent to NL for testing again, where they got installed on one of the local cars and tested again. This time, the feedback was “much, much better” and the Dutch verdict was “excellent”.

Counter measurement shows the final verdict from the Netherlands

At some point a European-spec prototype car prototype suspension was given to the Japanese “Motorfan” magazine, which tested the car at the famous Hakone Turnpike Road in Kanagawa and praised the excellent corner handling of the Car and saying:
“Roll stiffness is higher than compared to the ZG. The Cornering force is so high that it’s almost impossible for the
average driver to test its limits on public road. This kind of suspension is something we want in Japan too”
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find that article / magazine, so I don’t have any further information / photos or an actual date of those tests. If anybody has this article or the magazine, I’d love to see it!

After domestic testing was completed and the cars' specification set, Takei asked to test the car in Europe, as only this would give the “real” feeling of the car's handling on foreign soil. Remember: At this time there were no specific tests in Japan, designed to test cars in foreign environmental (like cobblestone roads) and weather conditions (like Scandinavian winters), so he felt there still was a need to do final real-life tests on European roads. He got approval to go with a team of two, to test the car for four months, starting in September 1971 for some last-minute changes, while sales and production already had started. It seems strange to test the car after it went on sale, but was (and still is) quite common, when the pressure is there to release it to the market.

The picture shows Mr Takei stopping for a quick break at the Autobahn roadside near Frankfurt (Germany). Note Japanese carnet-plates TKS33-SA-3885, and fender mirrors installed.

During the Road test, which included Countries like Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, Takei thoroughly noted down fuel consumption and mileage, etc. in the “notes” section of the car’s operation manual:

During the Road test, which included Countries like Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, Takei thoroughly noted down fuel consumption and mileage, etc. in the “notes” section of the car’s operation manual:

According to Takei, they got negative feedback about the (from what I understand, “simple / basic”) Motor used in this car during the road tests. To do something about it, he painted the valve cover of the L24 red to make it look more advanced.

Left: Picture from the testing in Europe in some suburbs of Amsterdam. Note double mirrors.
Right: Commemorative photo of Takei with the Z in front of a castle in Luxembourg.

During the road tests, the tires seemed to be one of the main issues. As soon as I started road testing, the Japanese domestic tires burst. The Japanese tires were not designed to be driven continuously at 200km/h, but here the tires burst after 20 minutes of high-speed driving. After this happened twice, he called a friend, which told him to use the only suitable tires: German made Michelin tires with reinforced sidewalls. So he switched to those and the problem was solved. However, when stopping at a red-light, the tires started to burn. When checking what happened, he realized the exhaust pope was glowing bright red and set the tires on fire from the heat radiation. So he built a heat shield to prevent further failures.

Left: Takei in front of the Kölner Dom (Germany), 1971
Right: Picture of a Porsche 911 taken in Zandvoort, NL (note the Datsun sign in the back) during road testing in Europe, 1971

Aside from the above-mentioned tire-issues, no further issues have been reported. Takei notes that he enjoyed the European scenery and culture, and the four months went by in a blink of an eye. When Takei and his team returned from Europe by the end of 1971, Sales of 240Z in the final European specification were already in full swing and, according to Takei, it was a full success and sold well in Europe.

When asked by former Nissan Executive (and designer of the Zero fighter engines) Dr. Ryoichi Nakagawa how Europe compared to Japan, Takei said that Japan is at least 15 years behind the Europeans, when it comes to automotive engineering.

A (maybe unrelated) side note:
Myrtha, the lady who owned a body shop next to Datsun Suisse SA in Urdorf, told me that at one point some Japanese arrived at site, and she was asked to drive the brand new 240Z and give feedback as an “average user” of the car. They made a short test-drive where she had to drive and the Japanese joined as co-driver. They also asked her about her opinion of the rear spoiler, which she was told was “completely new” at this time. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any documents or didn’t remember the date or the names anymore. It could be possible that this was indeed the European test team at a stop in Switzerland. But it is also possible that this all happened at a different point in time.

