Kanji found when removing a dash

[Zulaytr]

Mikewags and Mike B

I am curious if when you finally got the dash out if you found any Japanese Kanji (script) on the bottom side of it? When I did my dash a couple of years ago I found it in my car. I understand it was common for assembly line personnel to do this. I had mine translated and it meant "Spring Time". Here is picture of it.

I hope everything goes well on the re-install.

[Mike B]

Mikewags and Mike B

I am curious if when you finally got the dash out if you found any Japanese Kanji (script) on the bottom side of it? When I did my dash a couple of years ago I found it in my car. I understand it was common for assembly line personnel to do this. I had mine translated and it meant "Spring Time". Here is picture of it.

I hope everything goes well on the re-install.

Good question. The dash on #32 didn't have any writting on the part that the steering column mounts to, but it did have the number 58 written in red on the right bottom support area. However, I have two other spare early dashes and they both have what appears to be Kanji writting in the steering column support area like yours. The picture with the black marker writting is from a 3/71 car. Its interesting how they apparently made a mistake and crossed it out and then rewrote something again. The picture with the red marker writing is from a 10/70 car. Maybe Kats or someone can help translate.

-Mike

[moonpup]

This reminds me of something I read in a article about an individual at the Chrysler/Plymouth factory that would leave his signature on a panel in the trunk area of certain Mopars.

Could we have had a like minded person in the Nissan plant?

[Poindexter]

Automaker cultural archeology! Yet another fascinating chapter in the life story of these cars.

I have relatives near Portland. They live out in the sticks, playing at being a hippies (does anybody even remember that term? ) , writing and playing music in a 100+ year old barn, and living on caffeine and organic produce, ahem, they grow themselves. And if you'd only add finding and working on classic car barn finds, then it sounds like heaven. It's all about the negative ions in the air during lightning storms.

[Mike B]

Here is another dash with Kanji writting on the steering wheel column support. This one is from an ebay ad that says it came out of a 71, but the hazard switch sticker indent makes me think it is from a 72.

-Mike

[mikewags]

My dash had the word "OK" written on that part of the metal...not sure what that means.

I've finished with the dash repair. It didn't come out perfect, but i was able to seal about 4 or 5 deep cracks that would of continued to spread eventually. The whole process was pretty labor intesive and a real headache. From removing the dash, to filling the cracks and sanding it all down...I would of probably left it alone if I knew it was going to be such a mission.

I would probably suggest others to get a dashcap instead of going through the whole dash removal and repair process. It's very hard to get the finish to come out completely smooth, even with the SEM texture coating...

Will post photos soon!

[HS30-H]

Zulaytr & Mike B,
I have taken the liberty of copying your posted photos, turning them the 'right' way up where necessary, and adding roman alphabet phonetic 'translations' of what I think they say in the hope that it might help us to understand this a little better. Hope that you don't mind.

Zulaytr,
The Kanji on your dash actually reads as less than 'Spring Time'. In fact, it reads "Haru" - which is indeed 'Spring' as in the season of Spring ( Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter in Japanese would be Haru, Natsu, Aki, Fuyu ) but could easily be part of another word or phrase, or even part of somebody's name.........

Unless we saw other examples that identified seasons ( Natsu, Aki & Fuyu ) then I'd hesitate to believe that the Kanji on your dash was reference to a season. If it did, how could that be of use on a production line that was churning thousands of these things out every month?

'Nen' and 'Ne' could easily be two ways of writing the same thing. One is in ( long hand ) Kanji, and one is in ( quicker ) Hiragana, and abbreviated ( ? ). Could they both mean the same thing...... ? Don't know.

Finally, 'Kokoro' or 'Shin' ( could be read both ways ) is Kanji, but seems ambiguous. A more formal Kanji character has been roughly scribbled out. Something has possibly been corrected on the component / sub-assembly?
A rough translation of 'Kokoro' would be 'heart' ( as in the feeling, rather than the organ ) and a rough translation of 'Shin' ( the other possible reading of this Kanji - although it is actually meaningless when used on it's own ) could also be 'Heart', the abstract feeling rather than the thing. It is not the correct Kanji for the similar-sounding 'Shin' meaning 'new' - which could have indicated a shortened form of a person's name..........

