Rich Fourways Engineering to do some work on the car, including Rose-jointing the rear suspension. Then it was sold back to Spike Anderson who rebuilt it with hand controls for disabled driver Martin Sharpe to race, he finished second in the 1981 BRSCC sports car Championship- a remarkable achievement.
That marks the end of the documented history of the car as far as I know: Spike wanted to find a sponsor to restore Big Sam but there was no luck in that department and in 1984 the car was sold to Shropshire dealer, William Galliers, who kept it safe and put it on display from time to time. Big Sam's place in history was beginning to be recognised.
In 1989 well-known Historic rally enthusiast Mike Harrison bought the car and considered the serious question: what next for Big Sam? Should it be restored as a works rally car or as Big Sam, the Modsports racer? British Z enthusiasts apparently were dismayed at the thought of Big Samís identity being traced back so far: reportedly Mike Harrison respected this and held fire before eventually selling the car to Nick Howell, who was looking for a 240Z to restore in 1989; Nick had already saved, restored and eventually sold the famous ex-works Big Healey, 67 ARX, and the idea of bringing Big Sam back to life filled him with enthusiasm.
The man who put Nick in touch with Big Sam, however, was Tim Riley whose restoration and competition preparation business is near Silverstone. Timís father, by the way, is Peter Riley, the famous former international rally driver.
As nobody had used Big Sam in anger for some years the car was, inevitably, far from fit for serious use. The bodyshell had been covered in redundant drillings for this and that over the ages, new wiring was needed and Big Sam just looked a bit sorry for himself under the skin. To cap it all, a cat had got in through the hole in the driverís window, making a nice home for her kittens! The good news was that there was almost no rust but there was only one thing for it: a full rebuild.
After stripping the shell down, it was clear that the car was basically sound but seriously fatigued in places: some of that unrusted metal was nothing more than work-hardened scrap. The next thing was to put it on a jig, which revealed that the nearside front was v4in back and in from its proper place; a big crease on the front left inner wing indicated an accident in this area in the past. Spike recalls that this was the result of a testing accident at Copse Corner, Silverstone, with a guest driver in early 1981.
The battered transmission tunnel and passenger footwell had to be replaced despite the complete lack of corrosion there but the driverís side floor pan was sound, if dented. "We wanted to leave as much as possible of the original car," says Tim, "retaining its patina, so 85% of the shell is still original. The old rallying sump guard brackets were still on it, as were the intercom points and passenger harness rings: we decided to leave them there. We were able to keep the original glassfibre wings, doors and tailgate, though some pretty serious repairs were necessary, but the bonnet was missing and a new one had to be made. Unfortunately the passenger side window had to be replaced: the other windows, apart from the screen of course, are all the original Perspex, complete with the small Nissan symbol in each one."
All these repairs were carried out and the unnecessary holes made good. At the end of it the shell was structurally as good as new, nice and square on the jig. The original works-prepared basic shell, by the way, was standard apart from reinforcement of the underfloor chassis rails and variable adjustment holes for the suspension strut top mounts. In deciding the final specification for restoration, Tim tried to keep as closely as possible to that in which the car finished the 1974 season but he has retained the rear suspension Rosejointing which makes the car ineligible for many forms of Historic racing.
The engine, which produces 245bhp at the flywheel, has a special steel crank, special pistons and rods, a racing cam, a works competition head which is a non-standard casting, three twin Dellorto 48 carbs, a smaller and lighter flywheel, a works high pressure oil pump and enlarged oil drillings in the block. The works five-speed close-ratio gearbox is direct in 5th, unlike the standard 240Z which is direct in 4th with 5th as an overdrive.
Big Sam has a better, safer fuel tank now, which is definitely a good idea, and the differential cooler is in slightly better place for improved air flow. Diff failures were always a weak point in the early competition Z cars and thereís no point in setting it up for that to happen all over again. It now has an oil temperature gauge and soon there will a diff oil temperature gauge; the current tachometer is mechanically driven rather than electronic but all these gauges are right for the period: sit in this car and it is easy to imagine that itís still 1974!
Finally the car was painted in its original colours and the signwriting was done by Barry Jones: he did the same job on Big Sam back in 1974! The wording is a little different now though!
Spike is delighted that Big Sam has been saved: "Tim has done a fantastic job," he says, "but my prediction would be that as time goes by they will get he car back closer to Group 4 as it was in 1974 as that seems to be the way ahead for Historic racing in the near future." It wouldnít be difficult, nor would make an enormous difference to Big Sam's lap times.
Racing Big Sam
What a pleasure it is to drive a car that really handles well: it's easy to see that Win Percy must have enjoyed notching up his string of wins, mixing it with Porsches and other powerful opponents in Modified Sportscar races. Big Sam is an absolute delight to drive on the track: the 2.4-litre straight-six engine revs freely, feels unbreakable and it is safe to at least 9,000rpm, I am told, though it is quicker to change up at 7,600rpm. On the straights, one just seems to keep changing up through the easy five-speed gearbox as the engine howls along.
Under braking, the word ëanchorí comes to mind: the special Can-Am ëventilated discs just pull the car up air and square and you feel as if you could outbrake anything else on the rack. Whatís more, you can brake incredibly late and still turn into corners without sacrificing exit speed this car turns in smartly; a works quick rack and shortened steering arms help here and the driver has a really satisfying feeling of accuracy. With all four wheels sliding, you just now to the inch where the car is going; power can be applied early, giving a great feeling of rocketing away on a perfect line.
The handling is superbly balanced and, even though the car can hop a little in the slower corners in the dry it still clings on tenaciously and that feeling of precision control is always here. It is not at all what I expected, but then many cars are different from their legendary images when it actually comes to driving them: far from being heavy to drive, and something of a thrilling monster rather in the Big Healey mould, Big Sam can be driven like a perfectly sorted Escort. Surprisingly, the overall dimensions of the 240Z are similar to those of an Escort, hard to believe, but true. It is light and very easy to control and the quick response of the steering, brakes and throttle make it feel like a little giant-killer.
I drove it twice: first at Goodwood in a very damp sprint meeting when to my dismay there were no proper wet weather tyres, just some rather treadless-looking intermediates. In the early runs it was quite lethal on the many puddles, frequently going light at the controls and then snatching unpredictably. But later the puddles drained away and on a still very wet rack I was astounded to find that the car won its class and set the second fastest time overall, beaten only by a well-driven but mighty Marshplant Aston Martin V8. Unfortunately our very last run of the day was interrupted when a lack of fuel caused the engine to cut but I donít think in my wildest dreams that we could have beaten that Aston, or could we? No, don't be silly!
My next outing in it was at Silverstone, the Bentley Drivers Club meeting held in fair weather in August. Owner Nick Howell drove it first in an Ailcomers Handicap race; they gave him a devastating handicap (to teach him a lesson for bringing a Japanese car to the Bentley Driversí big day at Silverstone, someone mischievously suggested). Anyway, it made sure that he finished a lowly 22nd. Nick thought this a bit unfair until somebody pointed out to him that he was lucky to have got Big Sam through the gate for such a meeting!