By Kirk Towner

At the 1961 Tokyo Motor Show, Datsun released a sports car that remained in one form or another, on the scene for a decade. The first version, a two-passenger open roadster, was called the Fairlady 1500. The name Fairlady has an interesting origin, it is said that while visiting New York, a Nissan Executive was so impressed with the performance of My Fair Lady, he vowed to the female star of the show that she would be immortalized by having a car named in her honor-thus the name, “Fairlady”.

Later versions of the Fairlady included the Datsun 1600 Sports and the 2000 Roadster. These cars were pioneers of a long and distinguished line of Datsun Sports Cars. In the homeland, the Fairlady name was passed on from the two-passenger roadsters to the new coupes. The Fairlady Z was released at the same time in Japan as the Datsun 240Z was in North America. There was a difference: The displacement of the Fairlady Z was smaller then the export Z. The displacement of the Fairlady Z was rated at 1998cc, while the export car had 2393cc. Generally, a Fairlady Z can be recognized by its right-hand drive, slightly different bumpers, and the homeland fender-mounted mirrors.

Much thought and consideration went into naming the new sports coupes. The numbers selected represent the engine displacement—in other words, 240 was a zero short of 2400 for the cubic centimeters of the engine. According to a source within the Nissan Factory involved in the development of the coupe, the letter “Z” was selected because it represented the ultimate, the last letter of the alphabet, it could not be superseded. There was nothing higher and nothing more significant. Pronouncing the letter “Z”, is almost impossible for the Japanese and they say, “zet-two”. The Nissan engineers liked the sound of the letter “Z” and felt it was smooth, powerful, and sporty.

Japanese regulations required fender-mounted mirrors on cars in different tax classes based on their physical size. By fitting the mirrors to the fender, you can make a car with a wider passenger space fit inside the same maximum width of a given tax class. In 1983 Japanese laws changed concerning mirrors on the fenders.

For the 79-83 line of cars, if a Fairlady has an L28 engine, it is a Fairlady 280Z. If a Fairlady has an L20 engine, it is a Fairlady Z. The descriptive "ZX" was not used for the homeland version Z.

The Fairlady name has been continued for use on the 300 and 350 series cars and now there are only minor differences between the homeland and the export cars. In 1987 this Fairlady Z was purchased by its present owner while stationed in Misawa, Japan. The car was shipped from Hachinohe, Japan to London, England via a mistaken voyage to Iceland. Two years later the car was shipped to Cape Canaveral and transported to Orlando, Florida where it was converted to meet Department of Transportation (DoT) specifications.

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