And that's what I have wondered about these in the past; Whether they were scribbles signifying the identity of the person who completed them or 'signed them off' - at whatever stage of the process ( could even be just the sheetmetal frame part......... ). Don't know. Some of them don't seem to fit in as possible names or even nicknames.

Interesting that they are situated in a place that is not covered by the vinyl, but is covered by the steering column when the dash is fitted in the car. That must be a clue as to what stage in the manufacturing process these graffitoes were applied, and meant to be seen.........

Alan T.

[26th-Z]

I always loved this conversation. Search back through the archives and there are plenty more threads on this subject. Thanks, as always, Alan for providing your insight.

[HS30-H]

My pleasure. Hopefully Kats will be along some time in the near future to give a much more educated take on the subject, and put me straight on a few things.

But we might be taking these to have a far more literal meaning than they were ever meant to have. Production line boredom could account for anything, and it seems clear that these little snatches of writing were probably not meant to mean anything to anybody other than those that were writing them.......

I'm thinking of a particular piece of 'graffiti on my 240ZG; I thought for ages that it might have some significance, but in actual fact it simply reads "Warau". Rough translation: "Ha Ha!"

Anybody ever read 'Rivethead' by Ben Hamper?



Alan T.

[FilipeA]

Hi

My car has this as well. I will put pictures when I get home!!!

Very interesting

Filipe Azevedo

[geezer]

But we might be taking these to have a far more literal meaning than they were ever meant to have. Production line boredom could account for anything, and it seems clear that these little snatches of writing were probably not meant to mean anything to anybody other than those that were writing them.......

I'm thinking of a particular piece of 'graffiti on my 240ZG; I thought for ages that it might have some significance, but in actual fact it simply reads "Warau". Rough translation: "Ha Ha!"



Alan T.

Thanks for the tranlations. After finding the meanings of these writings, I would be inclined to agree wholeheartedly with the above quote.
I have seen all manner of self expression displayed on vehicles built in the US & Canada and see no reason why the same didn't occur in Japan. Everything from "Have a Nice Day" to "Built by White Punks on Dope". We even found an over zealous inspector who took it upon himself to make notations in the owners manuals warning of potential problems that may be experienced in the future. In the '60s & '70s it was common for painters to initial parts such as hoods & fenders and the vehicles themselves with the gun (in an inconspicuous place. Interesting nontheless.

[Tarmac]

I remember seeing Brian "The Boz" Bozworths autobiography. Thanks to the boosters at OU he got a summer job on the assembly line at a GM plant. He had great fun welding loose nuts and bolts into the fender wells so that the car would always have a rattle that could never be fixed.

[geezer]

