Just got back from the San Diego Convention Center, where I managed to sneak into the Nissan dealer's conference. I found an open door, hooked my work badge onto my pants (which looks quite official), then blazenly walked by about 20 executives, thru the middle of the dimly-lit floor (they were still setting up) and gazed at a PP White Touring AT.

About 30 feet away, under bright lights, were a Lemans Sunset Track, Silverstone Performance, and Brickyard Touring w/ Frost Leather. Wow, nice combo, Dr. Bonz will be pleased.

I was only there a minute or two before I was approached by a lady from Nissan who said "Are you with the crew? Who are you with?" I stalled her for a few minutes while I continued to look at the car.

Finally, she said "You can't be in here." I replied with how I preordered a 350Z back in January, and still hadn't seen one in person. She seemed somewhat sympathetic, so I asked if she would take me over and look at the 3 under the bright lights.

She thought for a second, but then said "No, sorry" because of all the executives - she didn't want to get in trouble. Which I said was cool. I still got a really good look at all 4, even if I was only there for like 5-10 minutes total.

Anyways, all the colors looked great, and the car looks awesome in person. Contrary to others, I think with all the pictures out there you get a pretty good idea of what it looks like with one exception: scale. I thought it was going to be much bigger. It's actually quite small - a little wider, but otherwise the same size as my Mercury Cougar. This is not a bad thing, I just thought it would be about 20% bigger. It did not look like a car that is bigger than the 300ZX.

If you're in San Diego, you can try getting in, although it will probably be harder now that they caught one suspicious person. It's at the very end, Rooms G & H, way past Comicon (which is also down there now) towards 10th St / Coronado bridge.

 

Dood that is some sweet recon work! How did you know to even go there? Were these production or pre-production models do you think, and what was the conference for? Awesome!

 

Hahahahaaaa...LOL that is awesome!!!

Looks like RxO was right again...anyone see a pattern here?

 

The 007 award for the day goes to nizl


Glad you got the opportunity and didn't get any grief for your unauthorized observations. Hopefully they won't track you down throught the surveliance video to be sure your Z shows up last!

 

So, anyone up for some fish tacos from the vendors at the port in Los Angeles around, say, August 12th?

 

Good lord guys...if you west coasters aren't camped out on the docks on the 12th, I'm flying to LA and handing out a beat down...I'd be there myself if it wasn't thousands of miles away...maybe I should start driving this weekend!!! Our man down south is handing you the keys...go get 'em!



Ahhahahaaa....NIZL, you play you pay. Looks like you're never getting your Z!

 

Dude you crack me the hell up!!!

Hey do you have any insite on distribution? I sure as hell don't want my car being RR or trucked up from LA. I'm in Seattle and I thought we were a port?

 

Thanks, yeah I never new sneaking into places was so easy. I snuck into Comicon while I was down there too. I gotta try sneaking in more often!!

They looked like production models to me. I looked inside the PPW one, and it looked like what we've seen in pictures. I'm pretty sure these are the same cars we've seen previously, though. So while they looked like the real product, I'm not sure if you'd call them "pre-production" or "early production".

The conference is for all Nissan dealers nationwide. I was talking to the lady as I was being escorted out, and she said it was the big kickoff for all the new products.

Oh yeah, did I mention I saw the Murano too?

Anyways, much props to RxO for the big tip. BTW, RxO, I thought your location used to be Buenos Aires?????

 

The business section of the San Diego paper only listed today's date for the meeting, so I'd assume it's a one-day thing. Usually, if it's multiple days, it's listed as such.

Dave

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's today-only.

 

August 12 is a Monday, I'll be at harbor if anyone wants to join me. RxO, which port are they coming from?

 

According to Scaf, of the ships he's tracking the closest to Aug. 12, is World Spirit due to arrive Aug. 9. Which mean either World spirit has been delayed a few days, or the Zs are on another ship?

 

Next time you need to bring your lapel pin spy camera

 

Awesome website.....this ship can be found using the ww.joc.com website specifying auto as the cargo type and Los Angeles as the port of arrival...then sorting to find the right arrival date via RxO.

What do you guys think?

Voyage Details


Vessel (Type) MOKIHANA (MULTIPURPOSE)
Voyage Number 063E

Carrier (Type) Mitsui O.S.K. (VOCC)

Schedule IMP- GCX

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Services:
Heavy Lift
Reefer Cargo
Containers Supplied
20-ft. Containers
40-ft. Containers


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Departures/Arrivals: (*BOLD Dates Indicate Direct Calls)
Date Point Direction Mode
7/28/2002 (Sun) QINGDAO, PEOPLES REP. of CHINA Departs Ship
7/31/2002 (Wed) BUSAN (PUSAN), SOUTH KOREA Departs Ship
7/31/2002 (Wed) HAKATA, JAPAN Departs Ship
8/2/2002 (Fri) NAGOYA, JAPAN Departs Ship
8/3/2002 (Sat) YOKOHAMA, JAPAN Departs Ship
8/12/2002 (Mon) LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES Arrives Ship
8/15/2002 (Thu) OAKLAND, UNITED STATES Arrives Ship

 

oooohhhh, maybe they will be dropping some off in oakland too! (L.A. is a bit too far to drive for a lunch break)

 

What about east coast ports? I thought I read something about some coming into Jacksonville, Newport News, and NY? Any clues? I'm sure they won't rail or truck cars all the way from the left coast.