We’ve admired Glenn Chiou’s Nissan Fairlady Z ever since the moment we laid eyes on it at the 2012 Bayline Gathering. Over the years, we’ve seen it progress into what is quite possibly one of our favorite S30 Z builds in the states.
What we respect the most is the lengths Glenn went through to learn about the car, by working on it himself and in his quest for period correct parts. His goal was to create a car that looks, sounds, and drives exactly like it would have in the 1970s. His philosophy on what it means to be a caretaker of one of these cars, to pass the knowledge of craftsmanship and history down to future generations, is one that perfectly encapsulates what JNC is all about. Watch the Petrolicious video about Glenn’s Z below.
Hat’s off to Aaron & his staff for another top-notch vid! I’m a bit jelly of all the drone footage haha!
Thanks, Matt (and JNC!) for sharing. If you all like our content on Japanese cars then I feel like we’ve succeeded.
I love this car too!
It just exudes the vintage vibe
Did the Datsun Comp catalog have Cusco strut tower bars?
How do you feel about Koyo full aluminum rads and Optima batteries in general while striving for #periodcorrect
Oooh, Alvin! Handbags!
Factory ‘Sports Option’ parts catalogue for the S30-series Z included part no.23231-E4100 – PRAGMATISM.
I’ve got a few NOS ones still in the factory packaging. Always handy.
@alvin you’re just stating the obvious or??
guys who run those 3 items are not period correct, but they make allowances
especially in norcal
What a beautiful car, I have a 1974 Fairladyz L model unfortunately mine is not the larger displacement motor bit it does have all the unique accessories like divided turn signals, rally clock, 411 led r 180 diff, it’s also one of the first fairladyz imported to the US is have a shipping manifest and registration dating 1977, along with original competition catalogue’s one is dated 1973 in Japanese and the other 1974 in English I also have every reciet for everything bought for the car including the Nissan triple carb setup out of the catalogue. I love unique cars that have a story to tell it makes the cars that more special.
As always great work from all, the unique story aspect I felt was on the money – there’s just something you can’t buy with old cars, it’s as if they’re characters themselves.
I like his outlook on the craftsmanship aspect, and that’s certainly true, but I think the exciting future path isn’t going to simply be doing things the way they’ve always been done but doing the core concept better using technology. It’s all well and good to repair things back to the original specification but you reach a point where surfaces just run out of metal and hoarders just run out of stock. Like the subtle modern touches done here to keep the car going I think future generations will be looking at things like indicators and crossmembers and saying “How can we replicate this design using CNC or 3D printing and possibly even make it stronger / lighter?” That will be the next evolution of restoration, a transition from linear production cycles to full circle sourcing and production due to necessity. Most modern cars will be crushed before their time is up, replaced by AI and batteries, it’s these cars that have inspired so many people that will stimulate innovation and keep on going.