From the February 1974 issue of Road & Track. A test of the new 260Z.
The controversy with this article is that it looks like I doodled with a black marker to see how it would look as a roadster! Hard to believe Colin was born 3 months after this article.
Attached 3 page article.
The 1973 F1 Series was reviewed in the same magazine...”Jackie Stewart takes his third championship and retires as alltime winning F1 driver”
In the classifieds: 1963 Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta “top condition” $8,250.00
Cost of Road & Track magazine...$1.00
Colin, The older one.

Dear Colin The Elder ~

I remember these well when they first came out. My lightweight '70Z was nearly 600lbs lighter, with the higher compression E-31 head. It was pretty well broken-in by then. Even with the stock exhauzt manifold (but with twin ANSA pipes), I could beat them up to about 70mph.

Still, a skilled driver who wasn't afraid to hard-launch his new 260 and shift at redline could stay about a car length behind me (that's not much!) until his bigger cubes gained the advantage and overtook me around 80mph. And the sound of him going past was pretty awesome!

A lot of these carz came equipped with A/C, which my car never had (still doesn't ), which didn't help them, either. My 1970 was always more nimble than the 260, and stopped better, too.

But everything changed the following year, when the mighty fuel-injected 280 was introduced. Weight didn't seem to effect it much once everybody reached 2nd gear. And when the Turbo carz came out, my Z was getting a bit worn and tired, and I was no match for them in most categories.

Thanks for this! Good memories of the empty Compass Rose abandoned airstrip at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii on warm, breezy Saturday afternoons, where my cheap little 2.4L Japanese OHC ate all the souped-up '55 Chevys and newer 240s and 260s it could find!


Thnx to Donn Vickrey, these stats are available today:

http://www.zhome.com/History/zcarperf.html

Frank The Eldest.


*(And by the way ~ here's a '63 SWB Berlinetta, which sold for $8,250 back then! You couldn't even repaint it for that today!):