The “final European spec” cars started production around March 1971 and were available around June – August in the different European countries, except Germany, where it was only available from 1973.

Officially, the "final spec" was introduced to the market with the Introduction of the 1972 Model changes, as shown in Service Bulletin No. 148 (also see next chapter). The production of the cars with the “final spec” changes (among other changes) started with the following serial numbers:

HLS30-46001 (LHD)
HS30-01501 (RHD)

Even though the “1972” model might make you think that it was introduced in 1972, the bulletin was released on the 30th August 1971, just shortly after the first such cars arrived in Europe.

However, we have witnessed several (unmodified) cars with serial numbers below the above cars, being "final euro spec" cars. There could be various reasons for that. So take the above starting Serial numbers not as hard facts. The two Swiss cars (and I assume others too!) were had chassis numbers in the range HLS30-397xx and HLS30-327xx. The two mentioned cars were both registered in Switzerland in late September 1971.
But I think we can say safely that no "final euro spec" car should exist with a build date earlier than March 1971.

According to this French press article, the "premiere" of the (European final spec) 240Z was at an Auto show in Frankfurt (Germany). Given the car has a front spoiler and 240Z second gen. hubcaps, my guess is that this must be in 1971 then. In 1971 the IAA was cancelled however and instead the “Automechanica” was held in Frankfurt on the 18-29. September 1971.

11.- 21.3.1971 at the 41. Autosalon in Geneva (Switzerland) in 1971 an LHD “final spec” car was shown (maybe it was the same car as the one shown in Frankfurt earlier?). Unfortunately, I was only able to find this B/W rearview shot, but you can see the EU/JDM rear bumper (without horns) and the trunk spoiler with “Datsun” emblem.

Right: A Datsun Switzerland ad from August 1971, mentioning the “Premiere” of the Datsun 240Z (among the 3 other new models).

In the Dutch Autovise Magazine (May 1972 issue), the then famous soccer/football player Johan Cruyff is interviewed regarding his Datsun 240Z, which he also drives the reporter in (the report about his “adventurous” driving style is quite hilarious). According to the interview, the car was offered to him (at the regular price) upon arrival at Datsun NL, and he bought it straight away. According to the Dutch numberplate registry, his car (plate No 49-66-SN) was registered in the Netherlands in June 1971. It must have been one of the first “final spec” cars to arrive in Europe.

Later, “Euro final spec” cars would be shown at all major motor shows in Europe. Here, an orange one (indicated by the higher mounted turn signals) is shown on the UK “Car” magazine cover of the November 1971 issue:

Aside from the previously mentioned H(L)S30Q development reports, you can find the details of the "euro final spec" cars in the service bulletin 148, “Introduction of Datsun 240Z sports model S30 series (1972 models).

You can clearly see that Europe didn’t get an auto transmission, even though they thought about it in the beginning.

Europe got shorter and harder suspension, thicker front and rear stabilizers, the rear wheel alignment is different, the European spec cars got a front and rear spoiler and the car got what they call “gooseberry” style harder steering rack insulation bushings (See also below). The table on the left looks familiar, doesn’t it? It’s an 1:1 translation of the counter measurement reports table, shown previously.

Here are some more detailed information of the “gooseberry” steering rack bushing (picture taken from the 260Z Introduction manual, for reference):

Additional Information can be found in the 240Z spare parts catalogues, where detailed drawings and part numbers are listed specifically for European models, for e.g. the front spoiler.

Many of those European market standard equipment were later made available in the US and Japanese markets as “competition” parts by Nissan/Datsun, such as the suspension, front / rear spoiler, 5-speed transmission, steering rack mount bushings, etc. as shown here from the American Nissan 1984 Motorsports parts catalogue:

This model variant remains a bit of a mystery to me. How exactly did it come to life? Why did it never get the “uprated” EU final spec? Entreposto in Portugal was a Datsun Importer for Portugal and some African countries. Due to import restrictions back in the day, they were not able to import (many) cars, so instead they built Datsun vehicles in licence in Portugal for the local market and export. This obviously gave them special close ties to Nissan in Japan.

