Chassis number identification

I think it must be early 1973 as I know of HS30 102882, which has a production date of 06/73.
 
So are the US chassis numbers different? The VB catalog I have says

Serial & Date
000013 - 021000 & 10/69 - 5/70
021001 - 046000 & 1/71 - 8/71
046001 - 120000 & 9/71 - 6/72
120001 - 172732 & 7/72 - 7/73
I'd have thought there was only one chassis number system for the world?? Or am I wrong?
 
OK I remembered to do a forum search, and found UK cars had a different chassis number system, because they were RHD.

The only good way to go is by engine number apparently. I will ask for that tomorrow.
 
Russ, just checked mine and I see your point, I have no idea and am now confused..... :confused::confused:

I got that data from ZHOME
 
russ
ask mike feeney
he can probably date your car to at least the week it was made if not the day
he did it for me with my zed and my R30 skyline
 
No point in looking at American sites to identify the age of a U.K. car. For the record again:

240Z: all HS30
00003 - 00500 October 1969 to May 1971
00501 - 01500 January 1971 to August 1971 (yes, I can see the overlap)
01501 - 14000 September 1971 to June 1972
14001 - 102??? July 1972 to July 1973

The Nissan parts fiche record stops at 101537!

If anyone knows at what point the chassis number changes from 5 digit to 6 digit, I'd love to know for tax exemption purposes. As it stands at the moment, it is virtually impossible to argue that anything starting 100xxx or above is tax exempt - we sure didn't get 86000 240Zs between July 1972 and the end of 1972. The likely change date (I'm guessing) would be August 1972, but there is no data that I have for this - any historians to confirm??

Please note this is for U.K. cars (and presumerably other RHD markets sharing our specification?).
 
Russ,

I reckon it would be good to get Mike's info above tucked away in the articles section for future reference ;) ...!

Mike
 
mikecart said:
Russ,

I reckon it would be good to get Mike's info above tucked away in the articles section for future reference ;) ...!

Mike
Click to expand...
Any chance Russ??
I also now have some basic spec sheets if you want.
 
Mr.F said:
.....If anyone knows at what point the chassis number changes from 5 digit to 6 digit, I'd love to know for tax exemption purposes. As it stands at the moment, it is virtually impossible to argue that anything starting 100xxx or above is tax exempt - we sure didn't get 86000 240Zs between July 1972 and the end of 1972. The likely change date (I'm guessing) would be August 1972, but there is no data that I have for this - any historians to confirm??....
Click to expand...
Hi Mike,
Nissan's 'Great Leap Forward' in the 'HS30' chassis number sequence occurred around the end of October / early November 1972.......

This is the info I have from Japanese owners clubs who have looked into both Nissan's production records and those of the Japanese road transport ministry.

End of October 1972 is when the Japanese home-market 'HS30' VIN-prefix cars jumped from 5 digits to 6 ( starting with a 'clean slate' at '100000' ). Late October was traditionally when new models debuted in the Japanese market ( just after the Japanese motor show ), so this would seem to tie in.

As the 'Export' model 'HS30' cars followed the same body numbering sequence as the 'Domestic' model 'HS30' cars, I think it is a fair bet to use the Japanese info on this as reference. You can't really make any direct comparisons with other VIN prefix body number sequences on the S30-series Z.

However, its not really clear just how high those five digit body number HS30s went up to. Typically Nissan, there seems to be no clear notification of the *last* five digit cars - so how do we know just how big a gap there was? They fudged it.

Anybody for a game of VIN number bingo? :)
 
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Ive said this before and will probably again, you should be in our club Albrecht, you have much to offer, and share with us. thanks.
On the other hand "z-club team" if you locked out non members, we wouldnt have this snippet would we??
 
Zbirdy said:
Ive said this before and will probably again, you should be in our club Albrecht, you have much to offer, and share with us. thanks.
On the other hand "z-club team" if you locked out non members, we wouldnt have this snippet would we??
Click to expand...


Nope Don your absolutly right mate, its even more reason people like albrecht should join.:D
 
Thinking about it another way........

Whatever information I have given doesn't actually *belong* exclusively to me, does it? A lot of it is out there, and it just needs to be found and understood. Whether I'm a member of the Z Club or not doesn't change that.......