Graffiti was mentioned as a possibility for some of these writings, but in all honesty, I think there were legitimate reasons for these particular ones portrayed in this thread. I will pass on my thoughts at the risk of over speculating. Doing so may allow someone who is translating the writings to put 2 and 2 together and bolster their own theory. The markings being discussed in this thread could possibly serve more than one purpose.
The instrument panels would have been assembled on a separate line (probably circular) and meet up with the trim line when completed. With all the different market variants there would be a need to schedule the panels to be sure each car meets up and meshes with the corresponding correct panel, complete with the VIN tag attached. It would be the panel installer’s responsibility to make sure the VIN on the panel matches the build sheet accompanying the car. Because of these examples of HLS30s having such a variety of markings on them, even if there is no discernable difference in the build, we can rule out the likelihood of the bare panel coming from the supplier with this writing. The panels would most definitely had build sheets with all the necessary information, travel with them while being assembled. So, no writing required yet.
I don’t know for sure how many different steering column assemblies there would have been for all markets of the S30 in a given time period, but I’m guessing 3 or 4. Could the markings possibly indicate what steering column assembly was called for? I don’t think so, simply because I can’t think of a reason to mix numbers with these other writings. (By the way, my IP only has the number 46 written in this location.)
I’m guessing an approximate number of people needed to man this instrument panel line to be about 20, with one of them being a repairman who would correct any mistakes in the build or change out parts for whatever reason. With maybe as many as 30 carriers, each with an instrument panel clamped on them, suspended from this circular line, the repairman would be free to perform his work on one panel and then move to the next one that requires work. How would he know what work was needed without running the risk of missing anything or needing to visually inspect everything? The assembly workers on this line possibly wrote on this area to give the repairman the “heads up”? The two digit numbers could be the callout numbers for a particular part listed on the build sheet and the other writings could be symbolizing other repairs. (I would love to see a build sheet.) Or…
As the demand for these cars intensified measures had to be taken to maximize productivity. One of the most popular and effective ways to do this is, eliminate the need to shut down the assembly lines for contractual breaks. By using relief men to take the place of workers taking their break a great many more cars can be built in the course of a day/week/month/year. Some of these jobs would carry a great deal of responsibility to not make a mistake and the consequences of causing the main line going down would be dire. This is why a method of marking their work was devised by most relief men when taking someone’s place while they were on a break. A screw-up could be traced to the one responsible. Too many times the words…it must have been the relief man, had saved someone’s ass and cooked another. Typically, the relief man would mark the first job he worked on and that’s it because he would replace the worker for a set number of jobs/units and since they are scheduled that’s all that was needed. These are just a few points that came to mind while reading this thread. Take it for what it’s worth; it comes from my 33 years at almost a dozen different auto assembly facilities, working for 3 different manufacturers and an over active imagination.

[Mike B]

I found a couple of old posts that are relevant to this thread. The first shows another example of the dash marking with Alan's translation http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/s...ght=kanji+dash and the second shows a dash inspection tag that Victor found in an old car (also with Alan's translation). http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/s...t=dash+writing. Alan's explanations seem to support some of your theories Ron.

-Mike

[Arne]

Something to bear in mind - it was my understanding that only the USA-spec S30s had the VIN attached to the dash. That was not required elsewhere, the rest of the world had no requirement for the VIN to be visible from the outside of the car, as we did here in the USA. So matching the dash pad up with the proper chassis would not have been an issue for any Zs other than the US-bound cars.

In fact, considering how we've seen that the build date on the door jamb plate in the US cars does not always follow a sequential order, I'd almost bet that the dash VIN and the door jamb plate (with build date stamped) were the two very last parts to be installed, after all QA checks were completed. If, for example, a car were to be held up because the dash pad were faulty, you wouldn't want to have to remove the VIN from the bad dash and then reattach it to a replacement.

Just wild guesses on my part, I've never been in the car building business and don't really know how it works. But it seems logical to me.

[geezer]

Mike: It's all guess work, unless we get some substantiation from someone who was employed with Nissan at the time, who actually spent some time on the shop floor and is familiar with the practices in this era.
Arne: I would put my money on the VIN plates being already mounted before the IP was installed in the car. The windshield would not yet be in place. Even though other markets never had a VIN plate mounted to the dash, there was still a need to ensure the proper IP was installed because of the many variances. The build sheet would have accompanied the IP until it was mated with the corresponding car.

A while back I shared some of my manufacturing experiences with a few members who had an interest in the processes employed in North America during this same time frame. The simularities with the practices in Japan are uncanny to say the least. If it wasn't for the language barrier, I would have been right at home in Japan building S30s. Here is an explanation of the stamps and their use here that I sent to Chris more than a year ago, because he collects them.

