HLS30 00008 Hot Wheels to be released

[wavemux]

One of our club members who is the owner of HLS30 00008 has just had the honor of having his car officially released by Hot Wheels!

Zccr Zcarclubofrochester's Photos | Facebook

[Mike]

Awesome!! I re-shared this on our Facebook page too. Where can I pick up a few of these hot wheels?

[TomoHawk]

But aren't all of the early Hls30s basically the same? It's special to be selected in any case.

[Kurbycar32]

Im not sure there is a higher honor for being a car-guy.

[TomoHawk]

What about being the car in a Playmate photo set?

[TomoHawk]

Wavemix-

What's the story behind this, anyway? Was it a contest, or just a lucky coincidence? Do you have any details about the model car? Will it be the matchbox-type, or will it be more like a 1:10 scale diecast thing?

[wavemux]

TomoHawk:

Link to the details is in the first post

Kurbycar32:
I agree, no higher honor! The owner (who is also one of our club board members) has been teasing us for about a month about a "surprise" announcement. I thought he was going to announce he found car 00007 but, I dare say that this is much cooler!

[george71z]

Hate to rain on your parade, but I thought # 13 was the lowest # Z out there. The first 12 were Nissan show cars and factory mules, IIRC. Bob Sharp had one of those that got the roof dented by a model at a car show. Please correct me if I'm in error.

[TomoHawk]

There is a thread about #0002 here somewhere.

[wavemux]

Hate to rain on your parade, but I thought # 13 was the lowest # Z out there. The first 12 were Nissan show cars and factory mules, IIRC. Bob Sharp had one of those that got the roof dented by a model at a car show. Please correct me if I'm in error.

2 of our club members own the lowest VIN HLS30s known to exist ( car 00006 and 00008). These have a very well documented race history and there is quite a bit of info on this site (and others) regarding both of these vehicles. Car 00007 is out there "somewhere".

There is a thread on this forum regarding car 00002 but there is some question as to what it really is (it appears to be a right hand drive model)

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/z...30-0002-a.html

[TomoHawk]

Too bad this model is a small one. I've been looking for a 1:10th scale diecast to finish my collection of significant sportscars.

[Carl Beck]

Hate to rain on your parade, but I thought # 13 was the lowest # Z out there. The first 12 were Nissan show cars and factory mules, IIRC. Bob Sharp had one of those that got the roof dented by a model at a car show. Please correct me if I'm in error.

HLS30 00013 is the lowest VIN Datsun 240Z released for sale to the public, that we know of at this time. That is supported by some Factory Documents as well.

HLS30 00012 down to HLS30 00009 - are at this point MIA - so not accounted for. Rumor was that they went to Canada for extended cold weather testing...but who knows?

FWIW,
Carl B.

[HS30-H]

HLS30 00013 is the lowest VIN Datsun 240Z released for sale to the public, that we know of at this time. That is supported by some Factory Documents as well.

Point of order: If we are talking 'Datsun 240Z' and concentrating purely on "lowest VIN released for sale to the public", then the RHD HS30-prefixed 'Datsun 240Z' export market variants would be in with a good shout to claim the low VIN bingo prize: HS30-00003, HS30-00004, HS30-00005, HS30-00006, HS30-00007, HS30-00008, HS30-00009, HS30-00010, HS30-00011, HS30-00012 and HS30-00013 were all - according to Nissan - sold to the general public.

I've seen the VIN tag ( and firewall-engraved chassis number ) of HS30-00013 hanging on the notice board of a friend's garage....

S30 and PS30-prefixed chassis numbers lower than 00013 were also sold to the general public in Japan.

S30-00002 was almost certainly a factory 'mule' of some sort, used for testing / experimentation / instruction, and never originally intended to be sold to the general public.

HLS30 00012 down to HLS30 00009 - are at this point MIA - so not accounted for. Rumor was that they went to Canada for extended cold weather testing...but who knows?

I can't help thinking that this Canadian "extended cold weather testing" thing was actually the 'Kaku-U' North American 'test' ( publicity tour ) itself, and not another trip based on it or an extension of the original trip. Is it not more likely that the two things are one and the same? It seems to make more sense to me.

First of all, it was a bit late in the day to be doing any real testing ( this would have been late 1969, and the start of production was already underway ) and Nissan had already been conducting extended cold weather tests up in Hokkaido, Japan. It's not like Japan is short of cold weather in the winter months....