Nice video, he seems to take all the credit for designing 240z.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Kp0itoUlY

because he did. I have a full DVD from Japan that explains how it came about. It was from Project X, an NHK program. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoRfGDTLcgA just a small clip, I can't find the full DVD anywhere.

http://www.dvd-project-x.com/1st/08/index.html

Mr K was just a sales man in the states that asked for it to be made.

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Also Known As Clayton Pace

I'd also say that there is a lot of info missed in that vid, lost in translation. If I had the chance...I'd be a better translator and add more to the story line.

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Also Known As Clayton Pace

Well, he was quite the salesman, that is true. He had to sell a tribe of
tradition-bound, stuck-in-the-present, unforesighted top managers of
what his research and analysis had discovered/uncovered. I think
that to say he ASKED for it to be made is an understatement; I would
rather say that he more likely DEMANDED it to be made. Don't forget,
Mr K was one of those rare individuals who could get away with that, in
that he was so good at what he did that they couldn't fire him lest he go
to one of the competitors.

But sales is probably the least of Mr K's attributes. I think history demon-
strates he was at his best when recruiting competent personnel; con-
ceiving and building an organization from the ground up; taking calcu-
lated risks; and motivating people to great things, often by personal
example of getting his hands dirty when necessary.

I'm kind of glad, in a way, that Datsun (Nissan) top management was
frustrated with Mr K. Not that I wouldn't have liked to have seen him
go higher up the corporate ladder. I personally look at it very selfishly
because we got to keep him in the US for a "much" longer period of
time, and more importantly, got him involved FOR LIFE in "THINGS Z."

All Z Best,.........................Kathy & Rick

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All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

Hey, Mr. Matsuo. Great guy, was nice to meet him in Nashville.
I remember that meeting at each time I'm flapping down the sun visors of my Z.

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T. Link
Germany
1971 240z (HLS30-16506)

Yes but there was whole bunch of other designers as well. Here's what Alan T said about it in classiczcars.com:

Thanks for posting this, but I'm sorry to say that I found it slightly uncomfortable to watch.....

It's good to see people like Matsuo san engaging with the English-speaking media, but in this instance I really feel it would have worked better with a skilled translator and some more thoroughly prepared scripting of the questions. Matsuo san's English is fine for one-to-one conversation, and if a pen and paper is on the table then all the better, but I fear it's not really up to the level needed in a 'live' video exchange. More than once I found myself feeling embarrassed for both sides as meaning and nuance whizzed over heads.

Presenting Matsuo san as "the" Designer - as though there was only one - is a mistake. Matsuo san was the 'Chief Designer' on the project, a chief among designers and engineers, tasked with coordinating the work of all the different individuals, all the different departments and all the different suppliers. Yes, he takes the credit for certain details of the overall design ( the hatch hinges and gas ram to name two seen in the video ) but seeing him credited as though he almost single-handedly conceived, designed and produced the first Z is only one stage removed from that old Goertz problem.

Matsuo san might also be advised to use the word 'we' instead of 'I' where more appropriate. It's no wonder that the other members of the team feel as though they have been crowded out of the story. When we talk about the styling of the car, we should give Yoshida - the man who really should be given credit for the overall styling of the car - and Tamura - the man who picked up where Yoshida left off - the credit that they deserve. To see Matsuo san being called an 'Engineer', and then a 'Test Driver' ( even in half jest ) no doubt makes the true Engineers on the project - Uemura, Benitani, Kamahara et al - wince. The design / styling of the dashboard - commented on in the driving scenes - was the responsibility of Chiba san, not Matsuo.

This is an on-going battle among Z enthusiasts. It is well known that Goertz designed the fabulous 507 BMW sportscar of the '50s, a few Datsun coupes and sedans (Silvia, etc), the Toyota 2000GT and some other cars. That he was a genius is not disputed.

But he doesn't get credit for 'designing' the 240Z. Everyone at Datsun/Nissan lays that wreath at the feet of Matsuo. Goertz adamantly insisted it was his design.

The Z resembles some very striking cars of its era, including the Ferrari 275GTB, the Jaguar E-type FHC, the Spitfire hatchback and another little-known Toyota coupe which looked great but didn't sell well. They all share the same classic proportional relationship the Z enjoys, with long hood, short tail and cabin in the rear 1/3rd of the car.

Albrecht Goertz died about 4 years ago. If we're ever going to settle this 40 year debate, we need to do it soon, while some of the players are still among us.

Everybody read these brief stories and then we'll discuss it:

http://zhome.com/History/Truth/BookList.htm

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1970 240Z

Alright, Frank is assigning homework!!

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Phil
1981 280zxt - Now in the care my son!
2014 370Z Sports Touring Roadster

Well, it's either that, or we pay Carl Beck to step in and settle this.

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1970 240Z

That's a cool video, I enjoyed it very much. I met him this summer and got his autograph, so to see this video brought back the excitment, thanks, I don't get on you-tube much.

yeah that's a nice video. I hadn't seen it before. The discussion about Goertz etc is endless and I'm not really gonna go into that. I know in the automotive design circles credit is given and taken pretty much in a wild west kind kind of fashion. I personally know designers who claim to have designed cars that they haven't. They may have had influence in them but you could never say they designed those cars. In some cases it seems to start from "I worked on that car" and continue to "That was my idea" to "I designed it".. On the other hand I know designs that have been taken from the original designer, sent over to another department where someone adds some final touches and calls the design his/hers. Sometimes (often..) sometimes (often..) that person or team may even ruin the original design and still call it theirs.. go figure.

I don't doubt for a second what Matsuo says about those engineering ideas. It is not uncommon at all for a designer to come up with a very engineering-like idea. It is often the designer who inspires the engineer to challenge their ideas. so many times the engineer are happy to stick to old ideas and make them work as well as possible, but it often is the designer who in his/her creativity sees a new solution to an old problem. Also very often that takes a lot of convincing to get the engineer to believe in the idea and make it happen. Ultimately it will be the engineer who makes the part work, but before that, it is entirely possible that a designer has made a technical drawing for a hinge for example. Also how Matsuo got the idea for the rear hatch gas shock is a fairly common in designer's job. It's cool as a story but also the way things often happen in design work.

That Moto-Man guy seems to exaggerate when he talks about Matsuo's role as in being engineer, marketing guy etc but they all have a little truth to them as well.

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http://kingofapes.blogspot.com/

"Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan".

Frank

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1970 240Z

Did I ever tell you guys that I was the first person to come up with the idea of starting a car club? Yep...it was all my idea.

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Ross Williams
1978 280Z Black Pearl Edition 38k Original Miles

And let's see. In my CT Z Car Club archives I find that Ross was
helped in mid-1970 by Jack & Carol Durand, Val Cote, Norm Cohen,
Bruce & Olivia Koller, Jim & Audrey Czaja, Bill & Betty Neznayko.......
(Yeah, I told you I never throw anything away...............still got all the
newsletters from the CT Club, the New England Club, the Bob Sharp
Club, some from Group Z, etc.)

All Z Best,....................Kathy & Rick

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All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

Well, whatever else you've done with your life Ross, designing and engineering this Club has been a crowning achievement!

It's a good thing we don't have a Clubhouse ~ the lights would be on endlessly and nobody would ever go home!

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1970 240Z