Hi Chris,
I followed a link yesterday that led to a discussion
on stamps and their purpose. I didn't want to revive
an old thread without pertinent information or a
question pertaining to the subject. I thought since
you are collecting them you would have an interest. I
have experience with stamps in automobile
manufacturing. I have attached pics with a few
examples of stamps I have used. These were as much a
part of my daily work apparel as my wristwatch. A
correct procedure system was in place and all stamps
were assigned and records were maintained on their
possesion and use. They were issued to personel who
were authorized to sign off on known defects or
possible defects, that were either tested or repaired
on vehicles in the system (those would relate to the
Ken stamps), or parts OK'd to re-enter the system
after being reworked. Re-work is a separate department
with a team of very busy, multi talented people, who
daily, anyalize and come up with solutions for a
multitude of problem parts coming from the suppliers.
These are stop gap measures to keep the line rolling
until the supplier has the problem rectified. Some
suppliers had their own buyoff stamps that were used
also to identify and sometimes date their re-worked
pieces. (I believe the stamp in question in the thread
was a rework stamp. I couldn't say if is a supplier
stamp or used internaly though). There were quite a
variety of stamps. When I was the Production
Co-ordinator for the Windsor Assembly plant, I was
charged with ordering, issuing, recording and tracking
the use of these stamps. The design of them progressed
over the years. The circle was incorporated into the
design to improve the quality/readability as it is
slightly raised and lessened the chance of the image
being smeared. The one on the far left is the first
one I was issued in the late 60's. Because they are
ordered in bulk I actual used one that was original
issued to someone who had died years before, but it
was registered to me.

Just a tidbit, Ron

[Mike B]

In fact, considering how we've seen that the build date on the door jamb plate in the US cars does not always follow a sequential order, I'd almost bet that the dash VIN and the door jamb plate (with build date stamped) were the two very last parts to be installed, after all QA checks were completed. If, for example, a car were to be held up because the dash pad were faulty, you wouldn't want to have to remove the VIN from the bad dash and then reattach it to a replacement.

I agree with Ron. I would think the dash VIN tag would be installed before the dash assembly was installed. The door tag would be easy to either put on last or replace if the car was delayed due to a problem requiring rework. I think we see more cars with lower VINs that are shipped later rather than the other way around. HLS3000048 has a door tag of 2/70 for instance. Obviously they didn't replace the dash VIN at least in that case. That is one of the more extreme examples. Most of the other ones are just a delay of one month. I think #26 has a 11/69 date stamp on the door, while #27 and most other sub 100 cars have a 10/69 door date stamp, so I think the door tag is more of a shipping date.

Thanks for posting the information about the stamps Ron. Very interesting.

-Mike

[26th-Z]

Sounds like a good time to post some pictures! These were collected from scans of Nissan "Shatai" brochures which I believe to be publications Nissan put out to stock holders and corporate people about Nissan production capabilities and their manufacturing facilities. Alan, you are certainly welcome to chime in on this. I have a couple of these brochures from the 70's time period.

Arne mentioned that he couldn't visualize the manufacturing process and Ron is discussing things that make a lot of sense when you get the idea of how the cars were built. We all understand the concept of the production "line". What Ron describes are the various "lines" that feed into the main assembly line and all the people involved at various assembly points along the "line".

The first picture is from 1959 showing what a manufacturing assembly would have looked like. Then a number of S30 assembly line pictures. The welding picture isn't S30. That's the machine that made all those spot welds though.

[26th-Z]

Here are some pictures of how the bodies were fabricated out of sheet metal stampings. See the stitch welding over the tunnel? At some point, the floor sub-assembly was placed on a jig and welded to the firewall and front frame assembly.

[26th-Z]

See how the assembly line snakes around? In the background you can see body shells going the other way? As this line snakes its way through the building, certain sub-assembly "feeder" lines come into this main line with sub-assemblies (like the dash). The guy driving the car off the line in the last picture is Mr. Ok.

[geezer]

Hi Chris, The two sketches are new to me and way cool! I have to ask...is this your work? The overhead welding sketch is worthy of some careful study, as are all the other photos. The sketch of the car on the Tram is a familiar scene and very well done, but the headlights should be turned on.
There just are not enough photos of these production areas, that I never tire of studying.

[26th-Z]

Ron,

This sketch evidently didn't make it into my last posts. These came from that booklet Dan sent me when we were having the e-mail conversation some time ago. There just aren't many pictures out there that describe the production process of the S30. And when we talk about the HLS30 and S30 and the PS30 all running on the same line, it is quite difficult to imagine. Then there was the conversation of how sequential serial numbers were painted the same color. Or the conversation of build sheets (the elusive build sheet!) Once I started looking at these pictures and others, a lot of things fell into the logic notches of my brain. Thought the pictures would help everyone understand how when and where all those little scribbles and stamps found their way onto the car.

