REPORT: Nissan's Fiesty Mr. K calls out the 370Z

[ZilviaBot]

09-21-2009 01:28 PM

Filed under: Classics (http://www.autoblog.com/category/timewarp/), Japan (http://www.autoblog.com/category/japan/)

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/09/mrk_lead.jpg

Recently one of our bloggers raised the hackles of many a commenter by announcing to the world that he preferred driving a Nissan Versa (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/NissanVersa/) to the new 370Z (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/370Z/). You can hear the whole exchange on Autoblog Podcast #140 (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/14/autoblog-podcast-140/). To protect this poor blogger's identity, he shall remain nameless (we'll call him Jonny X for short. No, too obvious. Let's go with X Lieberman). Point is, obviously this person is out of his mind because who on earth prefers driving a economy car like the Versa to a Z? Turns out Nissan's Mr. K.

Yutaka Katayama, known to American Datsun/Nissan fans simply as Mr. K, will be remembered for two very important cars: the 240Z and the 510, both of which are now considered classics. Mr. K turned one hundred years old on September 15, but age hasn't tempered his mind. In fact it seems sharper than ever. Talking about the new 370Z, Mr. K calls it, "So-so." He continues, "Very different from the 240Z. First, it's very heavy, and it's also very expensive."

And not only does Mr. K feel the car new Z is too expensive, but that it's not actually living up to the Japanese sports car legacy laid down by the 240Z, "I'd like to have a sports car like the Miata. The Miata is taking the place of the 240Z." Harsh. But check this out, "Katayama has a 350Z in his garage but prefers to drive the family's Versa compact." And there you have it.

Mr. K would like to see the Datsun nameplate come back, and with sportier cars. "The fun of driving cars is the same as riding a horse. We need a car that is like riding on horseback. We are making robots. Robots don't like human control." Even at the ripe old age of one hundred, Mr. K just might be around to see his wish come true, "I just entered the 100s. I have a long way to go."

[Source: Automotive News (https://home.autonews.com/clickshare/authenticateUserSubscription.do?CSProduct=autonews-premium&CSAuthReq=1:273363754324074:AID%7CIDAID=20090817/ANA03/308179956%7CID=:61B669D303849E2FBE45D67C3CB1317F&AID=20090817/ANA03/308179956&title=Lutz%27s%20credentials%3A%20The%20Ultimate%2 0BMW%20Marketing%20Machine%3F&ID=&CSTargetURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.autonews.com%2Fapps%2 Fpbcs.dll%2Flogin%3FAssignSessionID%3D273363754324 074%26AID%3D20090817%2FANA03%2F308179956) - Sub. Req. | Image: MTZC (http://www.freewebs.com/mtzc/)]



REPORT: Nissan's Fiesty Mr. K calls out the 370Z (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/21/report-nissans-fiesty-mr-k-calls-out-the-370z/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).



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[BustedS13]

holy shit that guy's old.

but he's right.

[drift freaq]

well said, I would have to say that Mr K is on the money.

[ixfxi]

i like how jay leno looks like a 10 year old kid

[xpertsnowcarver]

Daaaaaayum. A century old! I never would have guessed it.

From the limited amount of times I've driven a 350Z (G35 included), and constantly seeing them all the time.. they never appealed to me.. Wish I could have tested out a 240Z back then to know exactly what he's talking about.

[SexPanda]

You know, I take this as even more evidence Nissan is going to come out with a Miata/Genesis fighter in the near future.

Maybe even under the datsun name? One can only hope

[KOUKIboy]

Bravo well said Mr. K!!! New Nissans are loosing their appeal, heck I always get my S14 checkout by 350z guys, not to bash or anything but Nissans back in the day had more style, and weren't so expensive as f**k like todays Nissans, what happend to the affordable and stylish sports car??. I also a concept sketch somewhere of the 2012 fairlady Z!!! looks nice, it combines the body lines of the classic 240Z and some design elements of the GT-R, man I hope this get made, and Ill be awesome if it were to be badged under the Datsun nameplate, back to its roots....

[ixfxi]

Bravo well said Mr. K!!! New Nissans are loosing their appeal, heck I always get my S14 checkout by 350z guys, not to bash or anything but Nissans back in the day had more style, and weren't so expensive as f**k like todays Nissans, what happend to the affordable and stylish sports car??. I also saw a pic somewhere of the 2012 fairlady Z!!! looks tight, it has almost the same body lines as the old one, Ill be cool if this bad boy were to be badged under the Datsun, back to its roots....

back to its roots where, here in the US?

datsun was still nissan in japan, it was only here in the states that datsun was datsun.

[KOUKIboy]

^^Uhhh you kno what I mean lol, back to old name plate I meant....

[xpertsnowcarver]

Is this what you're refering too? In which case, that would be outstanding. :D
http://streetrats.net/e107_images/newspost_images/240z-concept-3.jpg

[KOUKIboy]

Kinda of but it has a different front end..That looks nawceeeeeee BTW....

[Nezahualcoyotl]

^^^ wow that looks great

[ixfxi]

fucking thing looks like shit




http://www.idcow.net/idcow/products/ym2014.jpg
in case you assholes forgot what the REAL DEAL looks like, not some cheap slapped together throw-back

[ronmcdon]

Well the 370z is a very different type of car compared to the old 240z.
The Miata is more similar than the 240z,
but you can't really say one is better than the other.

Miata might be cheaper than the 370,
but it's not as good a value imo.
a 21k miata won't even get you an a/c, iirc.

[illvialuver]

Verry cool that he is 100 years old. I can understand his sentiments but I don't agree with him 100 percent. I drive my gf's Miata and its a pain in the ass. I love the new Z and I think the Datsun name is cool and to associate it with performance is cool. The Mr. K 240z is what started my love for Nissans ansd cars in general. I would say that I owe my love of cars to Mr.Katayama.
As far as his hopes for the future of Nissans lets hope he lives another 100 years.

[Devilzeto]

THANX MR K FOR MAKING MY DREAM CAR COME TRUE ... LIVE ON MR K ... AND ALL HIS DATSUN KIDS:w00t: