Jeffrey and Susan Mader with their 1972 Datsun 240Z. Photos by author.
The Datsun Z, which debuted in the United States in 240Z form in 1970, was the first Japanese sports car that American buyers took seriously. Despite the car’s popularity, few early models have survived the ravages of time, and even fewer have survived in unmodified form. Though restored on several occasions, Jeffrey Mader’s 1972 Datsun 240Z is one such car; to say it looks as good as the day it rolled off the assembly line is a bit of a slight, because, quite frankly, it looks better than that.
Jeffrey’s passion for the 240Z dates to his childhood, when his early sports car dreams were shaped by his father’s 1970 240Z. Over the years, he admits to owning “numerous” examples, including a few that are currently mid-restoration. The star of his collection, however, is a lime green (technically, 112 Yellow) 1972 240 Z that was purchased in 2007, and served as one of the Nissan Vintage Z program cars restored by Pierre’Z Service Center in Hawthorne, California.
The Z has been a long-term part of Nissan’s identity in the United States, and when rising prices and slowing sales killed the 300ZX at the end of the 1996 model year, Nissan assumed the car’s absence would be temporary. An all-new Z-car would arrive in 2002, but to bridge the gap (and remind U.S. customers of Nissan’s heritage), the automaker had a flash of genius: To keep the model fresh in the minds of American customers, it would offer restored 240Zs, complete with 12-month, 12,000-mile limited warranties, for sale though select Nissan dealerships in California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Virginia.
On paper, it was a brilliant plan, but in application it was hurt by several factors. Initially, the quality of the restoration was not up to customer expectations, particularly in light of the Vintage Z’s $24,950 asking price. This was addressed quickly enough, but the cost of refurbishing the cars turned out to be higher than anyone had anticipated, and even with a price increase to $27,500 the venture proved unprofitable for Nissan. While the automaker had initially discussed restoring 200 Datsun 240Zs, in the end the program rebuilt just 37 examples, including two procured by Nissan for its own collections.
Jeffrey’s 1972 240Z was one of the later cars restored in the program, and thus benefits from the knowledge gained on reconstructing earlier 240Zs. Though the 2.4-liter, 151-horsepower, inline-six engine was restored by a shop in Texas as part of the original Nissan-backed program, Jeffrey had it gone through again in 2013; at the same time, the engine bay was repainted in the car’s original color, though the exterior paint remains original to the car’s 1999 restoration. Aside from the period-correct slotted mag wheels (a dealer installed option), the car remains in stock form, with no engine, exhaust, suspension or body modifications, and Jeffrey intends on keeping it that way. It may not be numbers-matching (Nissan made no effort to pair original engines with original chassis during the Vintage Z program), but it certainly is rust-free and in showroom condition.
Jeffrey and his wife, Susan, enjoy the car as much as their schedule allows in the spring, summer and fall, and the couple drove the 240Z to the Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car show from their home in Sudbury, Massachusetts. A friend suggested trailering it, but Jeffrey never entertained the idea for long. “What’s the point of owning a car like this,” he told me, “if you can’t enjoy it on the road?”