[hls30.com]

Wow, what a thread of diamonds!
Will

[Zak's Z]

This thread is great guys! Nice to see all of this rare stuff. Just think...one of those cars could be in one of our garages right now.

I have 3 dashes in my basement tucked away, Im going to pull them out this weekend to see if they've been 'tagged'.

[geezer]

After studying these photos I can explain what they are depicting, because it is not readilly apparent to someone not familiar with this equipment.

The Rolls was an earlier/simpler version of a dynometer. Most of this apparatus is hidden below floor level. You cannot see the restraint device that rises up in front of the vehicle or the the exhaust reclaimation system. In this shot the car is not in position and the rollers are not elevated. They were double rollers that the wheels were cradled into. The yellow S30 was driven into position, and the rollers were elevated to the rear wheels, by the driver pushing the button and the test was begun. The vehicle was first placed into reverse gear and accelerated to 15 mph. It was braked to a full stop and then placed into forward gear (1st in the case of a manual) and then taken through the gears to 55mph. The braking was then tested again from this higher speed. I would like to point out the driver accessible red buttons in the photo. There is one on each side of the car (LH & RH drive). The rolls that we used here were very similar and had the same button system, using a single button to raise or lower the rollers. A very simple testing proceedure.This equipment has evolved over the years to nothing short of amazing, is computerized and capable of also testing All Wheel Drive, ABS systems, Cruise Control, Emission Control Systems etc.

[geezer]

This photo and sketch are showing the Tram station. This is where the alignment is done by the man below in the pit. After the driver has positioned the vehicle and shut it off, the man below sets the caster & camber. Meanwhile the driver typically performs the headlight adjustments by aiming them at targets not seen in the photo. There is no better time to do this because the car is perfectly positioned. There were different targets/specs for different markets. This is true also for toe in/toe out adjustments, compensating for the crown in the road which is different depending what side of the road you are driving on.

[Zak's Z]

I was just looking at those pics trying to figure out what was going on. Thanks for the insight, Ron.

[geezer]

I was just looking at those pics trying to figure out what was going on. Thanks for the insight, Ron.

My pleasure, but we sure did stray from Zulaytr's original topic. I would continue with my opinions of the other photos, but maybe these photos & discussion should be moved?

[al_itzah2luv]

omg, now im curious...i doubt it tho...ima go look sometime this weekend...

[26th-Z]

Sorry to deviate a little bit. Perhaps this photo helps get us back in the general direction. I suppose, Ron, that the yellow paint was applied at this point when the alignment was set? 26th had yellow paint as this photo shows except there was a dab of red on the left compression rod.

[geezer]

I can only generalize the use of these various markings. I am not knowledgable in the ways of Nissan. These cars were built long before the inception of ISO, so each manufacturer more or less had their own methods of verification. Basically, in an assembly operation such as the S30, where there are a number of model variances, vitually every part that had a counterpart for use in another market or every part that had an optional replacement for it, a method of ease of identification was nessesary. Picture a vehicle assembly line with work stations spaced along it. The stock needed for each and every possible build requirement was on hand. To aid in the proper part selection a variety of methods were used. It could be code stickers, paper tags, paint dabs, chalk marks, grease pencil, markers etc. Whatever method was used, it was meant to be highly visable and recognizable by all other workers stationed downstream from this operation. A mistake or wrong part installed doesn't usually get by without being noticed. Most of these markings came into the plant from the vendors. It was a design specification.
This didn't address your question Chris but I thought it would help to point out some of the reasons for various markings.
All auto assembly operations I have seen or have been a part of, used a method of marking the underbody/chassis components in a somewhat permanent manner. I have sandblasted my share of chassis components in my own restorations and some of these markings, paint dabs/slashes are still there after blasting. For the most part, other than part identification, the majority of underbody/chassis markings are used for torque verifications. I really don't recall any other reasons.
All we can do is continue to share & compare what we find.

