Building street cred with such vehicles as the Honda
S800 and Toyota 2000GT, Japan was starting to emerge as
a legitimate sports car maker.
The challenge for the Japanese was to break into the lucrative
US market - and with the competition quickly becoming
dated (such vehicles as the Austin Healey 3000, Triumph
TR and
E-Type Jaguar) the time was ripe.
Enter the 240Z - a car that was to become the best selling
sports car of the 70's.
Designed by Albrecht Goertz (who also designed for BMW),
the car had muscular lines, a beautiful long bonnet and
recessed lights - clearly a copy of the E-Type but was
pure and elegant enough to have its own appeal.
The smooth and punchy straight six motor produced 151
bhp from a total capacity of 2393cc, delivering this via
a 5 speed manual gear box to a strut and wish-bone rear
end - all for the same price as the lesser
Triumph GT6.
Over 150,000 were sold before the 260Z took over in
1975,
where the vehicle lost some of its true sports car appeal
as a concession to automatic transmissions and longer
larger wheel bases.
Unfortunately rust is the main enemy
of the 240Z.