We don’t often ask you to pick a favorite JDM vehicle, do we? No, we don’t. But if the day comes that we do, we fully suspect that the S30 chassis Nissan will be on the list. Known better in the States as the Datsun 240Z, this was the first import car that I can remember every family member I grew up with universally praising. They looked good, they ran good, they handled good, and hell, they even had decent fuel economy too. Nearly fifty-odd years on, the Z-car is still a hell of a thing. Yutaka Katayama knew full-well how to read Americans. Between the Datsun 510 and the Z-car, he gave Nissan the best possible chance of making it in the U.S. market. I’ll say that the L20-series six-cylinder is something to behold on it’s own, having experienced the potential of one that had been swapped into a Datsun 620 pickup truck, and I’ll say that the dimensions of a 240Z are just about ideal for a sporty car with a handling bend. Shame the last S30 I had my hands on was somewhere between a cheap Craigslist score and Roadkill’s “Rotsun” in overall shape.

Marty and Moog of Mighty Car Mods recently got their hands on a Fairlady Z (the Japanese home market name) and had it shipped to Australia after driving it in Japan. The car hauled tail around Suzuka, but when it came time to be imported, the engine, transmission and brakes all had to be gutted out of the car due to Australia’s anti-asbestos importation laws. That meant that when the Z finally showed up at the guy’s shop, it was only a roller…a pretty one, but a roller nonetheless. That means it’s time to build, and with buddies being roped in to help, the Fairlady will scream again, this time with the aid of a RB26 mill liberated from a Skyline. The guys are doing this build up properly, converting the block to work in the S30’s chassis while cleaning up typical old-car issues like corrosion and such. Check out the first two installments below!