[Zak's Z]

I just went and looked at the 3 dashes I have, and they all have writing on them. I took a quick pic of each. I'd love to know what it means if anyone knows. I dash is an early '71 and 2 are 72.

[HS30-H]

I took a quick pic of each. I'd love to know what it means if anyone knows.

I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of copying your photos and adding some notes to them.

One of them doesn't seem to make any sense other than to read it as the number '17'. The natural 'flow' of the three strokes seems to support this - but who knows? It could be shorthand for something else.....

Another could be read as a number '4' if you rotate it 180 degrees - but the two strokes are not a natural 'flow' for a Japanese writer, and I believe it could be the Katakana symbol 'Ka' ( which means nothing on it's own ), or the Kanji for the word 'Chikara' ( meaning 'power' ). Interesting.

The third is even more confusing. The first character is obviously Kanji, but I think it is impossible to read properly ( it's weirdly shaped at the top ). Also, is there part of another unseen character lurking in the shadows on the left there? I see what seems to be something....
The character on the right is the classic Kanji that reads 'Yama' ( meaning 'mountain' ) and this is often seen as part of a name ( a family name, or a place name for instance ). This would seem to point to the writing here being somebody's name - although not completely legible.
There's also a curious and fainter pattern underneath it, which I do not recognise as writing at all. Is it some kind of descriptive drawing / diagram? Don't know.

What strikes me - after looking at quite a few of these column support mount panels - is that none of the writing seems to be all that natural, and is quite hard to read. It looks 'forced', and it makes me wonder whether the writing was applied when the dash panel was situated in a difficult-to-reach area, or at a difficult angle? Maybe when the dash was actually installed in the body - but ( rather obviously! ) it would have to be before the column support bracket had been attached. Does that make sense? I just get a strong feeling that this writing is unnatural, and writing 'blind' or at an awkward angle might account for that.............

I don't know about anybody else, but I've never installed a dash in one of these cars without the column being in-situ and loosely attached to the firewall. Would it make sense for the dash to go in before the column during the initial assembly process?

[Zak's Z]

Alan,

Thanks for having a look at them. There is another character in the upper left. I thought I got the camera low enough but didnt. I will move all my carefully placed parts so I dont have to tiptoe around it so I can get a better shot on the weekend.

[geezer]

Zak: Is that the beautiful pristine early '71 dash you showed me at the swap meet last year? You haven't sold it yet?

Alan: Your observations fit exactly with what I am familiar with. Right up to my retirement almost 8 years ago, the same type of overhead line, supporting a fixture was used to convey the instrument panels during their build. I have seen both the ones used by GM and Chrysler. They are the same design. I will try to describe them and how they work.
The IP skeletons came from the Vendor in large racks holding more than a hundred, hanging lengthwise and nestled together. They were seperated by various protector strips which were removed and returned to the vendor for reuse. There were as many as a dozen different IPs so that made for a lot of racks taking up a lot of space.
As I mentioned before, these IP lines were circular or oval. so once an IP was removed from the carrier jig and installed into a car it continued on and was reloaded with a new IP blank to be built.
The carrier jigs consisted of no more than 2" square tube frames with locating pins at either end. There were 3 fixed camlock design hand clamps used to lock down the IPs. When loaded onto the carrier jig and clamped they were in the same natural, horizontal position, as if they were mounted in a car.
On the ends of these square tube frames the fixtures were equipt with bearings so that the complete fixture and IP could be easily rotated while suspended by the uprights at either end. There was a spring tension cog & pin mechanism operated by a hand lever at one end, to release and lock into the desired position. This made it possible to place the IP safely in about a dozen positions on the horizontal axis for ease of assembly. In an overhead view you would see all these carriers in many different positions. So in conclusion, I can see how writing on the panels could be awkward and strained as it wasn't feasible to position the panel just for the purpose of writing on it. There could be someone else working on it while someone else is trying to write on it.
I will comment on the steering columns later.

