71 replies to this topic

[JohnFK]

q
Thanks Giles. When I wrote Silverstone I nearly put a grey, but couldn't remember what the white was called!

At least one person on the Register has Alezan seats, but I'm in two minds about - it was either only available with the Kuro, or the selling dealer did a seat swap!

Thanks for the Euro information, I'll update my brain.

Cheers

John

[JohnFK]

Just found some more info.....

The 700 number was an allocation for Europe with 176 for the UK and 83 for France.

I'll update my precis in due course!!

JK

[signwizarduk]

q

So the woman with no knowledge was right for a change...now I just need a plaque

[Little Miss Sunshine]

q


less of the boys, more of the girls!

we have nismos too

[Fuku Fuku]

q

I'm sure he meant Nismo boys and girls,

[Crisis]

q

Told you that you would have a lot of reading from those links John

[JohnFK]

q
Need to improve my language skills too!

[JohnFK]

Well ... after reading Giles' links and a few others I'd found, and putting the latin script ones through BabelFish where neccessary this is what I've concluded......

Nowhere outside the UK seems to have marketed the car as the GT4. There are passing references to the PS2 game and the yellow Z featured therein, but everyone else calls it the "35th Anniversary Edition"

Much of that was I suspected, but the surprise that caught me unawares was that there was a Roadster version in the 'States! The Roadster must have been quite new then but it does account for the two reports I've read of a UY Roadster (one in Japan, and one in the UK).

Hope this stuff isn't boring you all!

JK

[JohnFK]

GT4 Story - Part 1 - Revision 2!!

350Z GRAN TURISMO 4 – What is it? (Please excuse the uppercase, that’s how Sony marketed the game – see below)

Well, for a start, it’s more accurately known as the Nissan 350Z 35th Anniversary Edition. Produced in 2005 I have found launch information for the Japan, USA, Australia, France & UK marketplaces. (Currently no mention of New Zealand or other European countries.) This was to mark the 35th anniversary of the debut of the original Datsun 240Z.

The car itself was limited availability and was produced in three colours: Ultra Yellow (E33, a “metallic”), Kuro (KH3, a non-metallic Black) & Silverstone (WV2, a metallic grey known in the UK as Gunmetal but this Anniversary variant wasn’t taken in the UK – or Europe?).

The Press Releases and Reviews sometimes mentioned the link of the car to the recently launched GRAN TURISMO 4 game for the Sony PS2, which itself features a Yellow 350Z. However it seems NMGB’s Marketing department took it upon themselves to make a stronger association and decided to market the car with numbered, limited edition GT4 plaques. It is for this reason the only reference you will see to the actual GT4 branding is on the plaques rather than the Anniversary cars themselves. The Anniversary model differenciating factors for the rest of the car are the same as those for the worldwide edition, e.g. special “Z” badges on the sides, special wheels (later to become standard everywhere except the UK) and the new “rev-up” version of the engine which was to later become standard in the MY06 face-lifted version.

Nissan Europe had announced only 700 cars would be available in Europe, of which 176 cars were allocated for the UK and 83 for France (which leaves 441 to still be researched, or 440 if we include the one from Cyprus!!).

NMGB also decided to supply with each car, a boxed Sony PS2 complete with GT4 game. That was the Marketing Plan. The Sales version seemed to add a few enhancements of its own but I’ve yet to find any evidence to support it. For example, last month, more than two years after the launch, I still had a Nissan salesman telling me that the PS2 came in a leather case with the limited edition number on it*, and that the leather seats have yellow stitching to match the car colour (instead of the normal orange). I have yet to find any evidence to support these sales-tales!

*To be fair, maybe that had been discussed at the car’s launch and that was why two plaques were prepared for each number. But I’ve never met anyone who’s actually seen a leather case - but I’d love to hear if anyone has!

It is generally accepted that NMGB intended there to be 76 Ultra Yellows and 100 Kuros. Funnily enough the Kuros seem rarer than the UYs – maybe the people who choose black keep a lower profile than those who choose yellow!

Part two of this story is now going to be about Options (once I’ve collected some more information) and Part three will try and piece together build and sales patterns for GB’s 176 from the details collected in the GT4 Register – watch this space!

[Ultra Gazz]

Excellent work JK, keep the bedtime reading coming

[Fuku Fuku]

Very interesting John. Didn't Nissan run a big competition when they launched the GT4 as well?

BTW, E33 is pearlescent rather than metallic.

[signwizarduk]

q

Pearlescent custard yummy....its lickable

[Crisis]

John, the links I sent you included ones from Canada and Belgium too

Some bloke Tiff something had his a*** handed to him by one of the Club Moderators I believe

[Fuku Fuku]

q

[JohnFK]

q

You're right. Forgot to mention Belgium, plus it didn't even say how many they were going to get.

Hmm Canada - Didn't spot that one - back to links......

Re: the GT4 Challenge. Do you know if there was a Europe-wide one in addition to the UK one that old freebie-face won? (And if so, why didn't he enter!!)?

Cheers!

[Crisis]

AFAIK it was a UK only one... although the display at Le Mans did include a GT4 face off competition to win a UY car

[Ross_350z]

q

Hello all,

As a lurker this thread has brought me out of the woodwork!

I own a JDM import in Gunmetal which was marketed over here as GT4 spec, which I believe was called the Anniversary edition in Japan.

I have the black and tan leather seats and as far as I can tell the car is the same as the UK GT4s.

It does have a different front spolier to the ones I have seen over here, but I don't think the JDM 'GT4s' were individually numbered, so I guess that means I'm off the list!

[Crisis]

Excellent -

maybe you can decode your VIN number for us, as I know that their is a different system on JDM cars

[Jmbcar33]

It would be great to see a list of all of the GT4's sold in the UK, so owners and potential owners can see which numbers were sold in which colours and where their car ranks number wise.

I will soon be buying a GT4 350z (I hope) and I am interested to see which numbers are currently accounted for here on the OC.

I also own a Toyota Celica Carlos Sainz Limited Edition, and there are many websites doing similar register things, some good examples are below:
http://www.grparally...m/tracking.html

http://www.celicafreunde.de/

If we could replicate something like this on here it would be very interesting!

Thanks,

Jon

[Ant Blain]

WoREoD (John?) - been trying to email you details of my GT4 but got the following back from your mail account:


does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 551 Unknown user.
Giving up on


PM me and I'll pass you the info on my car...?



(Edited to say: apologies for posting the IP address earlier; not being too internet / computer savvy didn't realise it was his own IP address, thought it was the mail server or something! And thanks for removing it! )

Edited by Ant Blain, 26 February 2008 - 06:46 PM.