The 240Z, known in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z, was introduced to the American market in 1970. It was conceived by Yutaka Katayama, president of Nissan's US operations, and designed by a team led by Yoshihiko Matsuo. The car used a 2.4-litre inline-six engine designated L24, with a cast-iron block and aluminium head, producing 151 hp at 5,600 rpm in SAE gross terms. Four-wheel independent suspension — MacPherson struts at the front, Chapman struts at the rear — distinguished it from similarly priced European sports cars of the era that retained rear live axles.
The bodyshell was a steel monocoque two-seat coupé with a long bonnet and a distinctive fastback roofline. Kerb weight in standard form was low enough to allow a quoted 0-60 mph time of around 8.0 seconds and a top speed of approximately 125 mph.
To prepare the Z for Group 4 racing and to homologate it for competition, Nissan released the Japan-only HS30-H Fairlady 240ZG in October 1971. Differences from the standard export 240Z included an extended fibreglass aerodynamic nose, wider over-fenders riveted to the bodywork, a rear spoiler, acrylic headlight covers, and fender-mounted rear-view mirrors. The ZG's aerodynamic improvements raised its top speed to 210 km/h, five more than the standard car. Although not sold outside Japan, Nissan made the nose kit available as a dealer option in the United States for those wishing to replicate the ZG specification, and such cars are commonly referred to as 240ZGs outside Japan.
A further Japan-only competition variant, the Z432R, was built on the Z432's S20 twin-cam engine. To reduce weight, sheet steel was made 0.2 mm thinner than standard, the bonnet was fibreglass, and all glass except the windscreen was replaced with acrylic. The result was a 100 kg weight saving over the Z432. Fewer than 50 Z432Rs are believed to have been built.
In 1973 Shekhar Mehta drove a 240Z to victory at the East African Safari Rally, one of the most gruelling events on the international rally calendar, demanding extreme mechanical durability over thousands of kilometres of rough African roads. The victory demonstrated the inherent strength of the S30 platform and brought Datsun significant international recognition at a time when Japanese manufacturers were establishing themselves as serious competitors in global motorsport.
In SCCA competition during the 1970s the 240Z was highly successful. Brock Racing Enterprises, based on the west coast, ran John Morton in a number-46 240Z to the SCCA C Production national title in 1970 and 1971. On the east coast, Bob Sharp Racing in Wilton, Connecticut fielded cars driven by Sharp himself, Elliot Forbes-Robinson, and later Paul Newman. Don Kearney from Clearwater, Florida also achieved considerable success with the Z-car between 1970 and 1978.
Nissan's championship run in SCCA continued decades later: in 2013 Greg Ira won the organisation's 97th national championship in his orange RevTech-sponsored 240Z in SCCA's E Production class, having set road-course records at circuits including Road America, Sebring, and Daytona International Speedway. Ira was awarded the prestigious Kimberly Cup in 2008. He added a second championship in 2015.
The 240Z's rally and racing success mattered to Nissan beyond the results themselves. As a halo car it helped reposition Japanese manufacturers in global markets, demonstrating that cars from Japan could compete on performance grounds with European sports cars from Jaguar, BMW, and Porsche. Its growing dealer network in the United States — and the motorsport victories that accompanied it — helped legitimise Datsun with a generation of enthusiast buyers who might otherwise have looked only to Europe.
The S30 series was replaced by the Nissan S130 for the 1979 model year, but the 240Z's reputation has proved durable: a 1970 Z432R sold at auction in Japan in January 2020 for a record equivalent of approximately US$837,000.