Portugal is a country that makes up only a small part of the global Z history. Probably only very few fans of the Datsun or Nissan brand have even read a reference to this particular sales market.
But Portugal is not just another country in Europe where Datsuns were sold. In Portugal, cars were sold via the importer Entreposto, which originally came from Mozambique in Africa. And, depending on the model, even assembled the cars.

At the beginning of its operations in 1967/68, Entreposto Comercial de Automóveis (first name) was an importer/distributor under the same legal entity and also controlled some dealerships in the main cities (Lisbon with five showrooms, Faro, Portimão, Leiria). However, since 1968, the dealer network included 25 to 30 dealerships that were not controlled by the Entreposto Group. In the past, independent dealers in small towns sold 45 to 50% of sales and Entreposto-controlled dealers sold the remaining volume.
This situation later changed and all Entreposto dealers became independent entities controlled by Finantécnica, the Entreposto holding company.

An important point in the history of Africa: in the 1940s and even earlier, white people were a distinct minority in both Angola and Mozambique. In order to develop both colonies, the Portuguese government encouraged whites to immigrate to both colonies. The founder of the Entreposto Group was an immigrant in Mozambique, as were all the managers and key employees who came from the mainland.
The return to the mainland was a natural move, decided in 1967, as Datsun (and also Toyota) cars (since 63/64) became increasingly popular in these colonies and were exported directly from Japan to local importers. The people of Entreposto said, why not sell Japanese cars in mainland Portugal? And so Datsun came to Portugal in 1967.

But even if this doesn't sound like a particularly exciting story, it obviously shows the passion Portuguese people developed for sports cars and the loyalty they showed to the S30 models as a result of the rallies in their country alone.

But let's zoom out a little and try to tell the story in a more organized way:

From a global perspective, there were not very many Zs in Europe, and there were “only” the Datsun 240Z and the Datsun 260Z.
This is not immediately understandable, especially for fans from the USA, as the Datsun 280Z is also known to have existed in the USA.
In Japan, on the other hand, there was neither the Datsun 260Z (let's exclude the very few police models of the 260Z shortly after the presentation of the Nissan Fairlady 260ZE), nor the 280Z (except of course as the S130, known here as the 280ZX).

However, we have already described in detail elsewhere that no one should concentrate only on their own country, but should really take a very close look at Europe.
But let's summarize again:
In Europe, Datsun 240Zs were also sold quite early on, but in very small numbers - compared to the USA.
One of the reasons for this was that not every country in Europe had a Nissan dealership network as early as 1970 (In fact, Portugal again played a special role here and had its first import dealers since 1968).
Many countries only started this a few years later, and so the sales launch also started a little later.
In Germany, for example, the Datsun 240Z didn't really take off until 1973.

However, Nissan quickly recognized the differences between the German autobahn and roads in the USA.
Even back then, there was no speed limit on many sections of the autobahn in Germany.
Cars were and still are allowed to drive as fast as they can.
But the cars didn't do that back then. Tires burst, suspensions were not made for it. These facts quickly became clear, especially to dealers in the Netherlands, and Nissan developed a specially tuned suspension for Europe, stabilizers on the front and rear axles, as well as the well-known front and rear spoilers, among other little things.

Nissan also worked obsessively to get the car's top speed above 200 km/h. This was also only possible with the front spoiler that we know from European cars that went on sale from around the end of '71, beginning of '72.
We are talking here about the “EU Final Spec”.

Advertisement for the “EU Final Spec” and the launch of the Datsun 240Z in Germany in 1973.

Of course, one could now assume that these special “EU Final Spec” versions were available in all countries in Europe, that all cars had great suspensions for high speeds and that there was always a front and rear spoiler on every car.
But that wasn't the case.
Cars from Portugal didn't have many of these things. But other things they did.

The cars in Portugal are primarily known for having the desirable magnesium rims from the Nissan Z432 in addition to the spoilers and clearly front turn signals, which were also only seen in Australia, New Zealand or Oman.

But how did this match up with the other EU countries? And why didn't cars in France, Germany or Switzerland have such great rims? We want to answer these questions in this article.