[Zak's Z]

Zak: Is that the beautiful pristine early '71 dash you showed me at the swap meet last year? You haven't sold it yet?

Ron, I've had a few good offers from the U.S. but didn't want to risk shipping it. I also want to wait til I get mine together, I can always fall back on this early dash if something happens to mine during re-assembly. If all goes well I'll try and sell it next year.

I think the early dash is the one that has the '17' written on it.

[zbane]

Since this thread has meandered a bit, I thought I would post this photo. It is of the underside of my center console. While my dash has some writing on it as well, I didn't take any photos while it was out of the car so I'll just have to wait on getting them.
Anyway, this writing was certainly not intended for anyone to see, other than those assembling the car.

[HS30-H]

zbane,
I think that the big one is the number '65' - in very characteristic Japanese style to my English eye - if you turn it through 180 degrees.

[geezer]

Curiousity got the best of me, so I looked at a few consoles I have. Only this one from a '72 had writing on the underside. It appears to have been done by dipping a sharp stick/object into paint, then scribing. Sorry for the glare.

[Arne]

Curiousity got the best of me, so I looked at a few consoles I have. Only this one from a '72 had writing on the underside. It appears to have been done by dipping a sharp stick/object into paint, then scribing. Sorry for the glare.

I downloaded it, converted it to a jpg, and tried to reduce the glare on one copy. I've attached both jpg versions here to save the download for others.

[geezer]

Thanks Arne, I didn't realize that I didn't convert it

[Zs-ondabrain]

Finally tore out the steering column on the 260Z and found this.... According to HS30 it might mean 'Chikara' ( meaning 'power' ) and the "OK" so I guess it passed.

Dave

[TexasRider260Z]

Power and OK huh Dave - well I will have to check mine when I get to it and see if we match on the 260's. Yes I am starting to get back to mine after a layoff to complete other projects that were already up. Now if I could find some 260 plugs and get them up to you ! Maybe then mine will have "power" - lighting power that is !

[Zs-ondabrain]

speaking of 260Z stuff, click on my "My 2/74' 260Z. Needs your 5 star votes!! Watch the rebuild unfold" link in my signiture. You'll like it.

[lubu]

The third is even more confusing. The first character is obviously Kanji, but I think it is impossible to read properly ( it's weirdly shaped at the top ). Also, is there part of another unseen character lurking in the shadows on the left there? I see what seems to be something....
The character on the right is the classic Kanji that reads 'Yama' ( meaning 'mountain' ) and this is often seen as part of a name ( a family name, or a place name for instance ). This would seem to point to the writing here being somebody's name - although not completely legible.
There's also a curious and fainter pattern underneath it, which I do not recognise as writing at all. Is it some kind of descriptive drawing / diagram? Don't know.

HS30 the third character means "see".

Finally tore out the steering column on the 260Z and found this.... According to HS30 it might mean 'Chikara' ( meaning 'power' ) and the "OK" so I guess it passed.

Dave that word does not mean power.

[Zs-ondabrain]

So you're just gonna leave it hanging? What the hell does it mean?

[vercingetorix]

I'm with Dave on this one
http://japanese.about.com/library/bl50kanji_chikara.htm

[lubu]

My bad, your word is a phoneme, it combines with other words to make meanings;

eg:
クマ = bear (kuma)
クラス図 = diagram (kurasu-zu)

..but, Ive also heard that it can also have meanings such as a bow (bow and arrow) or to do something eg; to drink or to smoke.

Ive included a picture to show the different between two words, notice the strokes in power and ku, they are quite different.



Please let me know if Ive made any mistake.

Thach

[HS30-H]

lubu,

Working out what some of these graffitoes say is one thing ( and, as we know, many of these Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana characters can be read in several different ways even when they are legible.... ), but working out what they actually mean or signify is quite another.

As I believe I have mentioned, I would feel much more comfortable if a native Japanese reader / speaker with knowledge of old cars could add their opinion to the discussion. I have looked at scribbles such as these with Japanese car friends present, and most often I have been advised to accept that many of them will only have meant something specific to the person whom originally wrote them. We are on the outside looking in, and perhaps we are expecting too much if we think that we can make sense of them.......

