THE Z-CAR A TO Z

50 Years of Nissan’s Quintessential Sports Car

-  MATT BOYD

Today Japanese sports cars are an established and respected part of the automotive landscape. Icons like the Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-7, and Acura NSX sit door-handle to door-handle with the Porsche 911 and Chevy’s Corvette as approachable exotics offering world-class performance. But 50 years ago that was far from the case! Here in America, the Japanese brands were known then almost exclusively for cheap economy cars that emphasized efficiency, reliability, and value rather than performance—if they were known at all. And then came the Datsun 240Z. With this one car, Nissan changed not only its own brand’s reputation but the entire trajectory of the Japanese import car in the United States. The Z proved that a Japanese brand could take the virtues it was known for—reliability and value—and instill them in a new class of affordable sports car that also delivered style and performance that was as good or better than anything in the class offered by the rest of the world. In doing so it created a niche that Toyota, Mazda, Honda, and others have since excelled in—but they all owe a debt to the trailblazing Z. On this, its 50th anniversary, we thought we’d look back on the Z, see how it came to be, and mark its evolution into the sophisticated sports car it is today.

PRE-Z: THE FAIRLADY ROADSTER