Steve Carlson

S30.world brings you content of real S30 (Datsun 240Z and Fairlady Z) people. In this episode the story of Steve Carlson from Fresno, California (United States of America).
“I was born in Northern Illinois outside of Chicago in 1953. Attended college in Wisconsin and fled the snow in 1975 with a move to California. I was hired as a School Psychologist in a district in central California. It was at this time I drove a Z for the first time and fell in love with the driving experience in a Z. The sound, smell and acceleration of a Z all contribute to the Z driving experience. I was hooked and soon bought a 73 Z that soon became my first autocross car.

S30 addiction

My S30 addiction started in 1980 when I purchased a 1973 Z. My involvement with the Zcar escalated to about a dozen Z’s since then. I currently own 4 of them. I kept trying to build the perfect Z for any occasion and finally realized that would just result in compromises. So now I have 4 of them. Two race cars (1 for autocross and 1 for vintage road racing). One 240 for the street (a 69 former autocross car -now set up for the street) and a stock 280ZXR used for vintage road rally’s.
The 69 is vin 00789. I bought it because of the low vin.

Autocross Datsun 240Z car

The autocross car is set up to run as a prepared car with flairs, 16 x 11 inch wheels, carbon fiber hood and hatch, no interior, no glass, door skins, no dash, a custom roll cage and a weight of 1,875 lbs. The engine makes 195 hp and 187 lbs of torque. It has a L28 engine that’s bored 40 over with flat top pistons. The p90 head it ported and polished with a custom cam. The trans is a stock 5 speed. The diff is 3.9 limited slip. Although the engine is not high compression, it has lived for 10 years without any loss in hp. Datsuns seem to live forever.”