Disclaimer:
But before we go deeper into the topic, we would like to thank Manuel Romao de Sousa for providing us with insider information and answering many of our questions.
Manuel worked for many years as a Board Member and Vice President Marketing and Sales of Entreposto Comercial Portugal (we'll come to who or what Entreposto was and is below). He has also been a member of the Portuguese Z scene for many decades and is certainly the last contemporary witness who can still report on the beginnings of Nissan in Portugal.
Thanks to him, we are able to write this long-planned article in this depth.

But, as a small note: Unfortunately, all the people who were directly involved with the import of the S30 at the time have already passed away. Manuel only joined Entreposto shortly afterwards and is therefore the best narrator of this story.

Entreposto, on the other hand, has had a new owner for a few years now and is just a retail group and all historical documents were lost in the change of ownership. So we can't unlock the history to 100%, but we will probably never get closer to the truth.

Entreposto? It's certainly not a name that immediately comes to mind when you think of Nissan. That's why we'd like to look deep inside the history books here and summarize some important background informations for later.

This group of companies was founded in 1926 as “Sociedade Agrícola do Sena (Sena Agricultural Company), Lda” in Mozambique, Africa. Not in Portugal and certainly not in Europe.
This company was transformed 12 years later into the public limited company “Companhia Nacional Algodoeira (National Cotton Company), S.A.R.L.”.

For political reasons, the company underwent several transformations and in 1943 the “Grupo Entreposto” was created as a financial group.
A growing group of companies with clear goals and common guidelines:

They produced soap and cooking oils, they were involved in logging activities and the cultivation of cashew nuts and, in 1947 with the founding of “Entreposto Comercial de Moçambique”, they were distributors for Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot and Massey-Ferguson.

This was an important step in a new line of business.

In 1967, the group decided to expand its business activities to Portugal.
This was certainly also due to the fact that all the key managers were Portuguese immigrants, so there was no reason to go to South Africa, Kenya or any other African country.
After Mozambique's independence in 1975, the Entreposto Group went to Spain, Brazil and later even Timor as a multinational company.

Also, linguistically, this was a great advantage, as the same language was spoken in Mozambique as in Portugal. But we will go into the historical and geographical background in more detail at the very end.

The “Entreposto Comercial - Veículos e Máquinas” was founded at the same location and concentrated on the import, assembly and sale of Nissan vehicles. Since 1996, the import of Hyundai vehicles has also been an important pillar. The name for this was "Entreposto Vehicles Hyundai".
All companies with Entreposto name as first one, but different activities, since we were also dealers of Renault, Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, Subaru, Opel, Seat, Mazda, etc. All Nissan Dealers and all other brands dealers were controlled by the holding company "Finantécnica".

But that is not the focus of this article.

Source: www.entreposto.pt

Source: "History of Nissan Motor Corporation / the first Nissan chronicles book"

As we know, Portugal is part of Europe. Nevertheless, the Portuguese Z models have very little to do with the European models.

In addition, there were significantly different regulations in Portugal at that time regarding the import, construction and sale of vehicles from abroad.

It was mandatory to assemble passenger cars and light commercial vehicles locally. Entreposto began assembly at Movauto, a local assembly plant jointly owned by the local importers of Mercedes Benz, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo and Datsun (Entreposto Group).

The export of Entreposto Comercial units to Africa or other European countries was not permitted by Nissan. The cars therefore had to be destined entirely for the Portuguese market.
It was very strict to only sell cars for the local market.
The so-called CKD assembly lines were quota-free.
However, there was an import quota for units that were imported in CBU condition. Like the S30 models, for example.


But what does that mean?

CKD, or “completely knocked down”, means that vehicles must be fully assembled.
So companies sell knocked down kits to their foreign subsidiaries or licensees for various reasons, including to avoid import taxes or/and to get tax breaks for job creation in local manufacturing
Initially, the models were E10, B10, B110, B210, B310, 510, C10 and some commercial vehicles. The first delivery of these disassembled models comprised 213 cars. In 1973, Nissan already had a market share of 12.1% with 9533 units. So the plan worked.
Very few of the tools used were supplied by Japan. All assembly jigs were manufactured locally by a sister company called Tecnitools. All welding guns were also manufactured locally. So Portugal was very independent.

SKD, or “semi knocked down” is a kit of partially assembled parts of a product.

Both types of KDs, complete and incomplete, are collectively referred to in the automotive industry as KDX (knocked-down export)

CBU, on the other hand, describes the “completely built up” state. In other words, fully assembled cars that are imported from abroad.

