Yesterday the Mustang in sheep's clothing caught your attention with a 78% Nice Price landslide. Today we're going to contemplate a Datsun, that may also move mountains.

Nissan went up market when they replaced the MGB-aping Fairlady Sports 2000 with the Jaguar E-type-esque Zed-mobile. The 240Z shunned a droppable top and live axle for a coupe body and better-handling IRS set up. The new car also received two additional cylinders to the Bluebird-based SOHC engine. The 240, and later 260 and 280, became wildly successful and served to make it even more difficult for old-fogies MG and Triumph to make time with the cute girls.

The 150 bhp engine and slick 5 speed gearbox colluded to make an engaging, if not exhilarating driving experience, and the Z could out-handle many cars well above its pay grade. Gymkhana racers praised its tossability, and the 240 won the 1970 and 1971 SCCA C Production Championships with John Morton behind the wheel.

But that's not enough for some folks.

Six cylinders? 2,393 cubic centimeters? five speeds? Pfffft, why not twelve pots, 5,343 cubic centimeters, and six cogs in the box? Just last week we saw a Canadian Miata with a Ford V8 in it, and today we have a Toronto Zed-Car with a Jaguar V12 tucked neatly in its it'll never fit engine bay! What is with these crazy Canuks?

This Jag-powered Z comes in a fresh coat of BRG, and is claimed to be complete but for a mirror and radio aerial. But really, who cares about where you've been, or what's playing on CHUM FM, when a claimed 400 horsepower is just a sneaker-stab away? The T56 six-shifter and 12-bolt rearend from a Corvette mean you won't be leaving petite Datsun debris behind you the first time you punch it, either. And punch it you will, like like a nazi in the face. There's just no getting around the fact that this car would be a boon to hoon like nothing short of roller skates and a JATO strapped to your ass.

The owner says he needs to sell the car because his wife wants a pool. As the car is priced at only $9,800 Canadian, we're guessing that his desire to see her lounging in a bathing suit is driving the price.

So what do you think about that price for this tidy asian with the english heart transplant? Does $9,800 make you think the seller is smoking the Crack Pipe, eh? Or is that what Nice Price is all aboot?

You decide!

Toronto Kijiji, or go here if the ad disappears. V12 hat tip to Canuck Chinaman!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a tip.

It's not for lack of trying; we've seen a vast assortment of 240Zs, 280Zs, 280ZXs, and 300ZXs at 24 Hours Of LeMons events so far, many piloted by seriously skilled drivers and wrenched upon by gnarled old Datsun mechanics with centuries of experience, yet: 8th place! Low Budget Racing's 280ZX was leading the Laissez Les Crapheaps Roulez race for most of the first day, but lost precious track time due to ignition-system woes.

Driveshaft Through The Skull symbol creator Walker Canada's 300ZX team likewise took 8th place at the 2008 LeMons South event. Same old story; the car was one of the race leaders for quite a while, then got nickeled-and-dimed out of a top spot by minor mechanical glitches. And unlike, say, the Honda Civic and its tendency to pop head gaskets, or the small-block Chevy with its overheating problems, there's no consistent pattern of failure for the Zs; we've seen Zs knocked out of contention by the entire spectrum of busted parts: grenaded engines to undiagnosable electrical problems to sanity-fraying fuel-system woes to bombed transmissions.

It's not just the Zs; no Nissan has ever finished higher than 5th at a LeMons race. So what's the deal here? I just don't get it- these cars should be doing much better than they've done! Is it just that $500 Nissans just aren't cut out for this endurance-racing business (unlike Toyota, with five LeMons victories, and Mazda with four)? Bad luck? Let's have a poll!

Yes, the 350Z is cool—but the original 240Z is cooler. Actually, make that Fairlady Z as we’re in Japan, the land of cute names and incredible attention to minutiae. YouTube user Luxe37 has created this series of car chase videos set in the 70s, of which we present Episode VI. They are made using Tomica toy cars and what we assume is thousands upon thousands of man-hours.

See them all on his YouTube page in glorious HD.

Hat tip to Zsolt Csikós, who probably knows everything there is to know about every car in every frame.

Thanks to Myke Toman, Nick Pon, Zerin Dube and Speed:Sport:Life, Anna C of Bikini Racer, the Norwegian Slaabs, Saabs Gone Wild, Prison Break Racing, Team Beermer, LeMons Supreme Court Justice Lieberman, Jackson Williams, and others for their fine photographs.

Like a time warp straight out of the 70s, with every optimistic Malaise-denying piece on there. Every angle induces another "Oh my God" reaction, every feature seems like some unholy caricature of a kitsch utopia. Makes "Black Gold" look restrained and tasteful by comparison, and pretty much every other 70s special edition seem subdued as a result.

If you're featuring this car on Jalopnik (and I sincerely hope you do, it's too good to pass up), it would be a crime against humanity not to feature the skewed front bumper with "AWESOME" scrawled across the front (the only way it would be cooler is if it was backwards, like the TURBO markings on a BMW 2002) and the He-Man-inspired fantasy art on the hood scoop. Clearly the owner had a massive polyester-panted hard-on for shaggin-wagons as well as the beauty and majesty of the upcoming 1980s, a better time improved by TECHNOLOGY! Is it any surprise this car is from Jersey?

Oh, and it's got no engine. Natch.

This car might actually be a '72; the differences between the '71 and '72 seem to require a serious Z expert to discern. Any of you who can ID the exact year, please chime in.


Every year that passes makes the early Z's design look better. Even an example as rough as this one still looks good.


It's been in a few scrapes. Well, more than a few. The scorched-looking area around the gas filler door is a little bit disturbing.


You can see that it has an IRS from this view; supposedly the stock rear on this car can withstand the power of a fairly healthy V8 (or lots of boost on the original six) before it goes kerblooey. And, hell, they're still pretty common in the junkyard.


The door and fender are mashed in pretty well on either side of the firewall. In fact, it's hard to find an undented square foot of sheetmetal on this car. It looks mean.


With the 240Z, you got a small, agile, rear-wheel-drive car boasting a six-cylinder engine, with Japanese reliability to boot. The Z did a good job chasing British sports cars off the shopping lists of American car buyers; the '71 listed for $3596, only $336 more than the far slower MGB-GT and $222 more than the somewhat slower Triumph GT6 MK3.


I just hope this car lasts a few more decades on the street.

Back in college, our friend Josh's '71 240Z with a straight-pipe exhaust was stolen. While the local cop was filling out the report, Josh was describing the car to him, "'71, yellow..." The officer looks up to him and says, "Oh, the loud one..." While some Z fans may love the 300ZX twin-turbos, others might enjoy the newfangled finery and there are no doubt even oddball 260 fans, the O.G. 240 remains our favorite. Listen to legendary, bespectacled Datsun racer John Morton hammer the thing around a track and know why we badly want one. – Davey G. Johnson

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