From my point of view, UK-based Z enthusiasts don't historically seem to have been all that interested in - or motivated to - sniff out this kind of detail. Problem No.1 would seem to be that they tend to look to the USA for their first-generation Z data. That's fine up to a point, but eventually you have to face the fact that these are Japanese cars and therefore Japan is going to be the place where the real story and data exists.

Its just a question of language and communication really. And finding the people who have the data. Most of the time that's not the current regime at Nissan ( regrettably ).

And don't forget, I might also be completely mistaken...... :)
 
Albrecht said:
End of October 1972 is when the Japanese home-market 'HS30' VIN-prefix cars jumped from 5 digits to 6 ( starting with a 'clean slate' at '100000' ). Late October was traditionally when new models debuted in the Japanese market ( just after the Japanese motor show ), so this would seem to tie in.
Click to expand...
So HS30102676, are they likely to have produced 2676 RHD Zs in the space of November and December??

I'll make this reference once we are further along.
 
Re: 'HS30-102676'

If the main aim here is getting the car recognised as eligible to be tax exempt, then I might be better off not posting.

But I'd think it was more likely early '73 than late '72, if you know what I mean.......
 
Okie dokie :) Thanks.

I know we look to the US for info on Zs, and that is due to the language barrier, but I'm happy wading through poor babelfish translations.

Does the Japanese car club you belong to have a website please and can you recommend any others?
 
If 101537 is given as July 1973 in the basic records we have, then 102xxx is also going to be 1973.

Thanks Albrecht for the extra little bit of info concerning the changeover date - I don't know why I've never asked you before...

There is a huge concern for 240Z owners to have their cars considered for tax exemption - this may well bring a few more vehicles into the "arguable status" depending on what the actual production numbers of RHD UK and JDM examples were for November and December of 1972. Any more info?

Ray Hutton's Z Series Datsun notes 1609 240Zs sold in the UK. 674 were registered between 1970 and 1972. 774 registered in 1973. Leaves a residue of (presumerably) 1973 cars late registered in 1974 totalling 161. This assumes figures accurately recorded by the old Nissan UK regime.
 
Russ said:
....Does the Japanese car club you belong to have a website please and can you recommend any others?
Click to expand...
Hi Russ,
No it doesn't have its own proper website, and I can't honestly recommend any particular other Japanese Z-related websites if it is history and data you are after.

I'm afraid the truly useful, informative and historical information is all in period and contemporary books, magazines, Nissan parts manuals, 'Service Shuho' booklets and manuals and the kind of hard data held by pervy private individuals. In other words, it does not come on a plate with a side order of coleslaw.

My dad ( the source of my carchaeological sickness ) used to whisper to me as I lay in my pram "books and tools, books and tools, books and tools". It is probably still pretty good advice even after the dawn of this fangled interweb thingy. If all else fails you can build a wall out of the books and use the tools as ammo to throw...

Mr.F said:
...There is a huge concern for 240Z owners to have their cars considered for tax exemption - this may well bring a few more vehicles into the "arguable status" depending on what the actual production numbers of RHD UK and JDM examples were for November and December of 1972. Any more info?
Click to expand...
Hi Mr.F,
Somewhere in my records I have a copy of a Japanese vehicle licensing ministry document that lists the range of chassis numbers manufactured in each calendar year. I'll have to dig it out. I'll see what I can do.

With the caveat that this kind of information can upset just as many people as it pleases; If they are primarily interested in *proving* eligibility for tax exemption then I would imagine that some might prefer their cars to be older than they really are......;)
 
Right, I've found the paperwork I was looking for.

This is from Nissan Kabushiki Kaisha themselves. The information for the S30 and PS30 models checks out as accurate enough, so I think the HS30 data should be pretty accurate ( ? ).

Note that these are actual PRODUCTION year figures, not 'Model Year' or other sales-related jargon.

*1972 'HS30-10437' ~ 'HS30-12045' and 'HS30-100001' ~ 'HS30-100800' ( note the gap when the numbers switch to six digits - I believe this happened in late October )

*1973 'HS30-100801' ~ 'HS30-101537' and 'HS30-102001' ~ 'HS30-103262' ( I don't know why there is a gap between 101537 and 102001..... ).

So, according to these figures, the last 'HS30' manufactured in 1972 was #100800 and the very last 'HS30' was #103262.

No doubt - knowing Nissan - somebody with 'HS30-103263' or higher will show up now and prove that HS30s were made into 1974 too......:unsure: ;) :)
 
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