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It’s hard to imagine that Nissan’s Z-series has been around for 40 years. But what’s even more difficult to fathom is the fact that it actually came close to never materializing in the first place.

It turns out, Yutaka “Mr. K” Katayama was the first one to broach the idea of the car back in 1969, and after a lengthy debate regarding the viability of the car, Nissan eventually relented and introduced the very first Z car: the Nissan Fairlady Z.

And now, 40 years later, Nissan’s Z-series is one of the most revered car lines in Japanese auto history and to commemorate the monumental occasion, Nissan is releasing a limited-edition Nissan 370Z Coupe, which, from what we’ve heard, will go on sale in the spring of 2010.

The limited-edition 370Z was molded from a Touring version of the 370Z Coupe with the standard 3.7-liter V6 engine, which is capable of producing as much as 322 horsepower.

Despite carrying the same engine, Nissan added a few kinks for the special-edition car, including the brand’s trademark Synchro-Rev automatic rev-matching function to complement the car’s six-speed manual transmission. Likewise, the 40th anniversary 370Z was also supplied with bigger brakes than those in the standard version and to top it off, Nissan also provided the car with bigger – and reinforced – 19-inch Rays forged wheels.

As far as the styling of the anniversary 370Z is concerned, Nissan gave it a royal red treatment with red leather trim as well as red stitching throughout the car’s interior. If that wasn’t enough to signify the importance of the car, Nissan also gave the car a special “40th Quartz” paint scheme to commemorate the Z-series’ 40th year.

Press release after the jump.

Nissan 370Z 40th Anniversary Edition originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 15 October 2009 16:30 EST.

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