Hi All,
Justin -I must agree with Zac on the 1600 rear suspension design.
Pininfarina only style bodies
as far as I am aware, mostly for Ferrari. Also they are an independent
styling house and are not
part of the Ferrari (FIAT) company. As for the body stylist of the 1600? - I
hav'nt a clue, but
whoever it was is a genius! OK I am biased, but the 1600 is beautifully
proportioned and does bear
a slight similarity to the old Fiat 128, but much nicer. Around the time of
the birth of the 1600 the
Japanese were still copying a lot of other western companies ideas, although
the styling of bodies
was outsourced alot and some designers from Europe were used. For example,
Mazda's first in-house
styling job was the original RX7, before that they must have outsourced
their design work.
As most of you will know, when the 1600 was released, it was ahead of its
time. The only other similar
sized vehicle to offer front discs and independent rear suspension (IRS) was
the BMW 2000 (or 2002?).
It would not surprise me if Datsun had pinched a few ideas from BMW.
BTW I have 3 1600s, all from 1972. One I bought recently reeeeaaallll
cheap, minimal rust, original paint
and license plates, and is totally stock. For a laugh I bolted on an
electronic dizzy, twin SUs (no head mods),
new seatbelts, bucket seats and fire extinguishers and entered into my first
rally, the Classic Challenge 2001
here in Perth. My 1600 was easily the LEAST race-prepared car there,
especially considering I still had the original
steel rims (with stock hubcaps) and skinny tyres and the old un-modified
suspension (great over speed humps
and nothing else). Onlookers reported a hysterical amount of body roll
during the Autokhanas but we were
one of the few cars to always receive applause during the spectator events,
probably because they could see
I was pushing the car to its absolute limits and beyond. I was happy with
our results (see below) and had
a complete blast, even with only 68 horsepower at the rear wheel!! I'm
hooked! I recently purchased a
L20B race motor in Melbourne (from the Ozdat classifieds) which should pump
out nearly 200 horses at the
aluminium flywheel, with a ceramic plate, brass button clutch, extractors,
twin 45 Webers, 240K 5-speed etc.
This will NOT be going in the stock Datsun, (it's too nice in its original
condition) but in another body which I
will be seam welding and adding 280ZX front struts and all-round discs to.
This should improve our placings
in the next rally somewhat ;)
Considering we were up against much more expensive and powerful cars,
including a Lamborghini Diablo VT,
Ferrari 360, a posse of Porsches, Falcon GTHO, Mini Cooper S, Honda S2000,
Subaru Liberty Turbos, WRXs,
and various rotary powered Mazdas, we more than held our own, finished the
whole rally (3 cars withdrew) and
most importantly had heaps of fun.
For the Classic Challeng Rally, Perth WA I have listed our results below in
the format: placing / total cars in category.
Full results if you're interested available at the AEM website:
http://www.classicrally.com.au
Navigation (Touring Class)
Navigation 1 (day one, when we totally stuffed it) 25th /29
Navigation 3 16th /29
Navigation 4 (day 2 when we kicked ass) 5th /29
Navigation/performance combined 17th /29
Navigation overall 19th /29
Overall combined Touring/Navigation 84th /86
Autokhanas and sprints (Handicapped)
Kwinana Autokhana (We went the wrong way-DNF) 85th /85
Bunnings Sprint 57th /86
Smeaton Sprint 1 (one lap in the morning) 73rd /85
Rockingham Autokhana (carpark event with crowd) 68th /85
Smeaton Sprint 1 (two laps in the afternoon) 64th /85
Autokhanas and sprints (no handicapping)
Kwinana Autokhana (We went the wrong way) 85th /85
Bunnings Sprint 65th /86
Smeaton Sprint 1 (one lap in the morning) 80th /85
Rockingham Autokhana (carpark event with crowd) 68th /85
Smeaton Sprint 1 (two laps in the afternoon) 75th /85
With better preparation and hindsight we should get
some major improvements next time.
Cheers all,
Rob
>From: Justin Friedrichs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: RE: Zed History - Styling
>Date: Tue, 8 May 2001 2:03 PM
>
>
> ROB,
>
> I've also picked up along the way that the 1600, being a revolutionary car
> and all for datsun, they had a bit of help too.
>
> Body:- Designed in germany by BMW , that easy to tell.
> Suspension:- Pinifarinni from ferrari worked on the rear suspension
> Engine:- Based on a tough mercedes engine.
>
> anyone know of any others?
>
> Cheers
> Justin
>
> BTW :- I think the 260Z was the most popular sports car of all time.
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