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The SFW image thread

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1999 Nissan 240Z Concept Car

Although changes in the market and economy had forced Nissan to withdraw the 300ZX from sales in North America, some in Nissan were hoping for a replacement, particularly after the same forces led to the cancellation of the 240SX sports coupe (a detuned version of the S14 Silvia made for the North American market) in 1998, leaving Nissan without any sort of sports car presence in the US for the first time. Therefore, late in 1998, Nissan's American design studio drew up a design sketch of a new generation Z-car, drawing heavily upon the original S30 240Z of 1970 for inspiration. Although the sketch drew mixed reactions from both Nissan insiders (the designer of the S30 unfavorably compared it to some of Nissan's then-current sedan offerings) and the media, Nissan nevertheless pushed ahead with turning the sketch into a concept car both as a means of testing the waters and drumming up interest in a potential new Nissan sports car.

Accordingly, over a period of 12 weeks, Nissan's design studios oversaw an effort to turn their concept into an actual concept car. The vehicle they produced was a fully functional car that could be driven, borrowing heavily from Nissan's parts bin for components, most notably the S14 and the R33 Skyline. Power was provided by a 2.4L KA24DE L4 (which had been used in the 240SX, as well as the Altima sedan and several trucks, such as the 1st-generation Frontier and Xterra SUV,) but modified to increase its output to 200 HP (depending on the application, the KA24DE normally put out between 150-155 HP) feeding the rear wheels via a 5-speed manual transmission.

Making its debut at the 1999 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the media and enthusiasts had a decidedly mixed reaction to the concept car, with criticism focusing on the clashing modern and retro elements in the car's styling, and the powertrain, which was considered underpowered for a sports car, as well as an L4 being thought of as being unworthy of a Z-car, which had all been powered by 6-cylinder engines. Although they thought that a new Z-car would be a very nice thing to have, a new model that more clearly went in one design direction or the other was thought to be essential. Nevertheless, the 240Z concept succeeded in its mission of both gauging interest in a new Z-car, and generating interest in such a vehicle, and in February 2000, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn announced that Nissan would be developing a new generation of Z-car that would evolve from the concept as part of his plan to reinvigorate the struggling carmaker.

The 1999 240Z concept car is still in the possession of Nissan, as part of its Heritage Collection's US branch, stored at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, TN, when not being loaned out for display elsewhere or used in Nissan displays at car shows and other events.
 
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Jake said:
It looks like a dodgy Chinese carmaker's attempt at a Porsche 911 knockoff.
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Well, I did note that the styling didn't get the most favorable reaction when that car was introduced, and the 350Z that actually did go into production a few years afterwards did look notably different.

And tax:

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Inspired by this day in history-

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HMS Victory in the drydock she has been preserved as a museum in at HMNB Portsmouth since 1922.

A 100-gun first-rate ship of the line, Victory was ordered at the height of the Seven Years War, and was built between 1759-65 at HM Dockyard Chatham, but as she was completed several years after the conclusion of that conflict, she was laid up in reserve upon completion, and not brought into active service until 1778, subsequently seeing action in both the American Revolutionary and the French Revolutionary & Napoleonic Wars.

However, Victory is most famous for being the flagship of Vice-Admiral Viscount Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21st, 1805, where a British fleet of 27 ships of the line under his command destroyed a combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 33 ships of the line off the coast of Spain, in an engagement that is often argued to have set the stage for Britain's being the dominant naval power of the world until the Second World War. However, Nelson did not live to see the effects of his victory, being fatally shot by a marksman in the mizzentop of the French ship Redoutable, one of several ships that Victory was closely engaged with, a little over a hour into the battle, dying of his wound about three hours later.

Shortly after Victory returned to Britain, the Royal Navy decided that between her age and the severe damage she took at Trafalgar, the ship was no longer worth repairing for active service, and was utilized primarily for a variety of support roles at the Portsmouth naval base during the remainder of the 19th and into the early 20th Centuries. At several points, the Admiralty proposed scrapping Victory but was stymied by public outcry, including personal interventions by both Queen Victoria & King Edward VII. Eventually, in 1922, with Victory in truly decrepit condition due to a century of neglected maintenance, she was permanently drydocked in order to prevent her from sinking or suffering a structural collapse, and to facilitate restoration work that would last the rest of the decade, although further restoration and repair work has been a continuing project since then, with the goal of returning the ship to the configuration she was in at Trafalgar.

