Need advice on whether to buy a 260Z or not

[Guest HolyLlama]

I'm putting the finishing touches on my 240sx project and my 280zx project is awaiting me to make up my mind on what engine to put in it; so for the past few months I've been looking for a first gen Z to slap my L28ET in. I thought initially I was having bad luck. The first car I looked at was in late August, it was a 71 or 72 240Z, the guy had 2. He was offering to sell 1 for 1500 or both for 2500. They were the rustiest Z's I've ever seen. The frame rails were starting to rust through in spots. I wouldn't have trusted either on the road no matter how much work I did to them. I tried buying one as a parts car because it had a good interior but after negotiating for an hour I got him down to $1300. He said I was getting a steal because Nissan was buying all the 240Zs up and they contacted him and offered him 3000 for it, I asked him why he didn't sell it to them, his reply "Too much paperwork." The second I looked at was a 280Z in decent condition with a bad engine and tranny for $5000 I got him down to 4500, but I still wasn't willing to pay that. I've looked at several others but I get the same situations. It seems everyone thinks these cars are worth their weight in gold and pure silk streams from their tailpipes.

 

Now to the topic of this thread, my roommate wrecked his car we were riding around and he noticed a pretty immaculate Porsche 944 at a place that works on VWs. They have about 15 Karmann-Ghias, about 10 old Beetles a few VW kit cars a few buses and about 5 random foreign cars. I stuck around while my roommate and the owner went for a test drive. I went around surveying the Beetles because most of my car buddies have first gen Beetles (God knows why, Shane has the fastest Beetle and it's got 115rwhp and gave his engine builder license to do what he wanted and had his wife pay the bill because he knew the cost would make him sick). So anyway I'm looking at the Beetles and I see a 260Z way out behind the shop parked under a tree. I didn't get to look at it good for reasons I'll get to later. First impression, it's in decent shape. The body is straight, and rust close to rust free. There's a place in the driver's doorjam where it's rusted through, all the exposed metal inside the car has surface rust. The interior and dash though, appear to be alright. The floorpan is perfect, ( I took advantage of him not being there and ripped up the carpet on both sides) and it has the original key.

 

Now for the bad part, it's been sitting for 6 years every latch on the car is frozen in place Driver's side door latch is froze open and won't latch shut, passenger side was froze shut till I forced it open, the hatch appears to be froze shut, neither cable nor key will open it, the hood won't pop when you pull the cable so either it's frozen or the cable's broke possibly broke. The engine will supposedly turn over but not crank (doesn't matter to me) and the tranny is 4 spd manual and may or may not work.

 

The guy wants $600 for it, although he seems somewhat sleazy, he told my roommate (he knows nothin about cars) the 944 had a turbo V6, I corrected him saying it had an NA 4 cylinder, he mumbled something about it getting on down the road and not knowing much about it and shut up. Is it worth $600? Any advice on negotiating someone like this down? And any advice on popping the hood and the hatch before I buy it?

[quicker240]

I dont know where in Alabama you are,but finding a decent car here aint rocket science.Give me a call at 205-337-8343.I live just south of birmingham and know of a couple of cars around as we speak.Hell,theres one in my basement!.You've just been talkin to the wrong people.

[RB26powered74zcar]

If he want $600 for it, try to get it for less. Either way, I think any 1st gen Z is worth $600. You can buy it for whatever you can get him down to, then if it turns out to not be the car you want to invest into, you can use mostly any good part on it on any other Z you may find.

 

If its the early 260, I'd buy it for $600. You can make that back easy in parts you don't use for another Z you may buy, plus its ALLWAYS handy to have a parts car around....

[zdmz]

I picked up my 260z for $300. It had sat for 6 years, but the doors opened and had almost all of the parts with it. The interior was pretty thrashed and I have replaced everything except the dash and seats. The exterior was stripped and left outside unprotected, it had surface rust over the whole car but is still very solid. The frame rails and floors look very good.

The best part was that we were able to get it started and drive it onto a trailer to get it home. I think it turned out to be a pretty good deal.

If the weather would warm up a bit I would work on it more often and be driving it. It is getting close.