Nissan Celebrates Four Decades of Sports Car Leadership With New, Limited Edition 370Z “40th Anniversary” Model

Attention Nissan Dealers!

It’s time to hold a birthday/anniversary party

for all of your Z Owners!

“Forty Years After the Debut of the Original Datsun 240Z,

the Iconic Z® Continues to Capture the Imagination and Passion

of Sports Car Enthusiasts Worldwide”

The 25th anniversary is silver, the 50th is gold. And the 40th?

Another precious metal, or more correctly metal, rubber and glass – the Nissan Z®.

Forty years ago, on October 22, 1969, the Datsun 240Z arrived in North America,

heralding a new era in sports car design.

Where previous sports cars were primarily a.) imported from England or Germany b.) expensive c.) fragile or unreliable or d.) all of the above, the new import from Japan offered the performance of a Porsche, the looks of a Jaguar and the price and reliability of, well, a Nissan. The 240Z was a revelation to the automotive world – an affordable sports car that could be driven every day and was accessible to anyone with the $3,626 base price.

And though the price of a new Z® might have changed a little in the past 40 years, its unmatched value, style, performance and segment leadership remains stronger than ever. To celebrate, Nissan has created a special, limited production version of the current 2010 Nissan 370Z Coupe, the 370Z 40th Anniversary Edition. It will be available at select Nissan dealers nationwide beginning in spring 2010.

The anniversary Z is a 370Z Touring coupe with the six-speed manual transmission and the Sport package–which adds automatic rev-matching to the shift system, a limited-slip differential, bigger brakes and 19-inch Rays forged wheels. Added to that are red leather covered seats and door inserts, red stitching throughout the cabin and a handful of commemorative badges inside and out. Each anniversary Z is painted in “40th Quartz” and comes with a red satin car cover.

The engine is the Z car’s standard issue 332-hp, 3.7-liter V6.

The price? Nissan says we’ll find out next spring. 🙂

Z car milestones

• Oct. 22, 1969: The Datsun 240Z (Nissan Fairlady Z in Japan) goes on sale in the United States.
• 1974: The inline six-cylinder engine grows to 2.6 liters and the name changes to 260Z. A 2+2 model is added.
• 1975: The engine grows to 2.8 liters and the name changes to 280Z.
• 1979: Second-generation 280ZX is introduced.
• 1981: 280ZX Turbo joins the lineup.
• 1984: Nissan launches third-generation 300ZX with 3.0-liter V6.
• 1990: Fourth-generation 300ZX arrives, with 222 hp. 300ZX Turbo follows with 300 hp.
• 1996: Nissan drops Z car from U.S. market.
• 1999: Nissan shows a 240Z concept at the Detroit auto show. But it is rejected for production.
• 2001: Nissan shows a reworked Z Concept at the Detroit auto show. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn says the car will go into production.
• 2003: Fifth-generation 350Z goes on sale with 3.5-liter V6.
• 2008: Sixth-generation 370Z unveiled at Los Angeles auto show.
• 2009: A convertible version of the 370Z goes on sale.