Backstory

How a Japanese car with European style and an American soul changed everything.

–LAWRENCE ULRICH

For automotive weirdness, it’s hard to top a sports car named for Julie Andrews by an executive obsessed with a Broadway musical. But the Nissan Z survived the Japan-market Fairlady Z moniker the company president gave it, even if the name was too silly for the American drivers the car was created for. The Datsun 240Z debuted in New York on October 22, 1969. Unveilings in L.A. and Tokyo soon followed. Since then, more than 1.5 million people have bought a fun, affordable, and, yes, fair Z. It began with a two-seat hardtop that stickered for $3,626, $300 more than the Datsun’s logical competitor, Britain’s MGB GT, according to Pete Evanow’s Nissan Z: 50 Years of Exhilarating Performance. The term “game changer” has devolved into cliché, but the 240Z was the real…

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Road & Track (Digital) - 1 Issue, August/September 2022

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