What's "YOUR" Z story?

[cygnusx1]

How far back does your Z history and experience go? How many have you had? Where did you get them, what was done to them, and what happened to them? Stories, details, experiences...

 

I will tell my Z story later...it's late and I'm tired...someone else start.

 

[olie05]

Got my z in austin, drove it back to houston (190miles) with a u-joint with LOTS of slop, and 5 cyl.

 

For the full story with some creative effort click on the picture of my car below and then click on the other picture of my car. (lots of pictures I suppose)

[tannji]

I had my first ride in a Z back in the 80's. My room mate had a 77 about 95% restored, all on a budget with sweat equity, and I loved it. I finally jumped on a deal to pick up my first z about a year later. It was a 79 ZX, with 100K and a saggy suspension. It was cool, and the newest car I had ever owned, but it wasn't, with all apologies to our ZX members, a Z. (to me) I didn't get the feel or thrill from it that I did in his, and I had a hard time keeping up with his sprints on our various capers around Long Island. I did like its drifting ability on wet pavement = ) but thats about it. I sold it with over 200K though, for $400... so it was nothing if not reliable, and bailed me out every time another car failed. About 6 months after finding the ZX, I ran across a 76 that was deemed too out of date for Daddies college girl. Picked that one up for $1200. It quickly became the love of my life and remains my favorite car to this day. I "stole" a fresh, lightly cammed motor from a friend who bought a Z to be cool enough to hang with our little Z crew. He loved my Z because it was so "smooth and quiet".... I gave him $200, he gave me his car for the weekend, and our little crew swapped both motors, new struts, a 411 diff, and a 5 speed tranny. After fighting my new engine for about 8 hours, we replaced o-rings on the injectors, and I had a transformed car. It launched well, it handled well, it chirped 4 gears if I wanted to, and it ate the mid to late 80's camero's and 5.0's regularly. It eventually showed me its rusty nature, and I salvaged body panels from a brown 240Z, and a canary yellow whale tail from the JCR Cali Kit, on the sky blue Datsun body. I had no shame, nor money for a paint job, and I still loved it. If anything, it was MORE of a sleeper, lol. I took that car to 125 or so because of that whale tail..... and I shudder now, don't know how it stayed on the road. It met an untimely end at an intersection where I T-boned a Nissan Stanza because of black ice. I immediately hit the want ads and found a 1970 240Z with a non-JTR 350/Turbo 350 3 speed combo. I slapped the JCR Cali Kit on it, with the BRE spoiler, and spent a year owning Hempstead Turnpike with it. Got to the point where none of the Joeys in dad's camero/5.0/928/944/Vette would play any more. Best Race ever was against a buddies Goat with a BB.... beat him for the first time (very bad day for him) and then hit Reverse with my ratchet shifter at about 60 mph... did a fast 180 and ended up bumper with him, staring into his wide eyes, still doing 50 or so, going backwards. My passenger threw his feet up on the dash, grabbed the window sill, and screamed like a girl. I was too shocked to do anything but act cool, lol. Got a ticket in that car for modified exhaust, and held on to the ticket for a while... it listed the car as a "Porsche"....

I had to get out of Z's due to economic shortcomings... and it took me 15 years to get back in the saddle. Now in the process of hybriding my hybrid... losing a TPI 350/700r4 combo for something lighter, smaller, lower, and more rev-able. Oh, current Z is a 1971 240Z... with an indescribable and undesirable metallic rootbear/maroon paint job that would make Earl Schibe cry.

[mbc]

I'll try to make this brief. (If anyone cares)

 

My first Z experience began as a youngster when my aunt, the original owner of a series 1, would pick me up from school. She always drove fast and to me, that car felt like a rocket...I was 11 years old.

 

My second Z experence was in high school. A friend of mine had a '77 2+2 that was driven hard. Real hard. My experences with this car made my decision to get a Z.

 

Z#1, (1991) '72 Blue/ White. Rusted out cowl and rear wells. The car was stock and driven accordingly. I learned my way around a Z with this one.

 

Z#2, (1992) '78 2+2, Red/ Black. California car, also stock. This was a good car. Fuel injection experence now.

 

Z#3, (1993) '81ZX. Silver/ Blue. P.O.S. period.

 

Z#4, (1993) '81ZX turbo. Gold/ Tan. Wish I still had this one. Learned my way around a Turbo Z with this one. Fun car, 'til it tops out at 100mph (3 spd auto).