There are scribbles / markings / stamps etc on the cars that do mean something specific, and can be understood. The under dash chalk marks on certain cars can identify market variations and sub models. There are steering column support bracket scribbles that can help to identify certain specs, but not all of them are seen on every car. Some of these things are apparently 'notes' or memos between workers and/or departments.

It would be great to get into more discussion about these markings, and indeed to see more and more examples of them so we have more to go on, but I'd urge caution in taking their translated meanings too literally. For example, something that reads as 'chikara' does not seem to have any logical meaning in relation to the component that it appears on, and quite possibly it was never meant to.


Alan T.

[vercingetorix]

I'm taking my dash to be recovered next week and thought I'd flip it over just to check and sure enough

[pwd]

My '73 has a character under the steering column support as well, but it looks totally different from the others posted above. If anyone can translate this it would be much appreciated.

[konish]

My '73 has a character under the steering column support as well, but it looks totally different from the others posted above. If anyone can translate this it would be much appreciated.

Translated to the number "34"

[pwd]

Thanks, Konish!

[HS30-H]

Translated to the number "34"

Yes, it reads as "San-Ju Yon". Literally 'Three Ten four', meaning 'Thirty Four' in English.

No idea what it relates to I'm afraid. Like all of these graffitoes, they seem to have meant something only to the guys building up the dashes and the cars......

[HS30-H]

I'm taking my dash to be recovered next week and thought I'd flip it over just to check and sure enough

A bit late ( sorry, didn't see it when you originally posted it ) but this looks like the Hiragana ( simplified Kanji ) symbol 'Chi'. And - in common with some of the other examples - it looks a little bit unnaturally written. Kind of like if it were written by somebody who was stretching his arm up under a dash....

It kind of ties in with previous examples possibly reading as 'Chikara'. Could this Hiragana 'Chi' signify the same thing as the Kanji 'Chikara', but simply abbreviated, and written by a different person and/or at a different time...?

If we had enough examples, we might even start to see a pattern emerging.

[240dkw]

If we had enough examples, we might even start to see a pattern emerging.

Alan: here are a few more examples
Dan

[spitz17]

3, 27 are the first two.

[pwd]

Would it be possible that these numbers might represent production line numbers for a week, or month?

[Mike B]

I found this red writing on the right side dash support area of my white car (HLS30-00210). The same location where a red number "58" was written on my HLS30-00032's dash.

Also, I went to check on the progress of the body repair and paint preprep for the white car yesterday. The painter showed me that "No. 3" was written on the top of the inner fender. There was also what looked like several Japanese words written on the exterior of the top part of the passenger door. The door is stripped of all paint and primer, so this must have been written on the bare metal before it was primed. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and left my camera at home, so no pictures of that yet. I asked the paint guy to take a couple for me, but he is a better painter than photographer, so we'll see if that happens or not. I may drop by again next weekend to take some pictures myself.

-Mike

[cbudvet]

I found some pictures on my camera that I had taken of some kanji on the dash which is the usual place but also some on the frame for the small side windows. Thought I would add to the collection.

carl

[psdenno]

Nissan seems to have "formalized" part of the marking system a bit. I bought a G37 Infiniti convertible on Saturday and it came with a "Quality Inspection Certificate" signed by the Infiniti Quality Assurance Engineer who track tested the car for five miles. It includes the engineer's signature, car chassis #, and odometer reading at conclusion of testing.

I'll be looking for a frame and place to hang it on the wall tomorrow.
Dennis

[pwd]

Picked up another '73 dash over the weekend from a local salvage yard and found this one in the usual spot.

[kats]

Hi,

I have just been amaized these Kanjis. Some are the name of person and some are the numbers.And some of them is just meaning-less.I think they wanted to have fun when they were in a production line.

I guess they were doing it with fun, having an imagination of when the oversees owners or mechanics would disassemble dashes in someday, with seeing unusual characters then they would try to understand what they would be.

Fantastic

kats