At that time, the import duty on imported cars from outside Europe was 7-10% lower than for European specifications, which is why the cars also conformed to the general specification (similar to the US specifications, but without red tail lights and rear side marker lights). But more on that later.

In summary, this means that Portugal not only had strict rules for the import of foreign vehicles, but also completely different rules for individual components. These differed greatly from the other European countries until 1980/1981.
The first models with Q (Europe) specifications were the Sunny B11 and Bluebird 910.
Manuel still remembers the first meeting that was organized with the Portuguese official homologation department and other Entreposto brand representatives with the support of the Nissan office in Brussels.

Manuel continues: “Thanks to the CKD operations, Entreposto was able to work very closely not only with the European sales department (E70), but also with other Nissan departments such as the Export Engineering Dept (E60)."
Hardly any other country enjoyed these advantages, as apart from Portugal, only Greece carries out assembly work.

Another piece of the puzzle was Nissan's participation in the TAP Rally, which also contributed greatly to the close cooperation between Nissan and Entreposto. Entreposto was therefore already very supportive of Nissan's participation in various races.

The rally events in 1971 Tony Fall (240Z), 1972 Tony Fall and Chris Sclater (both in the 240Z) were and are very popular in Portugal and these entries were very helpful in increasing the popularity of the Datsun 240Z.

The rallies were organized by Nissan from the Oppama factory, while NISMO (Datsun Competition) also sold parts to the rally team, but was itself a separate organization from the Omori factory rally team.

Manuel and his team at Entreposto visited Japan several times and so Entreposto was also represented as a rally participant at many events. Corresponding components (which were not available for sale to the public) for the 240Z, A10 or 240RS came directly from NISMO.

1971 TAP Rally - Tony Fall & Mike Wood in TKS33SA987

1973 TAP Rally - Chris Sclater & Bob de Jong

By the way, there were also many very nice model cars for some Portuguese Rallies!

As in other countries, success in rallying was used as an advertising and marketing campaign.
This can be clearly seen in this newspaper report from “Motor Magazine” from 1971.

The article focuses on the success of Tony Fall and points out that the Datsun 240Z, after rallying in Great Britain and the Monte Carlo Rally, will now also be entered in the upcoming TAP Rally in Portugal.
Before that event, the “commercial version” of this vehicle was exhibited shortly before and will be presented to the press on the following week.
Incidentally, we can see very clearly here that the 240Z already has the "EU Final Spec" rear spoiler fitted.

But there were already S30s in the country at that time.

The relationship between Entreposto and Nissan's rally department, headed by Mr. Takashi Wakabayashi, had always been quite good; and as the TAP Rally was considered a “little safari” with poor forest roads and little time for servicing, Nissan was keen to test their Zs in Portugal and achieve better results than on the icy and snowy roads of the Monte Carlo Rally.

After the private participations of Tony Fall and Chris Sclater in 1971 and 1972, although supported by the factory, Nissan decided to come to Portugal with three brand new 260Zs with 3-liter engines. Unfortunately, there was a mysterious problem with the engines (too high oil pressure) and only one car arrived at the end of the rally in fifth place.

After the engine problems were fixed, Nissan decided to loan two of the three 1974 cars to Entreposto to be driven by local drivers on private entries in the 1975 TAP Rally. With another Portuguese Z entry and the participation of Shekhar Mehta, driving a brand new Violet 710, all four Nissan cars finished the rally in the top ten overall, an overall result that Nissan was proud of, as this overall result was unmatched in any other European rally, except the Safari Rally and other African events.

Entreposto was therefore grateful that Nissan rewarded him in the following years with other rally cars, namely the A10 and the 240RS, for the local effort.

Let's summarize the article a bit so far. We now know that Entreposto has its origins in Mozambique. We also know that the S30 models are no European models.
We also know that the imported S30 models (it was different with other Datsun cars) are subject to the CBU quota.
And this is precisely the reason why packages of a few units have always been imported.

The managing director and sales manager of Entreposto therefore decided to order the S30 units with factory options, which meant that they always remained within a certain limit and therefore never had problems selling this small number of units.