 

Z#5, (1995) '78 BPE. Black (obviously)/ Black. Paid $200 for it with a bad motor. Replaced the engine and drove it for one day and then stored it (where it sits today). Orig condition...basket case awaiting TLC.

[Kennysgreen280zt]

This is a way cool thread! My Z story starts back almost as early as I can remember. Our family is heavily into cars, and I honestly dont remember when we got the first Z. Im pretty sure it was a 76 or 77 2+2. I dont remember what color it was even, though I remember my dad throwing a pretty sweet stripe job on it. Im sure I could dig up some pictures if I wanted to. This was back in 83 to 85 ish, and I was small enough to fit in the back seats that is why the memory is a bit foggy. As my sister and I grew up a bit the Z had to go as we started fighting for the front seat, and space got cramped. Mom got into a mini van after that and was never happy with the van. So come to I would say 93 or 94 she picks up a minty 83 turbo 5spd 2+2 with T-tops! The car was great, I remember looking under the hood, and even then thinking what a night mare the electronics looked to be. This is really the car that got me obsessed with turbocharging and was a really nice car. We ended up selling it around 1995-6, right before I got my drivers licence, probly a good thing as I would have been a new driver in a turbo Z! So that is my childhood with Z's. My cars story is one of its own.

 

My Z was purchased in 1975 as a super low milage tradein (its a 75 so someone must not have been happy) My grandma was looking for a car to have some fun in, as all the kids had moved out, and they were just starting to celebrate being free and in thier early 40's. The car was driven by her up untill the mid 80s when it was put into storage. My mom had borrowed the car a few times and that was part of the reason she ended up getting the turbo Z. I can remember being small (10-12ish) and waiting to see the (my) Z round the corner and come up the road to the house. The car has always been garaged, and my grand father took a lot of care when he put it into storage. In 1994 my grandfather passed away and the Z continued to sit in storage at thier house. It was dry and covered and on jackstands so it was nested away nicely. 1999 roles around and my grandma decides she wants my dad and I to come down and get the Z running again. So we go down, drain the fluids, do all the normal crap to get an old car running. She fired right up and we took it for a spin around the block. Being in highschool I had a bit of a taste for newer cars, but had alot of respect for the Z. Comes to find out the reason grandma wanted to get it running was to give it to me as a highschool graduation present!!!! Needless to say Im still really glad that I was given the car, and she is really happy that she gets to see me enjoy it. Through the family grapevine, I found out the grandparents had been planning since a few years after putting it in storage that is was going to be given to me 12 or so years later. Its a wonderful reminder and keepsake from my grandfather, and I hope to have the car for many years to come.

 

So thats my Z story. Again this is a pretty awesome thread!

[buZy]

1970 BIR aka. Donnybrooke watching racing as a kid.

[hoov100]

simply put, my uncle is/was a HUGE z car fan, he was the original owner of a 77 280z, well we drove it down to mexico once, then he bought a fairlady 240z, well he parked it in his shed and i tinkered with it until 03, then he finally gave it to me, so i drove it around and blew the head gasket, which warped the head, so it sat in storage for another three years before i sold it to the owner of the storage place, now its getting a resto. and possibly an RB..

[Mikelly]

I was just getting ready to get my license, at the age of 15 years, 10 months, when I found an orange 240Z sitting at a used car lot in Orange Co. Va. I fell in love, until I checked the insurance on it. The agent told my dad that it would be the same to insure a corvette or porsche... I was dejected.

 

1/2 mile down the street this hottie from highschool (Her name was dawn, smoking body!!) had her 73 toyota celica for sale at her dad's gas station. It was a littel silver 4speed coupe... Loved that car. It was abused, crashed, "modded" the best I could afford at the time, and eventually broken sitting in my parents yard. I was in college when they had it towed away in 1985-86 time frame.

 

In 1987 I was involved in a bad car accident and totalled the car I was making payments on at the time. I couldn't afford the gap in pay-off, so I had to buy a beater. I ended up at my uncle johnny's VW repair shop. He had an old Porsche 912, a 74 Datsun 260Z, a fiat X19 and a 72 chevelle, all for sale. He'd buy projects from other people, fix them when the shop was slow, and flip them... Anyway, I drove all four, and ended up paying him $1200 for the 260Z. That single purchase took me down the path of Zcars. Since then I've had 22 of the cars in my posession. I've never owned an S31 or newer, and I've never wanted to. I've owned two that have seen speeds in excess of 150MPH, and I've won a regional autoX series in the F prepared category with one of the sports car clubs here back in 1995. I don't think there's been a single day that's gone by that I haven't had at least one S30 in my posession since 1987, 20 years.

