ZHead said:
I accept it has many many mistakes but it has nice pictures
Well, I would advise you to be
very careful when reading the captions to some of those pictures.
Case in point: Page 123 has two pictures of a red painted, late-ish facelifted Japanese market Fairlady Z-L ( probably around a 1974/75 build date, with the rear end treatment seen on Export market '260Z' models ). This car is highly modified, and features a mixture of home market and export USA/Canada market detailing ( notice the rear marker lights and 'Datsun' emblems ). It is also fitted with a very rare 'LY' Crossflow head conversion, and other rare parts - although the engine bay is not shown in the photos.
Evanow's picture caption reads thus:
"Among the intelligentZia ( sic ), an original Fairlady Z432 or Z432-R from the Japanese market ranks among the most desirable classix Zs. Total production was 420, built from 1969-1973, with a 2.0 liter engine that produced 160 horsepower. The LY-designated engine was a high revving motor, with four valves per cylinder and three carburettors. The R model was for racing pruposes, and was much lighter with a fiberglass hood, Plexiglas ( sic ) side and rea windows, lightweight bucket seats, and other R-dedicated components. These cars are rare and very desirable."
What a cock up. First of all he mis-identifies the car in the pictures as a Fairlady Z432 ( it isn't ) and then he compounds the mistake by stating that the Z432 had an 'LY' engine ( when it actually had an S20 ). He then goes on to pile insult on top of injury, stating that the 'LY' had four valves per cylinder ( when the 'LY' was an SOHC 2-valve per cylinder design ) - giving data for the S20 in place of the 'LY'.
Sorry, but even if we try to be as polite as possible that ranks as a total shambles.
Written text does not fare much better either. Page 64 ( titled "What's in a name? Part 1" - ostensibly a precis of early Datsun / Nissan company history ) contains no fewer than EIGHT fundamental errors - the majority of them copied verbatim from Colin Shipway's "Essential Datsun Z: 240Z to 280ZX", which Evanow laughably can't even identify properly ( he calls it "Essentially....." ).
Copied mistakes from an old book that is itself ill-conceived, badly researched and poorly edited, and can't even get the title of the book right when namechecking it? Must be Mr Pete Evanow!
Sorry, but that - by any stretch of the imagination - is indicative of an author who knows next to nothing about his chosen subject, and a publisher that doesn't even realise it.
Verdict: Not fit for purpose. Case closed.
