I agree with Dave. I think a well run petition to Nissan by USA owners
would have an impact. Believe it or not, but corporations respond to such
things--it gives them something to do (same with politicians!).
My plan: If a petition was crafted well and bespoke of the great
Nissan/Datsun sporting heritage--without singling any model out, just
reference them all!--then it wouldn't matter that the Zs would far
outnumber the roadsters, or 510s, etc. because the petition would be coming
from classic Nissan/Datsun owners who appreciate the whole great sporting
heritage of the mark.
They already signaled that they wanted to lean on their base with the 240Z
remanufacturing/reselling stint. That was a remarkable gamble and done at
a time when they were/are hurting financially. Did we respond then and
encourage them to sponsor events? Yes, to some degree (at least Z owners
did) but let's remind them that we (the base, the whole base) are energized
and want to help the company regain its reputation for great sporting cars
in the largest market in the world. They might really appreciate that,
considering they are about to introduce the next Z iteration in a couple of
years and could really use the PR assistance from true and devoted fans.
So, we write a great petition, one that can be signed by any Datsun/Nissan
lover and mailed or emailed--a pdf version is easy to do (I'll volunteer
some time to this project, since my pops has a roadster and I a Z). Then we
follow it up by working with dealerships to increase our presence in their
minds and for them to benefit from some cool classic Nissan's in their
lots. As they say, "it's a win, win."
Why not have the starting place for a fun-run be a Nissan dealer. Have a
"mini-show" and bar-b-que in their lot. If they can't stock roadster parts
economically, they can at least help sponsor events that all Datsun lovers
can enjoy.
We want their help, we need to make a presence. We can do that with a
well-targeted, and properly managed petition effort and a corporate
relations effort by the classic Nissan community.
Whad'ya think?
Alex Avery
Staunton, VA 280Z (and mechanical caretaker of a SRL-311-07078)
At 01:00 PM 12/22/00 -0500, Davesmbox@aol.com wrote:
>Hi List,
>I really can't imagine a company like Nissan taking note of even 100
>roadsters at a show.
>How is this for an idea? How about if someone more computer literate than I
>drew up a petition to Nissan in printable form requesting that they continue
>to support our cars. Every list member prints it and drops it in the mail.
>Even if only 200 letters came in to Nissan it would get some attention. If we
>expanded it to the Z list we might even get 1000 letters. Also take your car
>to the dealers when you buy parts from them and park it in the fire lane in
>front of their showroom. Here in New England you can't believe the attention
>the roadster gets. Little things like that will raise the roadster conscience.
>DAVE
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