Wheels, front and rear spoilers, etc. were factory options on Portuguese cars and were very popular. Other differences compared to the European Q specifications were set by Nissan, as Portugal and the Canary islands were considered African countries rather than European countries at the time.
Based on CKD regulations they could only ever be ordered in units of 40 or multiples thereof.
This rule did not apply to CBU.
So any number of S30s could be ordered. Of course, there were differences between the units based on the year and month of production.

Basically, however, it can be said that all export 240Zs before June 1970 had the same specifications.
After that, the first adapted version was developed for Europe with the suspension of the Z432, which was finally revolutionized in March 1971 due to the “complaint” of Datsun Netherlands to the “EU Final Spec”.
The cars in Portugal thus had the “old EU” spec with regard to the suspension - so Nissan decided.

So in the beginning there were vehicles without the spoilers - because they simply hadn't been invented yet. There were also differences in the rear window heating. Early models had the heating elements vertically, then they became horizontal, then they disappeared completely. For cost reasons and, above all, because Portugal is not known for cold winters.
Similar to the vehicles from Australia and in contrast to cars from the USA. Initially there was no heating at all, then one with vertical heating elements, then horizontal ones.

The changes to the orders were therefore dependent on the changes to components and features on the part of Nissan: Import quotas were in number of units or in amount of money (Escudo at that time). More expensive cars, means less units. At that time, the system "order to deliver" was not possible (each customer ordering its own car). Majority of units were similar on specs and equipment, depending on year/month of production.

The transparent turn signal lenses, on the other hand, were not what the customers demanded, but were prescribed by law. Orange front indicators were not permitted (only later).

When Nissan introduced the spoilers (after the development of the “EU Final Spec” models), the Portuguese S30s were also given this option.
Initially, presumably even for self-assembly.

The so-called "Portugal Spec" can therefore also be recognized by the old “carte grise”, in which the cars are classified as HLS30U (not Q).

In general, the following features are mentioned on many websites or books: Kobe Seiko magnesium rims, rear spoiler, 5-speed transmission, 151 hp (SAE), no emissions controls.
But be careful: After our research with Manuel, it is now clear that these options differ greatly depending on the order!
So it doesn't apply to all Portuguese cars and, as always, there is more than one answer to the same question.

Between 1970 and 1973, there were 139 240Zs importedd specifically for Portugal. However, some of the last 240Zs were even sold until May 1974.

Today there are still around 82 of the original Portuguese Zs, although of course more vehicles have been imported from other countries in the last 50 years. The exact number of surviving “real” Portuguese Zs is not known.

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

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).

Unfortunately, hardly any advertisements or newspaper articles from this period can be found. However, in the first, we see a 240Z with transparent front turn signals, Kobe Seiko wheels and front spoiler.
The second Entreprosto advertisement, on the other hand, shows a 260Z. Here already with front indicators, as they were typical for European models.

The advertisements were designed by "Luis Lagrifa advertising agency"

To better understand the connections between Japan, Africa and Portugal, we would like to mention here that Entreposto was founded in Mozambique because Mozambique was a Portuguese colony dating back to the time when the Portuguese Empire was one of the largest in the world. In Africa, it also included Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, and of course Brazil in South America and Macau in Asia - not forgetting Goa in the West Indies.
For Nissan, working with a Portuguese-speaking importer and distributor was a door opener for sales in Portuguese-speaking territories and emerging markets that appreciated the more practical products in the range. The company was already active in South Africa and had existing connections in East Africa. However, Entreposto did not export from Mozambique to other African countries and was not represented in other African countries.

Japan and Portugal also already had a history together: the Portuguese Jesuits were the first Europeans to visit and trade with Japan in the 16th century, followed by the Dutch and the Dutch East India Company, so there was a precedent.

In fact, this historical background is not known all over the world. In Japan's schools, however, it is taught to children from an early age.

The Lourenço Marques warehouse + the service desk (Source)

Certainly the internal and external political situation in Portugal and the associated hurdles that Entreposto had with the import of Datsun vehicles contributed to a certain extent to the fact that the Z models are still very popular.

Many fans of the brand have owned their cars for a very long time, or import their dream car from abroad.

And you can still feel this passion. Above all, however, you can see it at local meetings.
We would like to share a few impressions here, with the kind permission of Manuel.

More photos can be found on the social media profiles of Datsun Portugal: Facebook & Instagram

Courtesy of Emidio Copeto Gomes