The S30 was conceived by Yutaka Katayama, president of Nissan Motor Corporation U.S.A., known as "Mr. K" and regarded as the father of the Z. It was styled by a team led by Yoshihiko Matsuo, head of Nissan's Sports Car Styling Studio. It went on sale in late 1969 as a 1970 model, and it went by two names: in Japan it was the Nissan Fairlady Z, and for export it was badged a Datsun — 240Z, then 260Z and 280Z.
The Japanese name was older than the car. In 1961 Nissan's president, Katsuji Kawamata, was in the United States while My Fair Lady was enjoying its long Broadway run, and he gave the name to the company's new SPL213 sports roadster in the hope that some of the musical's popularity would rub off. The Z kept it. At home the standard Fairlady Z had the 2.0-litre L20 straight-six; the 2.4-litre L24 of the export 240Z was offered too, as the HS30, but its larger engine put it in a considerably higher tax bracket. The twin-cam Z432, with the S20 engine, ran to about 420 cars.
The S30 had features associated with far more expensive European sports cars and coupés, at a relatively low price, and it drew long waiting lists from the start. In the United States the 240Z sold more than 45,000 through the 1971 model year, then more than 50,000 in 1972 and 40,000 in 1973, and the car helped popularise Japanese carmakers as more than builders of economy cars. A 240Z won the 1973 East African Safari Rally in the hands of Shekhar Mehta and Lofty Drews. The S130 replaced it for 1979.
The kit is not a showroom car. It can sit low, it wears a lip spoiler, and it sits on RS Watanabe eight-spoke wheels, which are all over Japan's classic-car scene — kyusha, as it is known there. Racing Service Watanabe was founded in 1967 by Toshiyuki Watanabe and got its start on Nissan's racing cars of the late 1960s, such as the "Hakosuka" Skyline. Its eight-spoke, which took its inspiration from the Minilite racing wheel, is made in both aluminium and magnesium.
Aoshima's 楽プラ (Rakuraku Pura) Snap Kit No. 15CU-WH is that car at 1:32, released in May 2025 and made under Nissan's supervision. It is a 30-part kit, moulded in colour so it needs no paint and push-fit so it needs no glue. The custom front lip spoiler is new tooling, the 16-inch Watanabe eight-spokes come with stretched tyres, and the wheel finish follows the body colour: bronze on this white car, chrome on the red version and gunmetal on the blue metallic. It can be built lowered or at the normal ride height; Aoshima warns that the tyres may not turn freely when it is built low.