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โMy dad brought me to the race track before my first birthday,โ says Eric Ritz, an industrial designer from Akron, Ohio. โHe raced Datsun 510s in SCCA, and we were there with him every weekend. So itโs in my blood.โ
After a lengthy career in GT4 and ITC-class competition, Ericโs father decided to change gears in 1993, and sold all of his race cars to shift his focus toward customs. โHe started building hot rods and street rods,โ he explains. โAnd that kind of inspired me to start working on cleaner, street rod-style builds, too. He bought a โ53 Oldsmobile, and later we got a โ53 Chevrolet hardtop that was built out as kind of a lead sled. And when I was 16, I purchased a โ66 Impala that I turned into a custom lowrider type of deal. So we spent a lot of time messing around with those cars, but we always made sure we had a few Datsuns in the stable. My dad always has had one of every body style of the 510 at all times โ so a wagon, a two door, and a four door. At least.โ
The Ritz family soon gained a reputation in the area as Datsun specialists, which led to a family friend bringing a 1973 Datsun 240Z over to their garage to embark on a rebuild. โHe started working on it with my dad about twelve years ago,โ Eric notes. โWeโd work on some stuff on the weekends, and he would come down during the week and work on it some more.โ
The project eventually got to the point where the car was in primer and drivable, but it stayed in that state for several more years. โBut he was hardly using the car at that point,โ Eric recalls. โSo one day he called us up and said he was going to sell it. I told him to take the ads down โ I would buy it. The car had spent so much time with us, it had kind of become part of the family.โ
Ritz notes that the Zโs Recaro seats, which were sourced from a Mitsubishi Evo 8, are one of the few interior items from the original restoration of the car which made the cut when he decided rebuild the Datsun from the ground up in 2017. The door panels, dashboard, and center console are all custom fabricated. โWe built the dash out of sheet aluminum,โ he explains. โAnd I incorporated extra segments of the carbon fiber cage protectors to make that bullnose.โ The 240Zโs cage attaches to the suspension points of the car as well as the limited slip rear endโs mounting points, the latter of which was sourced from an Infiniti Q45.
Ritz took possession of the Z in the fall of 2017. Over the next few months he drove the car as it was, putting about 500 miles on the odometer before he decided toโฆ well, start over. โIt went back on the rotisserie,โ he says with a laugh. โPart of it is because I was worried about rust โ itโs a very rust-free car, and it had originally been sandblasted and then sprayed with metal etch primer, which really canโt get wet or it will start rusting. So it was one of things where I realized that if I wanted to actually use this car regularly, we were going to have to seal everything up the right way. And Iโm a designer โ I had to make it my own.โ
Over the course of the next two and half years the Z was stripped down and rebuilt once again, this time with an even greater emphasis on delivering both form and function. โThe roll cage is kind of the highlight of the car, in my opinion,โ he points out. โIt was done by McMahan Auto Sport here in Ohio, and itโs just a really trick piece โ it goes out to all the suspension points and down to the rear end mounting points. It also fits beautifully โ the work is just phenomenal.โ
The rigid structure sets a foundation for serious corner carving. Tubular control arms and other suspension pieces come from Techno Toy Tuning, while Ground Control camber plates, QA1 springs, shortened struts and Bilstein inserts round out the track-proven suspension setup that was developed by Ericโs father. Big Wilwood disc brakes with Hawk Performance DTC rotors and pads also provide a massive improvement over the factory brake setup โ and trust us, this car needs all the stopping power it can get.
The LS2 is outfitted with a custom-fabricated aluminum cold air intake thatโs wrapped in heat shielding material. The ignition system has been upgraded with MSD coils and wiring to keep the LS2 happily humming along during high-performance driving events and the like. โItโs been fantastic, weโve had no issues with this stuff at all. Itโs an absolute monster, but itโs also very drivable.โ
Motivation comes from an LS2 and a Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual transmission. With a couple of bolt-on upgrades under the hood, Ritz estimates the LS is good for about 400 horsepower at the wheels. And when you consider the fact that the diminutive Z tips the scales at a mere 2300 pounds with the LS powertrain in it, itโs a power-to-weight ratio that puts this Datsun on par with the new Mustang Shelby GT500.
โIโve always been intrigued by the lightweight BMWs and their use of carbon parts, and I thought it would be really cool to incorporate some of that into this build,โ Eric says. โBut I wanted to keep it nice and kind of subdued until you really start looking at those details. I also like the idea of showing up at an autocross or track day, keeping the hood shut, and making people wonder whatโs going on.โ
Ritz completed the build last September just ahead of SEMA 360, where it placed in the top 10 among sport compacts in the all-virtual Battle of the Builders. โThat was mind blowing, and super exciting,โ Eric tells us.
And as he waits for springtime weather to reappear so he can bring the Z out to local track day events, autocross competitions, and various car shows, he reflects on putting the finishing touches on a father-and-son project thatโs been a long time coming. โThis was built in a pole barn behind my dadโs house. Since heโs retired and I'm working 9-to-5, there were many days when I went over there to find him assembling or wiring, and he has this amazing ability to figure out how to build the things that pop up in my designer brain. He and I have been building cars together since I was quite young, and Iโm incredibly lucky to be able to share my passion with his. I couldnโt have done this without him.โ
The factory front and rear steel bumpers have been swapped out for carbon fiber pieces from The Z Store. โI was a little worried because I had never seen them on a car, but when they came it was a pleasant surprise,โ Eric says. โGood quality, and they fit with a little bit of massaging. A lot of people just remove the bumpers on these cars, but to my eye, it always looks like something is missing.โ The carbon fiber rear panel is a prototype piece from TC3 Composites in Poland, Ritz notes. โWeโve been working them to develop some of the parts for the car โ now you can just hop on the website and order these panels.โ