Guest Anonymous Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 This post is dedicated to beater Z cars, the cars that should just lay down and die but somehow manage to keep trucking. I have owned my first car, a 1976 280Z for over a year now. In that period, just about every problem ever possible in a car happened to it. Yet most of them were easily fixed and the car was on the road the next day. I invested 250$ in the car and 300$ for impound fees. Another $250 to get smogged, and 50$ for a cheapie spraypaint job, and the total invested is $850. Probably worth over $1300 with new paint. Car was primer grey, with raw fiberglass and bondo showing in multiple places where rusted through. It failed smog by GP status. It leaked oil and gas and had major starting issues. Now it starts at the touch of a key, runs clean and strong and actually looks halfway decent. It has survived an incredible amount of abuse from a 17yearold sorry, im young, and this car is no 20k brand new papa's car. It has never truly failed me and i have developed a strong bond to it. So lets hear it. Tell us about your beater cars, be they Zs or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 My beater is an 88 Le Mans (made by Daiwoo, imported by Pontiac). 1.6L of terrorizing power backed by a 4 speed stick shift, absolutely reliable and has not given me a lick of trouble, plus bangs down 32-38 MPG depending on the trip, and its a hatchback with alot of space. I have it up for sale now though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 280Tom'z Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 i had a very nice Z but most of you know what happend to it but the one i have now has a lot of body rust and dents needs a new door and interor but its mainly just cosmetic stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JAMIE T Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 I've got the bitchenist Zcar beater on the planet. It's a gold '71 240Z with ZG flares, airdam, and way illegal window tint. I drive it everyday, beat the hell out of it, and it just keeps going. I hurt the feelings of many ricer posers. I think the engine is mostly stock except for a header and coil, and airhorns. The SU's work great. My little brother says it feels like a FI car, the way it throttle responce is FAST. I have been hard on it though. Backed it into a pole in a dark ally(no reverse lights). I banged the damage mostly back out. The tranny is starting to show signs of wear, cluncking and grinding into gears. The diff is starting to woine alittle, but I can't kill this thing. The vin number is HLS30-40000. So thats kinda cool too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 The 260z you see in my signature... bought it 1.5 years ago for $500, driven it daily since. Sure things go wrong, but I abuse it at times. (and take it to the track some too) Maybe over the last 1.5 years I've put another $350 into it total. When I'm done school I'll give it some more lovin' though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 My 77 280Z was a great little beater... until i tore it to pieces to replace the unibody.... paid $1500 for the car a couple years ago... put a 5-speed in and promptly slid into a curb. After replacing the stuff that was REALLY bent, i drove it for another 6 months until i decided that i was tired of the noise. The little beast has never given up on me though... Now i'm trying to pull it out of it's beater status though, i dumped about 1500 into it in the past 3 months... and it still needs work.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 My 78 280Z I purchased from a 16 year old kid. His daddy had also purchased him that car, and new Mustang when his Z started acting up so the kid sold it to me for $300. $100 later and about 8 straight hours I have the rear end job done and a $400 perfectly running Z with some reasonable rust. It also has some pretty good paint, and a $300 sound system already in it with purchase. I think I hit gold, at least for that price. The trick was having my dad convince the kid (who didn't know jack about cars) that it was a junkyard car. Hehe but we didn't lie at all, it could have been submitted to a junkyard in it's state. Runs like a champ now though. Oh, and I payed for it not my dad, I'm no spoiled brat. If some of the rust were dealt with this baby would sell for $1500 I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 my first beater z was a 1978 black pearl edition that i picked up for 500.00 and drove for six months, didnt smog it, register it, or nothing, just replaced some hoses, plugs, wires, coolant and kept up the oil, and drove it like a savage, and then sold it. my second beater z was a rustless 1973 240z with 2.4 and four speed, i drove it everyday without doing anything but replacing the distributor with a 79 280zx one with e1280 module and tune the carbs, ran like a champ, sold it on the street for double up once again. my current beater is my 1987 toyota pickup truck, long live the 22r... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest silverbullet Posted January 6, 2003 Share Posted January 6, 2003 Not a Z but one of my favorite beaters was a 1970 Datsun 110 coupe with a 4-speed and a tiny little 1200cc ohv engine, bought it in 83-84? for $150 had a little damage to the right front, took the fender off, it had a warped head/bad gasket, I didn't have access to a shop so I took it out back of the parents house, found a nice shade tree jacked up the front and proceeded to take out the trans/clutch/flywheel,radiator,entire exaust,cyl. head,alt,water pump so there was nothing left but the assembled short block,balanced precariously I might add, went and got a wheelbarrow and actually lifted the engine onto the radiator cross mount balanced it there while I moved to the outside and put it in the wheelbarrow took it into an old shed gave it a very basic overhaul had the head milled put everything back together and it ran great for several yrs. before I gave it to a friend and I mean we beat the s**t out of that car and it always came back for more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bang847 Posted January 6, 2003 Share Posted January 6, 2003 my beater is a 84 maxima... 240k on the original block and it still passes smog... got it for free because mom's friend got a new car and could only sell this one for 300 max.. now i got a car with everything working except cassette.....all power accesories work, cruise control works air con blows cold... car has original block and goes 3000 miles without burning any oil! .. I abused my Z and ran into a minivan... got discouraged... it is now parked and moved weekly to advoid parking tickets... both cars only need minor tune ups and oil changes... i gotta say the L6 blocks has been really good to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted January 6, 2003 Share Posted January 6, 2003 Most reliable beater was either my wife's Datsun 310 or my '82 Volvo 240DL. Both cars are long gone and I'm a happy man. The 310 was totalled in a nasty rear ender and the Volvo was sold since I didn't need 5 cars Currently, my 'beater' is my company car: '99 Furd Escort. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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