Nissan to bring 4 historic cars to Z Car Convention in Atlanta

It’s a year shy of the 50th anniversary of the original Z car, the 1969

Datsun

240Z two-seater, but

Nissan

will reach back farther than that in displaying some of its iconic vehicles and

sports cars

as the 31st annual International Z Car Convention kicks off Tuesday in Atlanta.

Nissan

will display four of its vintage cars: a 1960

Datsun

1200 Sedan, a 1960 Datsun Fairlady Roadster, a 1965 Datsun 320 Truck and the No. 83 Nissan GTP-ZX

Turbo

, the 1988-89 IMSA Championship race car. Also appearing during the five-day festivities will be

motorsports

legends Peter Brock of

Australia

and American John Morton, plus Yoshihiko Matsuo, the designer of the original 240Z.

The 1200 Sedan was the first Datsun introduced to the U.S., originally unveiled at the

L.A. Auto Show

as the 1000 Sedan. It used the same platform as the

Datsun 1200 Pickup truck

and sold 146 units from 1959-1960 as the 1000 and 1,318 as the 1200. It featured a 1,189-cc inline-four — the model’s name echoed its approximate engine displacement — making 47 horsepower and 60 pound-feet of torque mated to a four-speed column-shift manual transmission.

The

Fairlady

was the forerunner of the Z car line, and the convertible was the first

sports car

Datsun exported to the U.S. from Japan, using the same engine as the 1200 Sedan. It was based on the Datsun 223 truck and was reportedly named in reference to the Broadway musical “My Fair Lady.”

Datsun built the compact 320 from 1961 through 1965 as the second generation of truck exported to the U.S. Its engine — again, with the identical displacement — was upgraded to an

advertised

60 hp and 67 lb-ft. of torque, Nissan says its “low 4.88 gearing made motoring above 60 mph impractical.” It featured a torsion bar independent front suspension, replacing the solid beam axle found on earlier truck models.

Jumping ahead a couple of decades, the Nissan GTP-ZX Turbo used a racing-modified version of the turbocharged V6 engine found in the Nissan 300ZX. It went on to become the first car to defeat the

Porsche

962 and win the Constructor’s Championship in 1989, 1990 and 1991.

The ZCON runs Oct. 16-20.

More information is here

.