Page 170 - Wayne Carini's Guide to Affordable Classics

TOP: The Z31’s interior offered well-bolstered sport seats. ABOVE AND BELOW: First-year Z31s all had T-Tops, but a lower- cost solid-roof model was added in 1986.
been falling, with Nissan moving 33,566 units in 1987 and 19,357 in 1988, as anticipation grew for the new model.
To commemorate the end of Z31 production, Nissan created the “Shiro” special edition. Shiro means “white” in Japanese, and all 1,002 units of this edition were painted in Moonglow White. Most special editions involve little more than paint or perhaps upholstery upgrades, but the Shiro offered serious performance upgrades. Nissan’s engineers removed a total of 125 pounds from the car. Niceties like power-adjustable seats and the digital dashboard were all removed and replaced with lightweight sport seats by Recaro and standard gauges. The Shiro model also received a stiffened performance suspension with competition sway bars, Koni shocks, a viscous limited slip differential. The Shiro was offered only with a five-speed manual transmission, and is quite collectible today.
1989-1996 Z32 300ZX
The Z32 300ZX was a dramatic departure from the previous history of the Z-car. Totally new bodywork and suspension changed the demeanor of the car back to the original Datsun sportiness. By every measure, the Z32 is the superior car, but sales never surged the way they had for the original.
The Z32 kept the engine block from the Z31 mostly intact, but that was about it. The new design used dual overhead cams with four valves per cylinder and variable valve timing together with higher compression to produce 222 horsepower and 198 lb ft of torque. That was enough to propel the new 300ZX to 60 mph in 6.7
168Wayne CariniAffordable Classics