I have a dumb question!?!
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From: Baltimore/DC Area
I have a dumb question!?!
Ok, I really feel stupid for asking this and I hope you guys are nice on any blows you may attempt to take but I have to ask this question. I have never owned a Z prior to now so I'm not familiar with certain corporate sponsored companys like "Nismo" until now but what is "FairladyZ"? I hear people refer to this name all the time and it annoys me to no end of not knowing what that is and being an owner of a Z. I also have no idea what "Veilside" is or means either. I apologize in advace for my stupidity.
Eddie
Eddie
The Z car in the US is called Fairlady in Japan. The name comes from the movie My Fair Lady and is ment to invoke the strength and beauty of the movie.
NISMO is NISsan MOtorsports and is Nissan's performance tuner company. Exactly like SVO for Ford and TRD for Toyota. Currently NISMO isn't direct marketed by Nissan in the US although there are several companies that import NISMO products. Starting in spring of 2003 this will change and NISMO parts will be sold and in some cases warrenteed throught Nissan dealers (or so they tell us).
Veilside is an aftermarket parts mfr that is best know (at least to me) for their radical body kits. Their Z kit is the least radical of any I have ever seen. Most of their kits have a similar style, but the Z kit is very different (for them anyway).
Hope this helps.
NISMO is NISsan MOtorsports and is Nissan's performance tuner company. Exactly like SVO for Ford and TRD for Toyota. Currently NISMO isn't direct marketed by Nissan in the US although there are several companies that import NISMO products. Starting in spring of 2003 this will change and NISMO parts will be sold and in some cases warrenteed throught Nissan dealers (or so they tell us).
Veilside is an aftermarket parts mfr that is best know (at least to me) for their radical body kits. Their Z kit is the least radical of any I have ever seen. Most of their kits have a similar style, but the Z kit is very different (for them anyway).
Hope this helps.
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Originally posted by Thunderbolt
Ford was SVO in the early to mid 80's but went to SVT when they came out with the F150 Lighting and new Cobra.
Ford was SVO in the early to mid 80's but went to SVT when they came out with the F150 Lighting and new Cobra.
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More detailed story on how the Fairlady name came about and how it didn't make it to the US.
The Short Story:
Fairlady - The name given to the first line of sports cars designed and built by Nissan Motors Japan after W.W.II, with the specific intent of being marketed in the USA - 1960.
The name "Fairlady" was given to the new sports car line by Mr. Katsuji Kawamata, President Of Nissan Motors Japan, after he attended the Broadway Musical "My Fair Lady" while visiting the US in 1958. He felt that the name would invoke an image of beauty for the car - because people would think of the beauty of the music and the leading lady in that Broadway Musical.
This is a common and accepted practice within the Japanese culture for selecting automotive names. It is not a usual cultural method here in the US however - so Nissan more commonly used engine size and model numbers as Model Names for the US market. (Note: There are also minor differences in many cases related to engine sizes, safety and emissions equipment between the Japanese home market models (Fairlady Z's) that those exported to other countries)
The More Complete Story: The SPL212 was introduced in 1960. It was a two passenger car with a 1.2Liter four cycl. engine ( 2 12). The "S" stood for Sport, the "P" was the designation for the Bluebird chassis, and the "L" stood for left hand drive. It is significant to note that "L" left hand drive cars could not be sold in Japan at that time. Thus Nissan's first Sports Car was specifically designed and intended solely for the US market.
To understand why the name "Fairlady" was given to a Sports Car, one has to think in terms of the Japanese culture, rather than that of the America culture. The Japanese revere traditions of Art, Music, Philosophy and the study of Beauty. All of these cultural values are considered to be acquired tastes and skills, gained over a lifetime, through personal study and practice.
Here in the US we place a much higher cultural value on personal creativity. Art and Music are considered to be more a matter of inspiration, personal expression and creativity. We therefore place a higher value on personal creativity and expression, than the resulting traditions of the art or music.
While Mr. Katsuji Kawamata, the President of Nissan Motors of Japan Ltd., was visiting the United States in 1958 he attended a performance, on-Broadway, of the hit musical "My Fair Lady".
A couple of years later (1960), when Nissan was about to introduce its new Sports Car Line, Mr. Kawamata gave it the official name of "Fairlady". He had been so impressed with the beauty of the music and the leading lady in that Broadway Musical, that he thought everyone would relate the name of Nissans new sports car "the Fairlady" to the beauty of the music and the leading lady in the play. Indeed, that is what happened in Japan, the name made perfect sense there and was readily accepted in that market.
The Fairlady Sport Car line continued to evolve through the 1960's with the introduction of the Fairlady 1500 in Oct. of 1962, then the Fairlady 1600 in 1965. Along with this evolution of its product lines, Nissan Motors was attempting to increase it's exports to the US Market.
Mr. Yutaka Kayatama, then President of Nissan Motors USA, knew that his customers would not accept the name "Fairlady" for a Sports Car here in the USA, so the Sales and Marketing departments in the US had used the cars model numbers for the most part, in advertising and sales promotion, and with the introduction of the new models for 1965 the badging on the front fenders was changed, on the US cars, from "Fairlady" to "Datsun 1600".
When the new S30 "Fairlady Z" was designed and built for the US Market (as the HLS30) - Mr. Katayama suggested that it not be badged as the "Fairlady' in the US. Mr. K. thought that the car should be named something more aggressive, like "Tiger" or "Shark" in keeping with US cultural traditions and values. That idea having been turned down in Japan, he was willing to accept "Datsun 240-Z". The 240 was a shortened version of the 2400cc engine displacement, and the "Z", which had been the new car's product file designation within Nissan's Design Department.
Mr. Teiichi Hara, General Manager of Design Department No. 2, had given the original sports car plans the file designation "Type Z", as most all of the other characters in the roman alphabet had been previously used. (I suppose that the roman alphabet is used in Japan for alphabetic filing systems ie. alphabetical order.) -Z-
Fairlady - The name given to the first line of sports cars designed and built by Nissan Motors Japan after W.W.II, with the specific intent of being marketed in the USA - 1960.
The name "Fairlady" was given to the new sports car line by Mr. Katsuji Kawamata, President Of Nissan Motors Japan, after he attended the Broadway Musical "My Fair Lady" while visiting the US in 1958. He felt that the name would invoke an image of beauty for the car - because people would think of the beauty of the music and the leading lady in that Broadway Musical.
This is a common and accepted practice within the Japanese culture for selecting automotive names. It is not a usual cultural method here in the US however - so Nissan more commonly used engine size and model numbers as Model Names for the US market. (Note: There are also minor differences in many cases related to engine sizes, safety and emissions equipment between the Japanese home market models (Fairlady Z's) that those exported to other countries)
The More Complete Story: The SPL212 was introduced in 1960. It was a two passenger car with a 1.2Liter four cycl. engine ( 2 12). The "S" stood for Sport, the "P" was the designation for the Bluebird chassis, and the "L" stood for left hand drive. It is significant to note that "L" left hand drive cars could not be sold in Japan at that time. Thus Nissan's first Sports Car was specifically designed and intended solely for the US market.
To understand why the name "Fairlady" was given to a Sports Car, one has to think in terms of the Japanese culture, rather than that of the America culture. The Japanese revere traditions of Art, Music, Philosophy and the study of Beauty. All of these cultural values are considered to be acquired tastes and skills, gained over a lifetime, through personal study and practice.
Here in the US we place a much higher cultural value on personal creativity. Art and Music are considered to be more a matter of inspiration, personal expression and creativity. We therefore place a higher value on personal creativity and expression, than the resulting traditions of the art or music.
While Mr. Katsuji Kawamata, the President of Nissan Motors of Japan Ltd., was visiting the United States in 1958 he attended a performance, on-Broadway, of the hit musical "My Fair Lady".
A couple of years later (1960), when Nissan was about to introduce its new Sports Car Line, Mr. Kawamata gave it the official name of "Fairlady". He had been so impressed with the beauty of the music and the leading lady in that Broadway Musical, that he thought everyone would relate the name of Nissans new sports car "the Fairlady" to the beauty of the music and the leading lady in the play. Indeed, that is what happened in Japan, the name made perfect sense there and was readily accepted in that market.
The Fairlady Sport Car line continued to evolve through the 1960's with the introduction of the Fairlady 1500 in Oct. of 1962, then the Fairlady 1600 in 1965. Along with this evolution of its product lines, Nissan Motors was attempting to increase it's exports to the US Market.
Mr. Yutaka Kayatama, then President of Nissan Motors USA, knew that his customers would not accept the name "Fairlady" for a Sports Car here in the USA, so the Sales and Marketing departments in the US had used the cars model numbers for the most part, in advertising and sales promotion, and with the introduction of the new models for 1965 the badging on the front fenders was changed, on the US cars, from "Fairlady" to "Datsun 1600".
When the new S30 "Fairlady Z" was designed and built for the US Market (as the HLS30) - Mr. Katayama suggested that it not be badged as the "Fairlady' in the US. Mr. K. thought that the car should be named something more aggressive, like "Tiger" or "Shark" in keeping with US cultural traditions and values. That idea having been turned down in Japan, he was willing to accept "Datsun 240-Z". The 240 was a shortened version of the 2400cc engine displacement, and the "Z", which had been the new car's product file designation within Nissan's Design Department.
Mr. Teiichi Hara, General Manager of Design Department No. 2, had given the original sports car plans the file designation "Type Z", as most all of the other characters in the roman alphabet had been previously used. (I suppose that the roman alphabet is used in Japan for alphabetic filing systems ie. alphabetical order.) -Z-
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