The Porsche 911 has put on a lot of weight over the years.The original back in 1963 was a svelte sports car but over the years legislative demands in terms of crash performance and emissions control plus market demands for more comfort and related equipment means that today's 911 is a bigger and much heavier car than its predecessor.But at least today's 911 is an attractive car which has a strong family resemblance to its forebears.
The Datsun 240 Z when it was launched in 1969 was a compact and very attractive sports car which was a massive sales success and which pulled the rug from under British sports car sales in the US.The 240Z rapidly morphed into the 260Z which was still a great car but then Datsun totally lost the plot and the 260Z was replaced by the,to my eye,ugly 280ZX and finally the even worse 300ZX in 1983.In 14 years Nissan/Datsun turned a really great sports car into an ugly caricature of a sports car.
Seen on the street in Portland a few weeks ago two sides of the sports car story.On one side of the street a late model 911 and on the other a 280ZX .
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