Still a commissioned warship of the Royal Navy, Victory is not only the oldest commissioned warship in the world, as well as the only surviving original example of the type of warship that was the heart of the world's navies for nearly two centuries.
 
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2003 Nissan 350Z

After a hiatus of several years, the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car debuted in mid-2002 as a 2003 model.

The 350Z, internally designated as the Z33 platform, was a departure in terms of its underpinnings, as unlike previous generations of the Z-car, which were their own unique platforms (even if they borrowed parts from other Nissans,) the Z33 was based on Nissan's 2001-vintage FM platform, which was used on several other RWD Nissan applications, most notably the V35 Skyline (sold in North America as the Infiniti G35,) effectively making the car a truncated & face-lifted Skyline with more aggressive suspension tuning & a tweaked engine. (Nissan was not the first carmaker to do this in order to save money- a famous example of such an approach was the 1968-70 AMC AMX sports car, which was essentially a Javelin ponycar with a couple feet cut out where the back seat would have gone.)

The Z33 350Z was initially offered only as a 2-seat coupe, though a convertible version became available for the 2004 model year. It was available in several trim levels, with varying levels of luxury features, performance suspension tuning, and brake upgrades.

Like the Skyline it was derived from, the 350Z had an all-independent suspension, though the most notable feature of the chassis is how the engine is set back, behind the front wheels and up close to the firewall for improved weight distribution and less weight on the front wheels, in the interests of improved handling.

Power for the 350Z was provided by a 3.5L DOHC V-6 putting out 287 HP, going to the rear wheels via a choice of a 6-speed manual transmission or a 5-speed slushbox.

Interestingly, although the 350Z received top safety marks in crash testing, it also had the highest rate of occupant fatalities per registered vehicles between 2006-09 per IIHS statistical data, perhaps because the car is quite popular amongst young men who drive them with an exuberance that substantially exceeds their skills, let alone the capabilities of the car or the limits set by the bounds of common sense.
 
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While I do like the styling of the modern Z cars, I maintain the opinion that the classic 240Z to 280Z series is so irresistibly sexy.
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fishbait08 said:
Interestingly, although the 350Z received top safety marks in crash testing, it also the highest rate of occupant fatalities per registered vehicles between 2006-09 per IIHS statistical data, perhaps because the car is quite popular amongst young men who drive them with an exuberance that substantially exceeds their skills, let alone the capabilities of the car or the limits set by the bounds of common sense.
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Yeah, that happens. First sport cars in Brazil to have electronic fuel injection systems were the Kadett GSi(Originally Opel, but built and sold in Brazil as part of the Chevrolet brand) and the VW Gol(Brazilian project, smaller than the Golf in spite of the similar name - it's a VW Polo equivalent) GTi, in 1989-90. Trying to find an used GSi nowadays is virtually impossible - most of them were totalled at some point of the 1990's and early 2000's(the Gol GTi had a larger production run, so you can still find them).
 
NuclearBird said:
While I do like the styling of the modern Z cars, I maintain the opinion that the classic 240Z to 280Z series is so irresistibly sexy.
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Well, if you go back a few pages, you'll see some Fairlady roadsters on page 49, and the original S30 chassis Z-cars starting on 50....

gralrj said:
Yeah, that happens. First sport cars in Brazil to have electronic fuel injection systems were the Kadett GSi(Originally Opel, but built and sold in Brazil as part of the Chevrolet brand) and the VW Gol(Brazilian project, smaller than the Golf in spite of the similar name - it's a VW Polo equivalent) GTi, in 1989-90. Trying to find an used GSi nowadays is virtually impossible - most of them were totalled at some point of the 1990's and early 2000's(the Gol GTi had a larger production run, so you can still find them).
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Yep, it does- seen the results a few times while driving around, and my father has a similar story involving an original 240Z while he was in the Air Force- guy who worked in the same F-111 avionics shop he did had one of them and drove the crap out of it, having a number of close calls, which, after a really scary one, led to him selling the 240Z because he figured that he was going to get himself killed if he kept driving that 240Z much longer, and used the money to buy a Datsun mini-truck. Couple weeks later, guy who had the 240Z came into work looking rather shaken, and when my father asked what was wrong, he said that the guy he sold his 240Z to crashed it and died in Montana- buyer interpreted the 'reasonable and prudent' speed limit that state once had on its freeways as permission to go all out on a public road, and ended up rolling it while doing well over 100 mph.

And tax:

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B.P.R.D Agent Ted Howards with his Hyperborean club sword and a large gun.
 
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