First Z car! how did you get yours?

[olie05]

Well, My z was born to me in july 2003. It was the first time I had ever driven a z, sat in a z or even seen a z this close up before. I only had an idea of what was going on from reading the forums and doing a little research in the 6 months before i bought it. I had won the car on e-bay but didn't pay the guy till i got there and saw that the car could be driven home ( I wasn't going to have it shipped. ) after I bought it I had to fix a few things on it ( get the headlights to work and check it for driveability ) and then I was on the road. The car ran ok (on a loose u-joint) but I later found out that we had also driven back on 5 cylinders. And that's how I got my 1977 280z...

 

Just a side note from zguy95135's signature :

"Officer, I wasn't tailgating... I was drafting"

on the drive back, i had to drive the minivan half the way and I pulled up behind this bus... I opened the windows a crack, and when i got about a foot away from the bus, there was no sound from the windows (70mph) Crazy, I know but there was no traffic and a constant speed... I had to try it!

[speeder]

I used to be a Porsche guy - Had a new 71 911S. I planned to get another when I returned from overseas ( Bermuda NASA Tracking Station) in 1977, but prices had gone too high for me.

I bought a '77 280Z brand new, light metallic blue, $6800.00 with 5-speed, A/C, and Cassete Stereo. The car was a little slower than I remembered my 911 was, but that was quickly remedied with a 7psi BAE turbo kit. This was done before the car had 10,000 miles on it - voided the warranty, which I never needed anyhow.

I owned my original '77 until 1996, gradually improving every system on it and learning about turbos/ tuning the hard way (destroying pistons).

Then one fateful day I was driving to work at KSC, and a big Lockheed van ran a stop sign and T-boned me in the passenger side at about 45 mph..and drove the Z into a tall curb on the other side of the road. My companion of 19 years was now a banana car, as my body-shop guy put it. I remember that all the windows were shattered , and there I was, sitting in a wadded up car full of broken glass. I was uninjured except for a burn on my wrists where the steering wheel whipped by and a bruise on one knee. the driver of the van came over to see if I was all right and I cussed him out for ruining my car. At this point I hadn't thought about checking my condition.

The KSC firemen had to pull off a door to get me out, and I wouldn't go to the dispensary until I had called a tow truck to haul the Z to the body shop.

I used some mechanical pieces of my wrecked '77 to begin my current '77ZT, and used leftovers from that project to put together my '78 daily driver.

And that's my Z story.

[z-REX]

mine kinda fell into my lap. i was 18, walking home from baseball practice, and i saw a sky-blue 78 280 with an msa aero kit and a for sale sign for 1500. as luck would have it, i had just signed papers a few days before for a personal loan for 2 grand, and the rest as they say is history. eventually the engine 'blew in that one (it endured some damn tough times) but it was my first car and i'll never forget it. only wish i had found the net at that point, that car probably woulda had a 350 seven years ago! i ended up selling it for parts.

[Guest SERGIO]

I was 17 years old when i was looking at a buick Apollo.

My dad liked this car, Lucky for me it had a blown motor.

 

We kept looking around, And like an hour later we came across a Grey X. 5spd t-tops cruise control power windows, mirrors two tone leather seats(grey and black) It also had 90,000 miles on it.

The guy was asking $1700

We started a conversation with this guy , He started by saying his father was the fist owner and then gave it to his son, but his son didn't know how to drive stick shift.

So we offered him $1400 for it, And he agreed.

My dad drove it home

Next day time for my first lesson in driving stick shift.

We got in the car , My dad explained how this works and goes out.

I'm like what kind of lessons are these but oh well and took off.

A week later we got in the car a he corrected my errors, And that was all for my lessons.

I drove this car for like a year, I moved out of state and my dad sold the car to a friend.

 

Once i was on the freeway driving my ZX and this guy come up on my side on an early Z and reved his engine, I slamed the gas pedal to the floor, And that sucker Just blew a kiss and dessapered.

After that i wanted one of those.

 

Month's after my dad sold my ZX he calls me and says my cousin is selling his 78 Z coupe, I didn't think about it and told him to buy it.

When i get home me and my brother went for a test drive on 4 cyl.

Those tires spined quite well even on those 4 cyl.

[Mike kZ]

I always liked the look of the Z, but never owned one early on. I test drove a 280Z in the mid 90's that was in very poor shape, oil burning engine, rusty, crapy interior, etc.. but i liked the way it felt. I didn't buy it for obvious reasons. I've always been a V8 guy, so I thought it would be cool to put one in one of these, little did I know that it had been done. So I searched the internet for any info on Z cars and came accross the JTR site , wow, a kit to install a V8 in a Z! I found my Z in a barn with a 327 sitting in the engine bay, bolted with wooden blocks to the frame, but nothing was hooked up. I bought the car with extra parts for $400, and the rest is history!

