The whole point about the LHD car converted to RHD, and keeping the original LHD chassis number/identity scenario is that there is NO CHANGE OF IDENTITY. It's still the same car, the same body unit with its factory-applied identity present and intact. There's no need to touch the firewall-engraved chassis number in a non full-bulkhead swap LHD to RHD conversion, and it can stay untouched in the same position.
I still maintain that there IS a change of identity when a LHD VINumbered car becomes RHD.
That even if there is no 'need' to effect a full-bulkhead swap, these full swaps are smiled upon and more encouraged as being better finished that the cut and patch jobs seen in the past.
Scenario (hypothetical - honest) : a bloke has a sex-change, dresses up and behaves like a woman now, even alters his name.Do you treat him as a bloke (as was from birth) or a woman ?
LHD Z now dressed as RHD - is that not an identity change ? Should not the ID of the car reflect it's new status ?
After all, what was the point of Nissan designating different chassis codes for sided-driving if it's generally accepted to mix and match ?
Alan, this has surely happened in Japan whereby buyers and owners are tempted to reshell with clean donors from the US !
Generally speaking, we tend to covet things that we can actually see.
My experience in the UK 'scene' is that there's no real depth of knowledge........There's still a belief that the Japanese market cars were - and I quote - "all two litre".......
Agreed on the coveting and internet has certainly opned up peoples tastebuds - I'm so saturated by seeing wide-added arches on cars with typically deep front spoilers....!
As for the UK scene (read European), this is merely because there has never been any definitive literature published on the JDM cars - just snippets gleaned here and there from one or two books and even they've got 'it' wrong and maybe a couple of reasonably written mag articles.
Don't say we should get out there and discover - you've been in a very privileged position and have since made many good friends and contacts based upon mutual respect. The rest of us mortals make do in a kind of fuzzy ignorance grasping for the whole facts.
I had no idea (stated earlier) that the Z432 had electronic ignition although fully aware of the prolification of L20A and L24s in the JDM, courtesy of yourself.
Another gem your showed me - the auto box was a dealer option in Europe whereas I thought it only a USA option. That only came to light for me courtesy of a Dutch market auto 240Z.
It would be fabulous for a mini-publication to tell (in English) the S30 story from the Japanese side leading up until the first reguler exports, say 1964-1971.