The rumors were right. Nissan is celebrating 55 years of the iconic Z by bringing Japan’s much-praised Customized Edition to America. Inspired by the S30 Fairlady Z and Datsun 240Z, the 2024 Nissan Z Heritage Edition adds several styling cues that are throwbacks to the S30 Z while improving on the design of the standard RZ34 Nissan Z.
Nissan unveiled a version of this car way back in 2022 at the Tokyo Auto Salon. They showed a more production-ready version a year later at the 2023 Tokyo Auto Salon before it finally went on sale in August 2023. Now, almost a year later, it’ll be available in the US. All Heritage Editions are based on the Performance trim of the Nissan Z, the one with the limited-slip differential and other performance upgrades.
The biggest change from the regular Z is the reshaped grille from the Customized Edition, featuring a horizontal split that recalls the bumper of the S30 while addressing the RZ34’s most controversial styling point. However, there are many differences between the Heritage Edition and the Customized Edition sold in Japan.
Both the Japan-market Customized Edition and the US-market Heritage Edition feature a black hood decal emphasizing the power bulge callback to the S30. On the Heritage Edition the decal continues onto the roof and decklid. It’s also not solid and contains a thin strip where the orange paint beneath shows through.
The US model (left) also has a “Heritage Edition” wreath decal around the C-pillar Z logo. Oddly, it’s the modern version of the Z logo and not the JDM version’s more retro one with dual chrome rings, which would have been fitting for a Heritage Edition.
Both have a black decal stripe that begins at the front wheel arch and ends at the trailing edge of the doors. Naturally, the Japanese version (right) says “Fairlady Z” while the US one says just “Z”. The JDM one has a thick line above a thinner line, while the USDM stripe is flipped, with the thick line on the bottom.
The spoilers are different too. The Heritage Edition (left) features a body colored lip that ends at the edges of the trunk. The Customized Edition’s spoiler is inspired by the ducktail of the Z432-R and thus black (actually, a carbon-fiber pattern). It also extends past the shut lines of the trunk and says “Fairlady Z” in the classic script.
One area where the Heritage Edition might outshine the Customized Edition, depending on your perspective, is the wheel arches. We get fender flares on both front and rear wheels that are similar to the ones shown on the original 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon car, but with a slightly different shape when viewed head-on. In Japan the fender flares didn’t make it to the production Customized Edition.
Last but not least is the orange paint. While the Heritage Edition’s color looks the same as the Customized Edition’s, they have different official names. In Japan Nissan calls the color 432 Orange, which makes sense as it’s inspired by the Z432’s trademark color, which was called Grand Prix Orange in 1969. The Heritage Edition’s paint is called New Sight Orange, a name borrowed from the Datsun 240Z’s paint book.
The Heritage Edition can be ordered with either a 6-speed manual or 10-speed automatic. The engine sees no power bump and keeps the Z’s 400-horsepower twin-turbo V6 unchanged. The 19-inch wheels look the same as the Japanese versions, and both appear to have been inspired by the classic RS-Watanabe 8-spoke.
The 2024 Nissan Z Heritage Edition has an MSRP of $60,275, which includes a $1,140 destination charge. We love the design, the throwback cues, and the color, but prefer the Japanese edition’s details. The color-matched roof looks good too, a big improvement over the standard Z’s black roof when paired with the most desirable colors. If we were shopping for a new Z, this would be the one we’d get, even over the Z NISMO and its automatic-only powertrain.
manual please!!!!
It is a “Performance” trimed Z. As article stated, available as either 6-speed manual or 10-speed automatic.
Very nice. How many for our market, and will we really see them here?
The nose is a vast improvement, but I worry that no one is buying the car as it is. It’s been out for a couple of years now and I’ve probably only seen 2 or 3 in the wild. Maybe they’re more popular in other parts of the country? Nissan might be wise to sell a stripped down n/a version to compete against the GR86, they could call it the SX..
I have to agree with Mr. Hsu. Overall I prefer the look of the Japanese Customized Proto unveiled in January 2022. I went completly gaga over the car especially with the front facia.
The small details of the Proto as stated still for me look better than what it seems what the US version will be. Why no orange brake calipers or orange interior trim accents ? I will be buying an Orange Heritage Z and will have to decide whether to keep the car stock or convert to a true Customized Proto version.
Either way, Thank you Nissan for finally making this vehicle aviblr for the US market.
Hi, the Z put Japan on the sportscar map*. I was at the reveal event in Franklin TN put on by Nissan HQ(Was hoping to meet Mr. Matsuo but he sadly passed right before, but I hope he got to see it and also Mr. K.)but I did get to meet Legend Mr. Peter Brock(BRE Racing/Designer-C2 Vette &Shelby Daytona*)won’t forget he left a circle of people around him and Greeted me & signed my jacket and him and his wife stayed for the whole show. Well the grill should have not been big deal because they did have the Tuner/Customizer in mind for the car-(Think oil cooler on outside: Boz-. or extra lights: Baja. Hey I did Mention to the NIssan people about Convertible/T-top/Targa(Compared C8 to the now Discontinued NSX*).Thanks
I really like this car. However black paint on the minilite style wheels don’t make it all. Looks real cheap like Chinese knock offs.
Will Nissan have any decent inventory of these Z cars ever? I rarely see them on the roads, however when I do, they look superb.
At first I thought, “not another ‘X’ edition already?” These every-few-years special editions seem to get a bit out of control. Plus, the 50th Anniversary, in my opinion, was very unattractive. I understand the paint livery was in homage to the BRE theme of back in the day, but the car just didn’t look good. Therefore when I read “Heritage Edition,” I felt it was going to be a flashback.
Well fortunately the car looks great. This Z definitely looks a lot less porky than the previous gen’s, the orange is nice, the “Watanbes” look good, they put it on the Performance model, good move. Too bad it’s still called “55th year anniversary model,” seems like such a random number.