 

Mike

[BillZ260]

I was a freshman in HS and was looking for a car. My dream car at the time, (and still is) was the RUF Yellow Bird that was hanging on at least two of my walls. Some of my (better off) friends were all starting to get into project cars and stuff w/ their dads. I was wanting something really different than the Mustangs and Camero's that were THE hot rods to have at the time. SO, I'm riding my Mongoose one day, w/ the Aluminum Waffle mags, and there was this Tripple black S30 (not a clue as to what year it was, didn't really care at the time) for sale in an emply parking lot. $3,000 bucks, I was SOLD and in LOVE!!!

 

I asked dad but it was too SMALL for a first car. I ended up, CRUSHED, and a with a blue w/ white vinyl top 1982 Ford LTD. Talk about an abused car Anyway, I wanted that little black Z so bad, that it stuck w/ me, well, untill the point where I could actually get something I wanted for myself.

 

Many years later, having gone through some decent cars and then onto more practicle suv's... I'm almost a newly wed, have had my first house for a while and was just starting to get into the BLACK. Had started to get the itch for a project I could get back into, even w/ my tiny 1 car garage. So I started looking, not real seriously, but solely for an S30. I had happend upon the HybridZ site a couple years before and had some vision of what I wanted, but wasn't quite sure.

 

Anyway, I spent almost 2 years looking for a decent Z in Oklahoma, which I found to be quite the challence. All the cars that I did look at and drive were either way over priced, or in bad shape.

 

One beutiful spring day I decided to go home a bit differnt way than normal from whatever we were doing, and there is the little blue 260 in a drug store parking lot w/ a for sale sign on it. Pull a U'y so Crystal and I can check it out. I wasn't perfect, but it was perfect! Wrote the number down, called the guy up (borrowed the $$ from my new wife of <6 months) and had it before the end of the week!!! I talked him down from 2400 to 1900. SWEET!!!

 

Got it home and learned alot more about it than when I took the test drive. It ran decent, but the front shocks were comepetly DRY of oil and the pistons were both bent and locked up solid, rear shocks were completely shot, etc etc. It wasn't really safe, or reliable enough to drive every day, but it was mine. I spent a couple months working through SOME electrical issues trying to get it into shape to drive but never did get them sorted out. We moved, and I suddenly had more than twice the garage space, so the Z got dismantled and has been slowly taking shape over the last 4 or so years.

 

Fast forward to last Xmas, it's about 90 percent mechanically complete and running, FINALLY!!! Fortunatly/Unfortunatly, this year I've started to travel heavily for work. Been home 6 weeks total so this year and just have not been able to do too much w/ it.

 

To be continued...

[naviathan]

