The Nissan 300ZX Was The Last True Z Car

Yutaka Kume wasn’t your average public relations guru. He earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Tokyo and then worked at a navy dockyard during the war. Kume joined Nissan in 1946, worked his way through the engineering department, and eventually became the automaker’s head of research and development. Nissan appointed him as its Executive VP in 1983 and then its president two years after that.

He set about injecting the company with a shot of adrenaline. Under his guidance, Nissan initiated the “901 Activity.” That number encapsulated its refocused priorities. They aimed to be the number one automaker in terms of performance by the year 1990. Design and technology also became major considerations. The next crop of Nissans would take this philosophy on in stride, and the car that would spearhead this effort would be the next generation Z.

Development began in 1984. The venture earned the internal designation of Project UZ. Previous iterations used the S30s basic design as a foundation, but for the new Z, designers worked from a clean sheet. During the ideation phase, stylists were required to submit sketches for the UZ as well as the upcoming Silvia. Toshio Yamashita disregarded the rules and placed all of his efforts in the Z.

He worked on the car at home while his wife and newborn child were visiting her parents. His sketch was the only one on the wall that didn’t have an accompanying Silvia drawing. The directors were so impressed with the proposal that they accepted it, broken rules and all. This echoed Yamashita’s unusual start in the automotive industry.

He entered his adolescent years with dreams of becoming an architect. That profession was his first choice on his high school application. Design was his second choice if he couldn’t get into his preferred program. He was in for a surprise when he got word on the final result. Architecture wasn’t in the cards. While this was a disappointing result, he was still capable of carving out a long career in this field. The strange part in all of this was that design was listed as his preferred path. Toshio confided in his father, who he expected to be sour about the course of events. On the contrary, he was actually pleasantly surprised. It was all his doing. The elder Yamashita believed that he was too small to be an architect and therefore wouldn’t be taken seriously on-site by the builders.

Visitors came to his institution as his studies wound down. Nissan representatives arrived looking for designers. A high school seems like a strange place for a major automaker to scout out, but the practice wasn’t too uncommon in Japan around this time. There weren’t very colleges that specialized in transportation design. Nissan stopped this practice about a decade later.

Toshio’s instructor asked if anyone was interested in the opportunity. He and another student were the only students to raise their hands. His colleague couldn’t join him at Nissan because his parents didn’t want him to move to Tokyo, so he was on his own. Preparing for the interview was a challenge in itself. He didn’t have a strong interest in cars at the time and none of his professors were trained in that particular field. He showed up to the interview with a portfolio mainly consisting of drawings of pots and rice cookers and gave it his best shot. Nissan must have seen something in him because they brought him on as a full-time designer. Designing a car of his own became a dream of his, but a fellow employee informed him that, as a designer fresh out of high school, he’d only be assigned to work on components and the like.

There were some growing pains early on, but he improved by applying feedback from his managers and referencing car magazines. Soon enough, he found a chance to stand out. Designers often hung their sketches on the wall for evaluation, similar to what occurred in the mid-80s with the 300ZX. Toshio wasn’t expected to submit any proposals due to his standing within the company, but he didn’t let that stop him from giving it a try. He made a handful of drawings when he got home from work one night. When he returned to the office the following morning, he hung 10 of them on the board. He then returned to his work on the Silvia’s radiator grille.

One of his supervisors pulled a sketch off of the wall and asked who made it. Once again, Toshio rose his hand. This led to an evaluation meeting where he was asked to create a ffith-scale sketch. From here, he was able to establish himself as a fully-fledged designer.

Returning to the mid-1980s, Yamashita remained heavily involved in Project UZ after his proposal was accepted. He spearheaded a pair of 1:1 configuration mock-ups to get a feel for the overall proportions. The details hadn’t yet been fully explored at this point, but the silver front-engine one resembles an evolution of the Z31.

The two-tone mid-engine proposal, meanwhile, would have changed the very idea of what a Z car was. The fact that it was given serious consideration at all was an indication of Nissan’s emphasis on performance. What that car would look like would have to remain in the minds of those at R&D. A midship layout had packaging conflicts with the inevitable 2+2 variant.

Yamashita also traveled to the United States with a few of his colleagues to see why the Z had become such a phenomenon in that market. They also wanted to see if there was anything they could do to increase its appeal even more. The traveling party made stops in California, Texas, and Michigan. It was intended to be for market research, but Yamashita made one serious sketch while in the country.

