Z-Car Club of Inland Valley Show

While Matt was down at the imG Old Skewl Meet in San Diego yesterday yours truly was at the Z-Car Club of Inland Valley‘s annual car show at Quality Nissan in Temecula. Despite the name of the club all manner of Datsuns were welcomed with open arms, and the results are here:

Here’s a great side-by-side that captures the spirit of the show: a brand new 2009 370Z with an all-original one-family 1970 240Z.

You’ve probably seen this ’77 280Z in JNC‘s Z-Car Nationals coverage but we so rarely see well done 2+2s. See, four-seaters can be sexy!

You can easily imagine this 280ZX doing a top speed wangan run.

It’s 2009 so the Z31 300ZX, which came out in the 1984 model year, has now hit the 25-year mark threshold for recogition as a proper nostalgic. This car is dripping with early 80s appeal, in a color that “only Ben could love” as Matt would say.

But if there’s anything I like more than period colors it’s small nods to heritage. In 1984 Nissan celebrated it’s global 50th anniversary with a limited edition 300ZX (pic of the full car in the gallery below).

Ok, enough Zs. How about a nice Datsun 510? This one caught our eye because it was super clean and we were, um, in no way swayed by the JNC sticker it was rockin’.

Since Matt posted a matte Maxima here’s a matte 510 to go along with it. The mashup of JDM (lights, grille, etc.) and USDM (door mirrors, BRE stripes, painted 280ZX wheels) somehow work together to give it a cool road warrior vibe.

The wagonphile in me loved this green ’72 510, and the color matching in the 280ZX wheels lend the car a nice, cohesive look.

It’s surprising how well hot rod style and old Japanese cars go together. We first saw the ’71 Datrod and its clever yet subtle touches at the Datsun Heritage Museum Toy Drive last year but since then it’s acquired some new painted steelies.

Continuing with the hot rod theme, here’s a slick little 1963 Datsun 320 pickup, the oldest car at the show. Chrome rings around the lights would probably set off the red wheels and starter crank more, but it looks cool nonetheless.

The Datsun 620 is one of the most beautiful pickups ever made, and this was a gorgeous example in spite of the Porsche wheels. Just look at those clean lines!

Check out the necklace Mike of the So.West Datsun Pick-Ups Club is wearing. Those are chromed tie-down hooks removed from his 620!

Remember this? Dat-Man was a promotional character, complete with comic book, created as an early 70s promotion. It was later followed by Dat-Girl and they had a kid named – wait for it – Dat-Son.

The show stealer was this… thing, two 1977 Datsun Cherry F-10s joined at the hip. It was built by Fram/Autolite as a promotion demonstrating the importance of maintenance. It was driven 20,000 miles per year with one side getting routine maintenance and the other negelected. By 75,000 miles, the neglected side got poorer MPG, produced more smog, performed worse, consumed more oil and had major ring and valve wear. Ultimately the entire car was neglected until car artist Steve Jasik found and restored it five years ago. If you lock both steering wheels you can drive sideways down the street.

Despite some last minute red tape thrown their way by the city of Murietta, which prompted the eleventh hour change of venue to Quality Nissan, the crew at ZCCIV pulled off a great show and it warms our hearts to see dealers still supporting the old school. You can also see coverage of the 2008 show.

On a side note, we’re thinking of posting event coverage this way, instead of with a text and links with the gallery below . If you have a preference, let us know which you prefer.