I received my first Z in 1998 in my junior year of High School. My 1986 Toyota Corolla had bit the dust finally and my father gave me a choice between a $1000 1981 Toyota Celica GT or a $1000 1981 Datsun 280ZX. I test drove both cars. The Toyota felt bulky and horribly disproportioned. The 280ZX however handled great, was a little sluggish, but felt more like a sports car despite the automatic. So we settled on the ZX and I paid my father back over the next couple of years. The suspension was shot, but I didn't know that at the time, to me it was my first real sports car and it was a blast to drive. I never knew anything could whip around the back roads at speeds like that. I use to load that car up with all my friends, 1 or 2 passengers and 2 in the hatch. The car never missed a beat though. It ran strong and fast for years. It left me stranded once. My best friend in school and I went for a late night ride as we often did. We just drove for hours in no particular direction just taking random roads and voting on which side of a "Y" to take. Eventually we hit a dead end and pulled onto the shoulder to turn around. At that point the car stumbled and died. Somewhere along the way the alternator keeled over and the battery kept us going until we slowed to turn around. Stuck on a back country road at 1AM we had no idea what to do or where we were. I had no cellphone signal and every house around us (which wasn't many) was dark. We pushed the Z up the road aways, mostly to get the blood flowing as it was really cold outside, until we came to church with a parsonage right next to it. The living room light was on in the parsonage so we stopped and I knocked on the door. An elderly woman answered and asked very timidly what I wanted. I asked her if I could borrow her phone so we could call home and get some help. She turned to her husband who was standing behind her, repeated my request and waved her off shaking his head. She quickly told me, "no sorry" and slammed the door shut. So we moved on up the road further, still no signal. I noticed a box truck in a driveway and had an idea. I grabbed a piece of mail out the mail box and stuck the antenna to the phone up to the side of the box truck and got enough of a signal to make a call to my mother. I she was only able to understand that we were stuck in Beaufort on South River Rd. and we lost the call. Never got the address. So being the concerned parent my mother called the Carteret County Sheriffs department and explained the situation. The sheriffs response when she gave him the road name was, Ma'am, there's 5 South River Rds. in Beaufort. So they sent out 5 tow trucks. About 4AM one finally showed up. The man was very nice hitched up the car and towed us to a gas station. He hooked his cables up to the battery to charge it and we all sat inside for a couple hours and drank coffee and ate. Finally when day light broke the driver said we should be good to make it home so long as we don't use the lights. We thanked him and made sure the car ran and he pulled away. Never once asked for money or anything. Surprisingly we made it back to my place around 11AM that morning and the car died again right as we pulled into the driveway. I replaced the alt in that car and drove it until the summer of 2000 while I was in the Army in Fort Hood, TX. Someone ripped one of my T-Tops out with a crow bar in the parking lot of my apartment complex and stole everything they could rip out of the car. I decided, stupidly I might add, it was time to update. I was a young PV2 making enough money that I should be able to buy a newer car. The Z was sold for $200 to a local Mexican mechanic and I fully expected it to be towed across the boarder and sold in Mexico. Shortly before I got out of the Army I saw the car again. It was owned by a woman in her 30's living around Fort Hood. I talked to her about the car and it had apparently changed hands many times in the few years since I owned it. She had it for a year and it had been changed sooo much. Someone had swapped the interior out for a turbo interior that wasn't in the greatest shape. The auto tranny was swapped for a 5 speed and the EFI was pulled in lieu of dual webber carbs. the car ran well, but just wasn't the same. It felt loose and everything rattled constantly. The woman let me drive the car and I decided then and there I had to get another one as soon as I could afford to. In 2004 I bought my 1977 280Z. Drove it daily until I left for Iraq in August 04. Got back from Iraq and bought a 79 Fairlady that was (and unfortunately still is) rusting apart, a 1981ZX identical to the one I owned in high school, but a 5 speed and a $200 parts car. I'm still driving the 81 now and she's been a great car. If I can the MS-II tuned in and a new cam in the with proper lash pads she'll be on the road again here soon. For now the Harley is my only transportation.

 

I think that's a long enough story.

[OlderThanMe]

I had just turned 15 years old when I saw my neighbor push this blue car out of his garage. I could hear him fire it up from anywhere in my house. He only drove it around the neighborhood about once a month and that was it.

Found this pic of it...

It had a 350 chevy with a 3 speed. I believe it was the scarab kit.

It was called the "Zette" since it had a chevy motor and corvette seats with a black interior and Nardi steering wheel. The car was the early Miata Blue and had a nice pinstripe down the side.

My Neighbor wanted $7500 for the car and that was way out of my budget.

 

Thus began my search for a cheap early Z car that I could fix up and drive.

A couple weeks later my Mom found an old sportscar sitting in the back of someone's driveway with kids toys all over it.

After 5 months I had saved up $2000 and made an offer to the owner at which his wife was ecstatic for the money.

 

The day before I turned 16 I paid in full for the car and towed it home the 1 scary mile with a rope.

I bought the car on November 15, 2003 and fired up the engine for the first time on Christmas day. I drove it around the neighborhood on the old tires that had the steel bands coming out of them hoping that the car would not explode.

 

I drove the car for 11,000 miles in 2 years going to a technical college to get a degree in Welding and Joining Technology. I did that during the last 2 years of highschool (homeschool) so I graduated from highschool and a 2 year college at the same time.

I am now in a 4 year college going for a degree in Mech. Engineering but the Z is no longer a daily driver. It is being built as a track day car that I can take on trips to the mountains and car shows.

 

I will never sell my Z car. I will always have it no matter if the only original thing left is the roof.

 

Now I'm starting a VH45DE swap with it's auto tranny and will be controling it with a wolf V500 EMS ("best" for the price and what it can do) from our own Rontyler.

ITB's, Big turbo, fuel cell, and a bunch of other expensive go-fast junk...

Z FOREVER!!

[SteelToad]

I had always wanted a Z, and then one day I see a nice ZX for sale on the side of the road. I pass by it, next day, I slow down and take a better look, next day I stop to look and put the phone number in the phone, next day I approach the wife about the idea, next day we both look at it. So it's been a week, approval has been obtained, and I decide to call up and buy it, the call goes like this...

 

Ring...

"Hi Ray" (in a familiar voice)

"Mike ?" (my brother in law)

"Yeah"

"Sorry, I hit the wrong number in my phone"

Ring...

