280ZX Turbo, odd situational question

[kanaric]

A very close family friend (friends with my dad before I was born, i call him uncle, etc) is selling his 83 280ZX turbo it is a well maintained car, he is a nissan fan and a retired master mechanic, however he has dual citizenship in Canada and lives more in his summer home up there so he bought a R33 GTR and now wants to sell this car.

 

Basically i'm looking for a streetable track day car. Have a friend with a Porsche Cayman who I like to do track days with. Had a 350z but sold that and bought a base WRX which is poor on the track and I intended to keep that DD.

 

The thing is I was going to buy a E36 M3 with a budget of $12k and was already shopping around. Might be a weird cross shop, but only because this car that I have always liked is being by a family friend and says he would give it to me for $5k. The remaining 7k can go to convert it to more of a track orientated setup and this car is immaculate with a rebuilt engine about 30k miles ago in 2005. Does a 280zx work as a streetable track car or should I go with this BMW which will cost me double? Keep in mind I would probably have more than enough money for suspension, lsd, tires, etc. With the BMW I could probably get a car and also afford upgraded suspension. I also intend on commuting 1 or 2 days during the week because I have an 80 mile daily commute and put 20k miles on my wrx in the first year of ownership, lol. Quite a lot. My primary concern though is which, for what I would pay, would make the better track day weekend car? Keeping all the properties of a known item vs unknown, money i'd have left to spend, etc in mind not pure performance standpoint

 

I was trying to avoid turbo cars as I prefer naturally aspirated despite owning a WRX.... but this 280zx is so nice, sounds great, looks like a new car, and I know it. The Z is stock. The only thing i hate about it is the digital dash, it works properly it's just unintuitive to me.

Edited December 29, 2012 by kanaric

[johnc]

The M3 is a better DD, track car then a 280ZXT.  I would buy the 280ZXT and use it as my DD and then spend $5,500 on a M3 that has a junk interior, a bad paint job, and/or some dents and slowly convert that into a track only car.

[FricFrac]

You can't compete with technology.  If you want a track car there are a lot of better options than a 30 year old car. What are your requirements for a track car?  Do you need a cage?  A pristine 280ZXT is probably the most valuable of the 280ZX (more than at 10th anniversary, ZXR, etc) so you might want to consider what mods would devalue the car or you may not be concerned about it's resale value at all.  You can get a reliable 300rwhp out of the L28ET but as I said you're running against modern technology...

 

$5K is a fair amount for a turbo 280ZX which of course depends on your region.  The condition of these cars can vary drastically and rust can hide any number of places on these cars unfortunately.  If the car is actually pristine (body wise - engine/drivetrain is pretty reliable on these cars so that's much less of a concern) then $5k is probably a bargin - if it's rusty then it's a ripoff.  Is it a car you plan on keeping or something you'll buy and flip down the road?