A Dino pulled out in front of them while they were on the road. When he returned to his hotel room, he became inspired to create a sketch. It looks far removed from the final design, but some features exaggerate its width. The wide tail light bar made the jump over to the real thing. The details are far removed from the production model, but the idea of emphasizing its width remained.

Yamashita wanted the design to see production with as few changes as possible. His stubbornness earned him the nickname of Yadashita. “Yada” translates roughly to “I don’t like” or “I don’t want to” and was in reference to all of the suggestions that he shot down. The headlights were a prime example of this. The design called for units that were set at a 60-degree angle. Engineers either wanted to reposition them to a 45-degree angle or use retractable lights. Instead of admitting defeat, Yamashita went out on his own and found smaller projectors for the engineering team to use.

The antenna was also a point of contention. The layout team wanted to place it on the front of the car near the A-pillar. He argued that this would have distrusted the overall design and wanted to find another spot for it. They insisted that it couldn’t be installed anywhere else. Yamashita caved and that seemed to be the end of it… until the directors came to check on his progress the following day. They took one look at the model and pressed him about it. He pointed to the layout team and said that his hands were tied. The directors took his side and assured him that the situation would be taken care of. Sure enough, the antenna was moved onto the rear haunch the very next day.

“I don’t care about mechanics. I care about design.”

Designers made extensive use of full-scale models while that car was in development. For the S130, they brought the design along via scale mock-ups. The exterior of Project UZ evolved mainly through two-dimensional means. Only 11 quarter-scale models and 3 full-scale models were produced throughout the entire process.

The first of them was referred to as Type E. Judging from the available photographs, it appears to take on more of a traditional hatchback body style that isn’t that far removed from the Porsche 968. Its front-end signature also looks to be inspired by cars such as the S13 Silvia, with a thin grille that joins two slender lighting units. The oblong headlights also recall the ones from the R32 and R33-generation Skylines.

The second model. Internally known as Type C, was submitted by Nissan Design International in San Diego. It takes a different approach from its Japanese counterparts, with retractable lights, smoked pillars, and more angular surfacing on the whole.

The final one was designated Type F. At first glance, it appears to be a clean break from the Z lineage, but there are a few elements that link it to the older models. The tail light arrangement, for instance, puts a twist on the traditional setup. The brake lights are up top, the turn indicators are at the bottom, and the reverse lights are closest to the center. This model also had an S13-inspired panel in between the headlights that was removed from the production car. Designers also color-keyed the thin bumper guard to the rest of the body and broke up the mass of the thick black divider directly under it.

The mechanicals would also be a departure from previous Z cars. Nissan initially wanted to use an entirely new engine. The VH45 V8 caught their eye for a moment, but they decided to go in a different direction. After all of their options, they decided to overhaul the outgoing VG engine. Make no mistake; the refreshed power plant would be a different beast entirely.

It featured new camshafts, pistons, and connecting rods, and would also make use of Nissan’s NVTC valve timing technology. The naturally aspirated VG30DE made more horsepower than the turbocharged Z31. The turbocharged VG30DETT had another significant difference from its predecessor. Instead of using one single turbocharger, the engine made use of two smaller units. Nissan took this approach in an effort to reduce turbo lag and increase responsiveness. A version of this engine was used in the MID4-II concept vehicle, where it made 322 horsepower. It was a bit less potent in this application, though a figure of 300 horsepower was still plenty impressive for the late 1980s. The automatic version was detuned further to 280 horsepower.

The body and chassis were also improved. Thanks in no small part to a Cray Supercomputer, they were able to improve the bending rigidity by 35 percent and the 20 percent improvement in torsional rigidity. To really illustrate the structural improvements, Nissan was able to make the T-top variant stronger than the previous generation coupe.

The Z32 also used Nissan’s HICAS 4-wheel steering system. It used both mechanical and computerized methods to work out how the rear wheels moved.

Previous generations of the Z were benchmarked against the competition in terms of practicality and NVH. For Project UZ, they compared it to segment leaders in terms of performance. It was the first Nissan to have an overseas testing program. They set it against the Porsche 924 and 968 on the Autobahn and Nurburgring in Germany. In America, it was compared to the Chevrolet Corvette. The test program required three years, 190 prototypes, and well over a million test miles, but it was finally ready to ship.

The new Nissan 300ZX was unveiled at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show. They were hoping to make a splash here, but it probably would have been in their best interest to select another event. Japanese heavyweights in the Acura NSX and Mazda MX-5 debuted here as well. It still managed to garner a fair bit of attention.

The naturally aspirated model went on sale in May of 1989 at a starting price of $27,300. The 2+2 came in July and could be had for $28,500. The range-topping turbocharged variant began at $33,000. This would equate to just under $80,000 in today’s money. It was certainly a pretty penny, but for one of the best-performing cars in its segment, the price isn’t completely ridiculous.

It also went on sale in the United Kingdom in April of 1990 but with a catch. Buyers here would only be able to purchase it in its turbocharged 2+2 guise. With only 375 examples earmarked for the market, they weren’t expecting it to sell in large quantities here.

Road and Track had an early look at the car at the company’s test facility in Tochigi and published its findings in the March 1989 issue. They absolutely gushed about it and declared that the Z32 was a return to form for the model line. Its exterior design and technology suite impressed them, though its performance was arguably its strongest attribute. The going power of the base model impressed them, though the turbocharged model made it seem tame by comparison.

A more thorough test took place in August. They continued to shower on the praise here as well, with them calling it one of the most compelling offerings to appear on the American market in years. Interior ergonomics and instrument placement continued to be high marks, though they did have a bone to pick with the automatic climate control system. Even then, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Manual controls were standard and they predicted that those would be more cooperative.

In February of 1990, it was placed against the Chevrolet Corvette. Both cars did well during track testing at Grattan Raceway in Michigan. The Corvette had a slight edge here. It was quite neutral while the ZX had a tendency to understeer. Nissan did what it could to mitigate the turbo lag, but it simply wasn’t as responsive as its rival’s naturally aspirated 8-cylinder engine. The Corvette recorded a lap time of 1:38, which was about a second faster than the Nissan. It couldn’t have solely been attributed to the power, as the import had a 50 horsepower advantage.

It made up a bit of ground during the instrumented tests. Awkward gearing let the Corvette down during its 0-60 sprints and top-speed trials. The ZX also had the highest salom speed they’d ever recorded. Its lead widened even further during day-to-day driving. Testers took issue with the interior layout, outward visibility, and entry and exit. Road manners on less-than-optimal surfaces also left something be desired. The Z didn’t get off scot-free either. Several build quality issues emerged over the course of their testing. The first example that they got their hands on had boost issues. The second one arrived to them with loose brake calipers. And the third was the worst of them all. First, an 18-inch piece of interior trim fell off. Then its heater broke. Lastly, a concerning blue haze spilled out of the exhaust tips. Even with these quality concerns in mind, the Z still won in a convincing fashion.

It faced off against another sports car in August of 1991. The Dodge Stealth had been recently introduced and had some serious potential to make some noise in the segment. On paper, the cars were quite similar to one another. Both of them had twin-turbocharged 3-liter V6 engines that made 300 horsepower. They also had antilock brakes, four-wheel steering, and trick suspensions. This bout would all come down to execution.

Driving dynamics in both cars were pleasant during their two-day excursion in Ohio. Testers had a few quips with the Stealth’s sight lines and instrument placement, but aside from that, they were neck and neck with each other. On the Proving Grounds, the stark differences between the two came to the surface. The Z was precise and communicative on the track. At times, the Stealth felt disconnected from its front wheels. They attributed this to its full-time all-wheel drive setup. Again, the Z did just enough to add another head-to-head victory to its belt.

A golden age in motoring history was upon us, and a 1993 roundup would show where the 300ZX ranked among its rivals. It already bested the Corvette in an earlier test, and the Stealth’s platform sibling was also present in the Mitsubishi 3000GT. It wouldn’t be easy for the Nissan, though, as a pair of hotly anticipated sports coupes would give it everything it could handle. Mazda’s latest rotary-powered wonder was already garnering acclaim from the press and public alike. Journalists were also eager to see how the Toyota Supra stacked up. This particular test was the first American road test of a production example. And to spice things up, they threw in the facelifted Porsche 968.

The Mitsubishi came in fifth place, with the publication citing its weight and compromised ergonomics as the main reasons for the result. Porsche’s front-engine sports coupe shared real estate with it at the bottom of the standings. They felt it was a tasteful package overall, but its spotty build quality and eye-watering $47,000 as-tested price undid it in the end. The Corvette had a strong showing considering it was overdue for an update.

In terms of sheer agility, the bright yellow RX7 was in a class of its own. Keeping the boost on proved a bit of a challenge, however, and they were also concerned about the long-term reliability of its 13B engine.