At the same time as the “European final specification” were settled, a special specification for the Portuguese market was made. It basically remained untouched from the first “euro spec” cars specification: Z432 springs (at standard height), standard shocks, 18mm stabilizer bars front and rear, rear spoiler and undercover, weaker steering rack insulators, but no front spoiler. Additionally, the Portuguese cars were delivered with the Kobe-seiko Magnesium wheels, as on the Japanese only Z432. Looking through many pictures of Portuguese cars, it also seems that most of the cars got equipped with the bumper horns, clear turn signal lenses (as the Australian spec cars) and the additional rear bumper rubbers (between the bumper and body). You will also see the front spoiler on many Portuguese cars, so my guess is they were either added later, or it was some kind of dealer option.

Left: Entreposto in Portugal (from the Nissan Chronicles)
Right: Portuguese spec 240Z with Kobei Seiko Magnesium wheels, bumper horns. It appears that clear turn signal lenses and front spoiler were added later. Also note the additional ear bumper rubbers (between bumper and body).

Those Portuguese spec cars were produced/introduced at the same time as the “final European spec” cars. Due to their special configuration and the low production numbers, solely for the Portuguese market, those cars are pretty rare today. Portuguese Z-owner Mario, mentions that in 2020, roughly 45 cars were still known to exist. (Sales numbers for Portugal, see chapter 13).

Mario, who owns the lowest known VIN car in Portugal (HLS30-23644), says the Car was produced in March 1971, and was registered there in August 1971, according to below papers. This seems to line up with other dates mentioned in this story.

Note that “U” in HLS30 U is a well-discussed typo made by the Portuguese authorities.

Interestingly, I haven’t yet seen any “Portugal specific” parts in the official Nissan parts manuals/microfiches or any of their documentation. The only place where I have ever seen a Portugal specific specification is the original counter measurement reports, and of course, the fact that those cars do actually exist with the said specifications.

In the counter measurement final test specification, the right column is mentioned as “Portuguese specification”: You can see it’s the same as the Z432 Spec (which is the same as the first attempt European spec).

Local laws and market requirements had NMC produce cars with small differences, specific for some of the European countries. Here are a few examples.

• France got specific tail lights with the usually white area also tinted orange.
• Some “cold area” countries got an air box with additional “Cold weather” valve flap in the air box snorkel.
• Germany had a range of different front side turn signal lenses for “West Germany”, although the difference is very minor (only the shape of the lens seems slightly different. See more details here)

There might be many more such individual details, which are not listed here. I do not claim this list as complete.

How to identify if a car is an original “Euro spec” car or not?
Aside from a hand-full of rare and special cars (see previous chapters), most of the cars officially sold in Europe (except Portugal, see next chapter) by Datsun back in the day are “European final spec” cars.

With the many US-spec imports and all kind of modifications/restorations that have been made to the cars and its parts, it is often difficult to tell what kind of car you’re looking at exactly. A front spoiler alone doesn’t make it a “Euro spec” car, as they have often been added or removed later. Many owners are not aware of the details and will proudly tell you (false) stories claiming that “this was an original 1969 made Swiss market car with the original front chin spoiler”, etc… By now, you should be aware that this makes no sense.

If you really want to know if your car is a “European spec” car, the safest way (aside from original registration papers/documents/logbooks) is to look under your dashboard at the steering column mounting bracket or the Glovebox liner. There are usually some Japanese katakana characters which show which country the car was designated for, already in the assembly line. For e.g. My two Swiss cars have written (ス イ ス) which means “Su-I-Su” and stands for Swiss. This “hack” clearly only works if the dashboard and glovebox liner have never been exchanged.

Another simple check is to double-check if the serial number fits the “Euro final spec” aka “1972 model” serial number range (see chapter 8).

Right top: Portugal / Right bottom: Switzerland

After going through all these lists, my assumption is that before June 1971 only a few prototype/test/press/homologation cars were sent to Europe, some of them being US-spec cars too, and the European specific cars were officially supplied as “final spec” from June 1971 onwards to Europe only.

