*Disclaimer – This is an “in hindsight, hypothetical, and retrospective” viewpoint of what it would have been like to buy an M30 from 1990. It is not definitive and we are just piecing the past like a puzzle.
Mark and I always talked about what it would have been like to go to a freshly debuted Infiniti dealership in 1990. Seeing only Q45s and M30s. What was the atmosphere? How were the salesmen’s enthusiasm to try and get you to purchase an one of the models?
Walking in the front door and seeing brochures on a stand free to grab. Going by the parts department and seeing optional parts on display or on a shelf to purchase.
Walking out in the parking lot and comparing the Q45 and M30. Looking at the color combinations and comparing price.
After buying your M30, you would be congratulated. Take pictures shaking the salesman’s hand and maybe even take a picture with your new car for a calendar.
While the Q45 was the model that Infiniti promoted heavily, Infiniti still had to make sales off the M30 and promote the technology that was offered.
Promotional items were probably available to help with sales for both models (example to highlight the Bose system).
I don’t know anyone who has bought an M30 brand new, from an Infiniti dealership, between 1990 to 1992. On the opposite end, The Japanese Leopard owners were on it and the Leopard had an immediate following and aftermarket.
For Americans, I personally feel the first enthusiasts were the ones that bought the M30s. Many of them kept the cars in good condition and took care of them. Many of those first generation owners seemed to also really enjoy the M30 convertible particularly. They were not enthusiasts to the point of being die hard tuners, but they cared enough to take car of them.
For car tuning, Japan was always on top. Since the M30 didn’t come with many options, it didn’t catch attention of tuners unless you were really paying attention or knew of the car. Many of us didn’t catch onto the M30 til around 2002/3. Most of that was sparked because of the F31s that were featured in Option and Drift Tengoku.
Since none of us are the original owners and often times M30s have been changed many hands, paperwork and items usually get lost. Items that people didn’t find important or of significance then, is the subject of mystery and intrigue now. This is always the case and many items continue on to the next owner.
I’ve been piecing together what items might have been offered when you first bought your M30 from Infiniti dealership. The items below are definitive to have come from Infiniti, but that is not to say these are all the items.
- Promotional items. M30s did not get the promotional support the Q45 did. A couple of the brochures featured both models in a split or flip type fashion setup. One of them is the oversized M30: The Power of Nature is That brochure.
Credit – S. Noguchi
Here is the promotional package. These folder held individual brochures for the M30, Q45 and G20.
Can’t forget the various brochures of the M30 that were available to grab for window shoppers.
To promote the Bose system, a cassette tape was also offered.
There was also a VHS tape offered introducing Infiniti as a brand.
And later for the M30 convertibles:
I am the 3rd owner of my current M30. The previous owners did a great job on keeping information and maintenance records documented. I was given a lot of documents in which I have never had before.
- Leather glove box folder. All M30s came with this folder in the glove department. Many M30s have been through many different hands that some of these have been lost.
3 fold sections
Top section. Note pad, business card slots and Infiniti Pen. The pen might have changed depending on dealership.
Notepad and pen. It appears that the pen can be different depending of dealership the M30 was purchased.
The right side of the top section holds the business cards.
Middle section holds the Owner’s manual
Bottom has Infiniti Warranty information and Maintenance log
Most of the maint. logs have been used.
When you picked up your M30, the passenger side vent was mint condition. QA engineer with the verification.
For the M30 convertible:
Here is a Service Reference Notes. Usually, these are filled out and posted on the car.
This might not be a big deal, but I guess this came with the M30, so people know about shift lock.
Japanese leopard:
Here is a kind of a mini brochure. Introducing the Infiniti brand.
This piece that is inside the brochure is an invitation to test drive an Infiniti.
Infiniti Dealership directory. This had the addresses of every Original Infiniti dealership.
Total Ownership Experience. This was one of Infiniti’s selling points. All about your experience at the dealership and owning an M30 or Q45.
The permanent Total Ownership Experience ID card came on this.
The owner of this M30 was sent a letter personally thanking them for buying an M30 and telling them about the Total Ownership Experience.
Here is another letter introducing for Infiniti brand.
There is also a card that offers the video if you want to send it in.
Something that is starting to disappear is the window sticker.
One thing that I felt Infiniti did that was great was have the Factory service manual in every M30. They were in a hard dark gray case, but also it was compact.
When the convertibles came about, there was an additional manual specifically for the convertibles. This is actually a really good source and covers pretty much everything.
How to tow your Infiniti sheet. I got this sheet with my first M30 and even scanned it to F31club. The digital copy was lost in the hack and there are no pictures of it. *Sorry No picture
I have never seen this box. I do find it interesting because these 3 items are found to one box. I believe the folder is always in the glove box.
Surprises.
On that rare occasion, there will be that piece of paper under the carpet, behind the seat. It would be in Japanese and you don’t know what to think about it.
Hachiboy (Roger V) came upon this gem. Export label:
Garrett (XslidewayzX) found this after removing his seat:
Kue (F31pilot) also had this punch card. Satoshi-san said it is a vehicle identification punch card, QA card on trim level, vehicle’s data and such. Satoshi-san also believes this was suppose to be kept in the factory.
another:
This is NOT a definite COMPLETE list. The M30 is still a mystery and every so often an item pops up that makes us change our perspective and start theorizing about it.
As a quote from one of the Japanese owner’s clubs,
“Leopard, You always fascinate me”.