Driving a Datsun 240Z

That's me on the right.

Looking at this picture you may notice the juxtaposition of old and new driving technology. The black car on the left is a 2012 Audi R8 with the 5.2 litre and a six-speed manual transmission. It will only set you back about $120,000 depending on how well you equip it. The car on the right is a 1973 Datsun (Nissan) 240Z. This car has never been out of Arizona (it was purchased brand new for $4,050 at West Valley Datsun about 8 miles from where this picture was taken. Over the course of my lifetime as an amateur race driver, auto mechanic and faithful lover of cars I have had the opportunity to own and or operate a huge variety of automobiles, trucks and even the occasional tank (an M60 for the US Army). During this same period automobiles have undergone a myriad of changes, mostly involving the technology. The ancient Datsun will pull .98 Gs on a skid pad which is only very slightly less that the awe-inspiring Audi. The Audi will hit a top speed of 155 mph (limited by a computer, it will go considerably faster with only a change of computer chips) while the Datsun will only do about 137. The Audi has so many computerized assists to control wheel-spin  stability and turning radius that it will drive itself at ridiculous speeds even with a beginning driver behind the wheel. The Datsun requires a driver that knows how to "heel and toe" the brake and throttle when downshifting into a turn. The Datsun has no ABS so if you slam on the brakes it WILL go into a skid and the rack and pinion steering is so responsive that even the slightest twitch of the wheel during the skid will spin you out. Both cars are perfectly balanced with a 50/50 front to rear weight distribution. The Audi has a wonderful stereo that can only be overwhelmed by engine noise if your foot is flat to the floor. The Datsun sounds like a mid-sixties Ferrari minus the steroids so the stereo can barely be heard at any speed above 60 mph.

I have to tell you that the experience of these cars says much about what we have given up by allowing our sports cars to become computerized cars that operate at the behest of 100s of thousands of lines of code that determine how much power is put down to the road, how fast the wheels respond to the input of the steering wheel and even alter shock absorbers thousands of times a second to respond to road conditions. In the Datsun you decide how the car is tuned and for what type of driving and you are stuck with this regardless of weather and road conditions. But driving the 240Z reminded me of just how much fun REALLY driving a car was!

There is a stereo in the 240Z, it is almost always doing nothing more than telling me the time. I will find any excuse to use the car to do a chore that demands going somewhere in a car. It is a car that makes the trip the entire point of driving anywhere.

I hear lots of car people talking about cars that will go over 200 mph. Some, like a Corvette, cost less than $100,000. Having a modern supercar is a statement by people that can . . . they do. But most of these cars are stuck driving in a Miami traffic jam, parked in a London snowbank or gathering dust between cleanings in someone's garage. When I was a mechanic I used to get Ferraris that ran bad and had less than a thousand miles per YEAR put on the odometer. Quite often the only fix I really needed to do to the car was an oil change and a few hot laps at PIR and it would go back to the customer purring like a kitten. My Datsun has almost 200,000 miles on it as of this writing. It still runs like a brand new car and gets an honest 24 mpg on the highway. Yes there are a lot of cars today that get better fuel mileage but think about this . . . my Datsun was paid off 37 years ago. The engine, transmission and rear-end were rebuilt to new for a bit over $3000. Other than that it has been oil, spark plugs, brake pads and shoes (Yes! I did say shoes) and all those other little things that were needed to keep an old-fashioned car on the road (most will also be needed by the new car). I do my own maintenance (replaced the starter this morning in less than 15 minutes for less than $50!). When you drive the car you smile, it makes you happy. The feeling of a perfect downshift on a curving mountain road is every bit as rewarding as the one you get from the Audi, or the Ferrari, and you get the additional satisfaction of having done it yourself.

So what really makes a car a sports car. Top speed, handling, being expensive, having enormous tires, a huge engine or maybe lots of different gears in the transmission? I would argue that it is NONE of those things. A sports car is any car that you drive for the pleasure of driving, any car that inspires the driver to improve their skills at cutting the apex of a corner or learning how to feather the brakes to the shortest stop. Yes, that Audi is a sports car if the driver experiences these things when driving it but just because you don't have the money to afford a supercar is no reason to think you can't have a sports car. Turn off your radio and pay attention to your car when it is moving. Does it talk to you? If so then you ARE driving a sports car, if not then find something that does or admit that you don't care.

My father was a professional driver, he taught me to drive in a 1965 Turbo Corvair. It most certainly was a sports car! So was my 1967 Olds 442, the 1959 Peerless GT and the lowly 1975 Toyota Corolla SR5 with the 1600cc Hemi under the hood!