Lately two press release folders of Datsun / Nissan from the years 1982 and 1983 popped up for sale locally. A long term project of mine is documenting the Story of Datsun Switzerland and another work in progress is the story of the Z / ZX in switzerland, so whenever something like this pops up, i try to get hands on it: the sets usually contain a lot of information about the company’s history and sales figures, etc, but also a bunch of press release photos and of course advertizing texts for the latest models. Usually they get released for big events like the annual Geneva Autosalon exhibition, where most…

I try to avoid collecting diecasts, because this is just another rabbithole i would end up in spending way too much money and time on it. But when i recently came accross those Kaido★House Mini GT 240Z / Fairlady Z cars, licenced by Nissan i had to have them. I really loved the styling of the whole thing The two are identical except from the paint scheme (and there are some different colour schemes available at Kaidohouse.com ) The details are quite impressive. with an opening hood with engine inside, rollcage, dashboard, fender mirrors, paint details, KaidoHouse valve cover, etc. and the packing is really high quality. I didn’t expect…

This is one of those stories where you find the cool and rare craftsmen from yesteryear with all the knowhow, experience and some nice stories to tell. A while ago i found a minimalistic ad for Datsun radiators on a local sales platform. I contacted the seller to see if he had somerthing for my Z. He didn’t, but he sent me a list of other Datsun radiators he had. When i saw the “240K-GT” (better known as the GC100 Kenmary skyline) on the list, i immadiately contacted my Datsun Mate Stefan, who is currently restoring a such very rare 240K-GT. He contacted the seller and i agreed to pick…

When this book popped up for sale in a local online auction, i catched my attention. I gave a low bid and was the only one bidding, so i ended up having it in my hands today. Nice score! Meet “Lightning speed – The Nissan GTP & Group C Racecars by John Starkey”: I still have to read it, but flipping though it quickly, i can see it shows the beginning at Electrmotive To the later Group C era. The book covers a lot of technical details with nice inside shots from production shop to the paddocks, test sites and of course all the races. I also love the detailed…

Over the last couple of days, i found a few interesting and some more-or-less rare vintage datsun stickers for sale in switzerland, which i naturally had to get. Some of them are quite regularly sold, but came in a lot, so i had to get all of them. I will try to sell some of the doubles i have. Some of them are new to me and i’ve never seen them before, like the one i got here, on the right side. Datsun Switzerland usually gave a sticker with all new cars, to put on the inside of the window, but i realized the one i’ve got today is slightly…

So, after we left in Part one here, it’s time to finish the work up. After the cleaning, i realized that parts of the sign were a bit dull, so i thought i’d give it a gentle manual polish. Before: Some manual towel polish: Worked out pretty well. Not perfect, but also without looking too worn: Then it was time for the LED retrofit. I decided to remove the old FL-tube inverters, because honestly they looked toast. And out with all the brittle tube mounts, stiff wires, rusty and heavy inverters and the “hot glue” installation and the starters: Here we are with a fully empty canvas: And here’s what…

A few days ago i picked up this Nice old Honda dealer sign without any big plans. I thought to give it a quick wash and hang it somewhere nice on the wall. As usual, the project quickly escalated in a full “restauration”. First i thought i’d take out the Plastic signage covers from the frame, to see the inside, just because i wanted to know how the frame was intended to be attached to the wall, and because i was curious how such a sign generally is constructed. Well, turns out the sign once was lit up inside with not less than 5 FL tubes, despite the fact that…

Just a real short sunday post: When researching for the Honda EK9 / DC2 Recaro Seats i found that RECARO germany has some cool apparel for sale. So i placed an order, which arrived yesterday: Their stuff has oftentimes the vintage Seats design, like the recaro shirt which resembles the cover of some of their iconic oldschool seats and the socks which uses a similar pattern as on some of their older OEM seats. The stuff also comes in a really nice Cardboard box with a vintage vibe to it. Quality is really high, as you’d expect fom a company like Recaro.