[ZR8ED]

My first Z came to me....

 

Back in the early 80's my dad was looking at brand new 300zxt's! I fell in love with them....

 

I always though i'd like to get one when i got my liscence. Then I discovered that it was actually possible... the 280zx.. basically the same (in my mind) and I would likely be able to afford one...

 

Well I got talked into a mustang when I was 17 and drove that hunk of junk for 1.5 years. Well the summer of 1989 found me with a girlfriend that would not set foot on my Hobie cat 18 Catamaran sail boat...I had no one to sail with anymore so I put it up for sale... Near the end of the summer I got a phone call from a friend of a friend who kept his catamaran where I did. He didn't have cash for the boat but inquired if I would be interested in a 280z.. "A 280z"? you mean a 280zx?...NO a 280Z... a first gen...whats a first gen look like?

To make the story a bit shorter, I stopped by for a look and maybe a test drive... I was not all that impressed with the chopped off looking back...(in comparison to a 280zx)...but I took it for a boot around the block (no muffler on it) and I fell in love...

 

I worked out a trade with some cash and I brought home an original 1978 280 with 152,000 km's on it...

 

I've had that car almost 15 years now...and I've slowly modded it every year...I've owned 11 z's now, but my 280 has always been my baby... the only car that ever made me want to sell it (when i was feeling very low and the car was broken down) was a TURBO charged 300zxt that I had as a daily driver/winter car...hehehehe.. I still have my 280, and now ITS TURBO charged to !!!!!!

 

I'm into Z's for the long haul....If i had a spare million $, I'd spend it on my Z... I think someone here said it once.."if I had all the money I spent on cars, I'd spend it all on cars"

 

I've had ups and downs with the car over the years, but in the larger scheme of things.. I have no regrets.

[ToplessZ]

Guess Ill bite. Im not sure what happened to me guess I got saved so to speak I was looking at the erubuni body kits on groundeffects.com a few years ago and just happen to seea z with the xenon kit while I was browsing not sure if I had my car yet or not. Anyhow I thought it was different not what I wanted at the time yet I remembered the red car for ever. Well As I started working on my pos car #1 and then#2 I started getting into cars then I wanted something special. I liked the fiats and mg's and was into the italian sports car look then I started floating around the .net and looking into classic sports cars and that red z popped into my head so I went and found it then started looking for more info on these cars. Not sure if thats when I found this site or not but I found it via a .net search and from the point I started reading I was in love. Then found a friend of a friend that had a 77 with some aftermarket parts and I got my first ride. I loved it and had to have one. So I started reading this site and the addiction to a car I didnt have grew and grew until I found one for sale that I saved up enough money to buy and have shipped. It was a 77 280 converted into a topless and it has been my money and time pit ever since, but it is getting there. Then last summer I found a 73 240 with an imsa kit for sale for best offer. Needed a roof due to the old vinyl top. But had lots of new parts and an R200 installed bought the whole car in TX for 600 bucks and after a board member picked it up and stored it for me for awhile I had it shipped up here and it is headed to the body shop right now to get that new roof. Both cars are progressing nicely and I cant wait to have them both running like mad. Im an addict for life. The love for z cars and the knowledge involved has changed my life and at 21 and counting am looking into an automotive related career doing what I love instead of picking peoples brains (my intriguing past asperations of being a psychologist) for a living. Looking forward to life with my family of z loving brothers and a sister or two.

[Guest XR1000]

as a young man i saw a XKE the affair was on. thru the years MG ,TRI and fiats always two seats and no top.. afew montha ago i was looking in the classifieds and came across 75 280 white nice interior 1400. i told my wife lets go look we will take one look and buy the car or we will pull up and not even get out of the car. as she came into veiw i was sold . when he popped the hood i was in love . for 29 years i could not belive the shape she was in. start her up i say he says she wont start this vacuum hose has a crack in it. he assured me when the hose was replaced she would run like a top " I would drive her to california" I thinking yea right ! I drove to the nearest parts house and the nearest atm i replace the hose she fired up i paid the man this is the only car i have ever had that makes me happy just knowing it is mine. she runs great i put new exhaust and wheel bearings on her. when i left his house he smiled and said make sure catch a gear on the way home . catch a gear i could hardly catch my breath ahhh it is good to be the king