So how many cars were actually sold to which country?
Some countries have specific lists, which do not always 100% align. Sometimes export and sales figures are not 100% overlapping (some cars imported late in one year, may have been registered/sold the following year, etc.) etc. But these lists should give you an overall idea of roughly how many cars were sold, even though the numbers sometimes vary quite a bit, depending on the source. For your reference, find below various lists from various sources. I do not claim any of these figures being correct:

Top left: From the Matsuo “Fairlady Z Story” Book: Export numbers (the two British one must be the “Australian spec” cars).
Bottom left: Portugal import numbers (from Mario). Note that many cars that got imported in 1971, got only sold/registered in 1972!
Right: List published by Zhome

Wikipedia: 1973-1974: 303 pieces for Germany (Note: Due to import restrictions and Datsun not really existing earlier, the 240Z was only available from 1973 onwards there).
This is also confirmed by this German ad from September 1972, which states that it will be available in 1973.

According to other sources, totally 1200 “final Euro spec” cars were ever made.

Photo from a German September 1972 240Z ad, showing a final Euro spec car. In the ad, it’s mentioned that the car will be available in Germany in 1973. The vehicle was later used for other advertising photos.

I don’t want to list the prices for all European countries and years here, but if you want to know the original sales prices, you can usually relatively easy find an original price list.

• Wikipedia states that in 1974 a 240Z cost 17.600 D-Mark in Germany.
• I have all price lists for Switzerland available in high resolution.

After reading through all of this, I hope it gave you a good insight about the development process and the “European” spec cars that existed and still do today. I also hope it helps to clarify some points and gives you a good standpoint in discussions.

In my opinion, the “Euro final spec” cars are widely underrated. They put a lot of extra-effort in the car to get it right for the European market, and I’m pretty sure it is one of the (if not THE) best-handling versions which ever left the factory.
It came with the “best” motor and drivetrain, had the most refined suspension and steering setup and the additional engineering allowed it to run faster, more stable and therefore also safer.
I hope this article also gives the Euro spec cars a bit of the credit they deserve and make it a bit more sought-after, valuable and especially taken care of. They may not be as sought after as the JDM Z432(-R) versions, but they’re no doubt desirable masterpieces of automotive engineering from that time.

At the end it’s the happy coincidence of the right persons involved and the right time. And one has to appreciate the work of the people involved to push this as far as possible, despite the tight timeline and exploding sales. When you read the interviews and story, you really sense how proud the people were and still are today about their work, and many quote the European final spec 240Z as “the best” and “sportiest” of them all.

I used various sources to write this article. All the printed documents are shown in the photo below. Hat tips to the original authors for the work done over all the years, which helped solve one or another mystery and fill gaps in this post.

Another very important document which gave deep insights in the whole development process were handed from Mr Miyazaki to Kats. I would like to especially thank Katsuhiko Endo for collecting these documents from their original sources, sharing them and translating them on the classicZcar forum with the world. ありがとう, Kats! Your work is well recognized and appreciated by the enthusiasts!

Additionally, I’d like to point out the two interviews with Michio Takei in the Eaglemoss Fairlady 1/8 model kit Magazine (Vol 83 and Vol 84) and the Nostalgic Hero Fairlady Special Edition, which gave additional interesting anecdotes and shed more light on the story.

The following links also provided many helpful insights into the development process and documents, thanks to Kat’s efforts and translation:
classiczcars.com/forums/topic/57418-test-report-of-hls30q-z-europe-model-countermeasures-high-speed-stability
classiczcars.com/forums/topic/39903-why-lhd-cars-have-exact-same-springs-as-rhd-cars
classiczcars.com/forums/topic/68493-aerodynamic-study-spoilers-blunt-nose-and-under-cover

Special thanks go out to Katsuhiko Endo, Jos Van der Aart, Jon Newlyn, Marcius Janssen, Florian Steinl, Chris Vissher, Michio Takei, Mr. Miyazaki, Alan Thomas, Steve Burns, Heiko Seiler and Myrtha Eigenheer – who either contributed directly to this article, or over the years released some of the important puzzle pieces which made this article possible.