Nearly four years after its introduction, the 300ZX remained one of the strongest offerings in its class. One rider that stepped into the car after driving the 3000GT likened it to swapping out a pair of hiking boots for running shoes. The areas that kept it from the top position were its grip and visibility. It placed second to last in the 70-0 emergency braking test and tied for last in the road holding trial. It was just one point behind the Supra. That car had a dominant showing on Willow Springs Raceway, but for as exemplary of a performer as it was, the Toyota was an equally effective daily driver. With such a slim margin of victory, Nissan was in a prime position to take back control of the segment.

They managed to build about 22,000 units in the United States and roughly 42,000 units globally through the end of its first year of sale. Those numbers seem right in line for a new Z car. Nissan built 44,000 S130s and 36,000 Z31s in their initial runs. It wasn’t until the second year that they really hit their stride. Considering the Z32s’ upmarket push, an increase of that magnitude wasn’t likely to be in the cards. Still, they hoped that this would be the start of another successful generation of their sports car.

Soaring costs made it difficult for the car to maintain its momentum. The base price for the 1991 model year in the United States rose to $28,175 while the turbo model increased to $34,570. These numbers went up by approximately $2,000 the following year. Sales in this market totaled just under 17,000 in ‘91 and 11,000 in 1992.

Nissan tried to resurrect that initial spark by unveiling a convertible variant in Japan in August of that year. The American Sunroof Company handled the conversion. The car was based on the 2-seater and utilized a basket-style roll bar for rigidity and safety purposes. It also used a pop-up wind deflector. Key stiffness was naturally going to take a hit. To shore some of this up, they used redesigned soils and incorporated thicker sheet metal wherever possible. ASC used 37 reinforced panels in total. The inevitable weight penalty was also softened through the use of aluminum in the trunk lid, storage compartment cover, and soft top linkage mechanics.

This wasn’t the only open-top proposal that ASC submitted. A hardtop convertible surfaced in 1992 in Geneva. The company wanted to show that it could be viably produced. As such, it utilized production-spec materials and tolerances. They also worked some packaging wizardry by retaining the back seats. ASC and Nissan spent close to 800,000 on the project, but in the end, the automaker shelved the whole thing. They were able to talk Mitsubishi into producing a 3000GT with a similar mechanism, though that remained a niche product at best.

The soft top 300ZX made some significant compromises. For one thing, it was about 200 pounds heavier than the fixed-head coupe. It was also only available with the base 222 horsepower V6. All of this taken with its steep $37,000 asking price made the 300ZX a tough sell to most buyers. As for the rest of the lineup, the standard model went up to $30,500 while the turbo rose to $37,655.

1992 was not a particularly good year for Nissan. According to a 1993 New York Times article, the company lost $480 million. The main culprit was an unfavorable exchange rate between the dollar and the yen, which made its offerings as a whole more expensive and less appealing. Cars like the 300ZX were especially affected by the bursting bubble. That Times article also speculated that the next-generation model would move downmarket and could possibly debut in either 1994 or 1995.

The outlook of the current model was murky at best. In 1994, Nissan discontinued it in the United Kingdom because of incoming emissions regulations. They didn’t believe it was worth it to amend the issue for a market where it wasn’t particularly popular to begin with.

The line soldered on in the States, though at a price of 33,700 for the base model and $41,000 for the convertible, its potential customer base was only going to get smaller. Global production plummeted to 6,790, and roughly 4,800 of them were set for the American market. Sales in its home market fell to a bit over 1,800 that year as well.

1995 came and went without any news on a potential successor, and the only change the Z32 saw here was in regard to its price. The entry point rose to about $35,000. 1996 turned out to be its final year on the market. Nissan pointed to side-impact legislation as the main reason for its exit, but barring a significant update, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Japanese performance cars of this vintage were destined to wither away around the turn of the millennium. Mazda stopped importing the RX-7 to the market a year earlier. Toyota and Mitsubishi ceased sales of their flagship cars in 1999. The final US-spec 300ZX was added to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

After Nissan withdrew the model from down under, it was offered solely in Japan. 1999 saw its final notable update. This included a redesigned front end, a reworked rear spoiler, and modified rear lights. The convertible was also dropped from the lineup. This redesigned model was also not long for this world. Nissan discontinued it the following year, meaning that for the first time since Nixon was in the Oval Office, the company didn’t have a Z car in its lineup anywhere. And with Nissan’s continued financial difficulties, there was reason to believe that there wouldn’t be one ever again.

SOURCES

The Nissan 300ZX Was The Last True Z Car

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