How many are left?

[SilentNight1647]

Just out of curiousity how many S30s do you suppose are still around? I know alot have been wrecked or hacked up over the years and it is getting kind of hard to find a decent chassis, I was very fortunate to find my 72 240 and 78 280 2+2 for the price I did even though they are not in greatest shape right now. So that's at least two out of the approximately 858,000 1st gen Zs produced. How many do you know of that are still out there?

 

My chassis numbers are:

72: 72450

78: 112467

[Pop N Wood]

There is an online registry for Z cars at zhome.com

 

http://www.zhome.com/IZCC/ZRegisters/

[Stealth-Z]

The zhome registry is selective. It would be difficult to say how many are left these days. Recently I started collecting the engine compartment ID plates out of S30's in the wrecking yards.

 

Searching State DMV records might be a generalized basis for registered and non operational status. But I know in California they drop off after a certain period of time. I have a 75 280Z that is not in the California DMV system. It was last registered in 1992. I do have the original California title. DMV still wants to visualy inspect the VIN.

[Lewis Maudlin]

Only 858,000 produced worldwide???? Seems like more, especially since you know most have already met the crusher

[GrayZee]

I recall reading something about sports car sales. There were lots of sports cars out there but usually sports cars have very low actual production numbers. For example, think of how many Chevy Cavaliers there are out there VS. Chevy Corvettes or Dodge Neons VS. Vipers. The part that I found interesting is that the Datsun Z's from 69 to 78 had the highest production numbers worldwide. More then any other sports car in history.

[SilentNight1647]

It's kind of sad really that so many Zs and other classics have met an unfortunate end at the crusher, they deserved better but oh well junkers are always going to junk nothing I can do except buy every one I can afford. The other thing that bugs me about crushing an old car is that you know that their isn't going to be anything made new that has the same feel to it, you know what I mean when you sit in the drivers seat of a classic and you can just feel the car, in my opinion new cars are just soulless shells and I don't know if they will ever be anything more, but who knows thirty years from now I could be asking how many Pontiac Solsitices are still out there.

[Stealth-Z]

A friend of mine in the auto dismantling / scrap business said something that resonates in my mind.

"The ultimate value of any car is how much it weighs"

 

People just have different views than we do about cars. You should see some of the stuff they crush in other countries. It would make a used car salesman here in the U.S. cry.

[speedgato]

There are so many s30's in peoples yards here in Tucson. Last night a buddy and I went looking for an early 240 for my little brother, we say no less than 5 in various yards. The problem is everybody wants to think that a car sitting, rotting away in a yard is worth 10 g's.

[naviathan]

Today's cars are like an old man on life support. So many electronics and gadgets making them numb to their surroundings that they can't feel life anymore. In the same respect todays cars don't require any skill to drive because they don't feel the road and neither does the driver. Not to mention the engine compartments look like they're on life support.

[Stealth-Z]

Today's cars are like an old man on life support. So many electronics and gadgets making them numb to their surroundings that they can't feel life anymore. In the same respect todays cars don't require any skill to drive because they don't feel the road and neither does the driver. Not to mention the engine compartments look like they're on life support.

All the additional mandated safety equipment adds to the no skill requirement. Not that I am against safety but one should know how to drive in the first place. We now have cars that parallel park themselves.

[naviathan]

And brake themselves and tighten the seatbelt anticipating an accident and they're even working on self drive cars so you really won't need any skills at all.

[Cal Poly Zmanaustin]

The funny thing about safety systems in cars are the incident of accidents. Cars with safety equipment like ABS, ASC, Airbags as a percent have a higher incident of collisions and fatalities than those without. Why do you think that is? The cars are safer without question. Answer: drivers with these vehicles have a false sense of security and push the vehicles beyond their driving skill level.

[GrayZee]

The funny thing about safety systems in cars are the incident of accidents. Cars with safety equipment like ABS, ASC, Airbags as a percent have a higher incident of collisions and fatalities than those without. Why do you think that is? The cars are safer without question. Answer: drivers with these vehicles have a false sense of security and push the vehicles beyond their driving skill level.

 

 

Very true indeed.. Where I live the roads are ice/snow covered for almost half the year and I never really was a fan of FWD. Almost every vehicle around here is though. FWD will have (or seem to have) better handling and traction than a RWD car and for the most part it is true. The thing I don't like is that FWD can be driven very near it's limits on these sorts of roads with very little warning that you are going to skid out. With RWD, you get LOTS of warning and it basically forces you to drive slower. It makes me wonder about the old days when almost every vehicle on the road was RWD.

[jknc90]

We now have cars that parallel park themselves.

 

Not exactly

[G.I.jonas]

Yea its funny this comes up.I worked for years at a body shop here in maine,and saw a lot of cars during the winter months coming in with damage during (or after)snow storms which there are a lot of.Now what car do you think is by far the most common to see in the shop...thats right,subarus galore.I have worked on subaru body so much i could do it in my sleep now.People are like hey,i have awd,i can go like 70 at all times even though im retarded and i'll be ok.

[datsunlover]

Yup. Every time we get a big winter storm up here, there are thousands of accidents reported, and people off into ditches/ect. 90% are AWD vehicles and 4x4 pickups. My first car (and Z) was an 81 280zx and I drove it through TWO winters (one was a very long and awefull winter I might add) with no trouble at all. Stuck it once in a parking lot on top of a 2' drift, but aside from that I was fine. I had an 85 200sx (the old rwd hatchback style) which was AWESOME in the snow, and I also drove a 2wd nissan pickup through about 3 winters.. weight in the box and snow tires took me all over the place, and NEVER got stuck. Mind you I've been spoiled now, having owned a 4 wheel drive 'something' the last 3 winters (first a nissan king cab, and my now deceased 1 tonne dually) and after driving the Z in the rain yesterday, I'm amazed I drove a rwd ANYWHERE in the WINTER!!