1970-1978 Datsun Z

Overview

More than any other car, the "Z" put Japan in the automotive big leagues. Very stylish, reasonably fast, reliable, well-built, and at $3500, it was an absolute bargain to boot. Its 2.4 liter 151hp inline six was smooth and it sounded great. In one fell swoop the Z shattered all the stereotypes of Japan's inability to produce top tier motorcars.

In an effort to cheat ever tightening emission restrictions, Nissan bumped displacement to 2.6 liters in '74 and 2.8 liters in '75. Along the way the Z got heavier, slower and less attractive (mostly due those inescapable mid-seventies bumpers). Get the Z in it's purest form, the '70 - '73 models. If you need greater utility, the later 2+2 with its back seat (kids only) is a worth a look. It has the benefit of the later injected 2.8 motor, which is less troublesome than the earlier dual SU carbs.

Still a bargain, good, clean, fully serviceable examples are everywhere at around $5-6,000, sometimes less. Even really nice ones come in under $10,000. (Update 2019: Triple these today, and pristine concours examples go over $50k) You'll have to scour eBay and the classifieds -- not many show up at auction (that's now changing, too). Prices have been stable for many years and despite all it's charms, we don't see enough demand to suggest significant value gains any time soon. (Update 2019: this held true for several years, but around 2012 the market for nice clean Z's started it's upward march.)

The hatch made the Z a versatile GT

The smooth 2.4L OHC six raised many an eyebrow.

The Z offered an upscale, true GT interior that rivaled much more expensive cars.

Several years ago Nissan produced about 40 "factory authorized" restorations and offered them for $25,000. A couple early ones sold above that at auction but generally the market yawned, and Nissan quietly scuttled the program. (Update 2019: These are rarely seen, but one recently was reported sold at a tad over $100,000. We believe that the whole early Z market may be headed that way.)

(C) Copyright 2005- VMR International, Inc. All rights reserved. This article first appeared in the December 2005 issue of Collector Car Market Review.