"Yeah, you hit the wrong number again"

"Sorry"

Ring... after dialing the number manually

"Dude, you need to get a better phone"

"Ummm, you dont happen to be selling a white ZX are you ???"

 

He had had it for almost a year, and never even mentioned it to me. Scored it with the family discount pricing.

[mikeatrpi]

I went shopping for a motorcycle with a friend, for him. The guy says "Just sold the bike, but I have two datsun's, wanna look?" My friend wasn't interested, but I looked at the cars and later ended up buying the pair. I was planning to merge the two cars into one in 2 months between graduating college and starting work. Two months became two years...

 

I've learned so much and enjoyed it all too. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[chrism]

I just got my first Z in March this year. I wanted one since 1978 when I first saw one go by my house. I was in 7th grade so I had to wait. During collage, I went to a used car lot in Tampa and looked at one. When I sat in the car, I found out the the dealer used black shoe polish on the interior to make it look newer. Got it all over me. Did't get the car. Then at the end of last year my truck of 275k miles coughed up a timing chain and I needed something to use for a DD. My wife expected me to get something new of the car lot. I come home with at 32 year old car. 1975 280z with very little rust. very sweet. Because Z's are so cool looking, she decided that she liked it. Now I'm doing a swap. I thought I knew something about cars until now. When I get done, I might know a little more. I should have bought one a long time ago. Been missing out until now.

[JMortensen]

Started at 18 with an original owner automatic 72 Z that had been garaged it's whole life. The only damage on this car was door dings from the wife opening her car door into the front fender of the Z. I bought it after some monkey had tried to adjust the needle heights to get it to pass smog for $2000, this was in 93. Had the car for two years, I put KYBs on it and cut down the springs and that was about all I could afford at the time. A friend of mine wrecked her Z so I bought the transmission, pedal assy, clutch stuff and was ready to do the swap and then one night I decided to go to Burger King.

 

I was waiting to turn left into the Burger King and a Camaro rear ended me. The street I was on was a 35mph speed limit, but she was going more like 50. She pushed me into head on traffic where I hit an Acura Legend that was doing maybe 30 mph. Two very hard hits later, I had broken my nose on the steering wheel, my girlfriend (now wife) had left a dent in the dash with her forehead, and my car was wrecked bad. Amazingly the later style Camaro hit the car low enough that despite the fact that it pushed in the back of the car about a foot and a half, NONE of the windows in the car broke. It was pretty incredible.

 

So I got a Toyota truck and played around with it for a while, actually made it a pretty good autoxer, and then my wife was talking about getting a car "with character". I convinced her that she wanted a Z, and we ended up getting one about a year before we were married, or 11 years ago. That is the same Z I have today. The original plan was to build it for her to drive on the street and that's what I did. It was a great street car with fairly racey suspension and we both loved it. A while later we bought a 99 Subaru Outback, and suddenly the wife didn't drive the Z anymore. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as it gave me a little freedom to go even more racey with the Z. Pretty soon it was placing fairly well at the local autoxes, but everything was really getting worn on the car.

 

Finally we moved to Seattle and I parked the car. The idea was that my wife would be in school for 2.5 years, and I would spend that time upgrading and fixing various parts of the car. Her 2.5 years turned into 4, during which time she got the job she has always wanted at Seattle Children's Hospital, so after some serious considerations of our options we decided to stay here. The Z had progressed from "upgrading and fixing" to "going ALL out" and it is still in the build process at this point. It's going to be about the craziest Z, especially in regards to suspension, that I've ever seen and while I occasionally get frustrated with my lack of progress I can't wait to get the thing back on the track. It's going to be a freakin MONSTER...

[les71z]

I have never posted before so I thought that this was a good place to start.

 

I first saw a 240Z in 1981, I was 13, It was owned by my Dad's Friend's Father it was red and I thought it was the coolest car I had ever seen.

 

In the early 1990's I rebuilt from ground up a 1971 Holden HQ 2 Door Monaro with SB Chev and the works. The car was a beast but I needed a daily driver. In 1992, I saw an add in the trading post for a 1971 240Z for $1000. As I live in Central Queensland I bought the car sight unseen and got it trucked home. The body didn't look too bad, but the motor wouldn't run. I bought a L28 motor with gearbox from a jap importer, put original carbs back on with a cam, and extactors. I drove it like this for about 3 years. I then got the bug and decided to do the body. The more I sanded the more bog, rust and dents I found. I then bought a wrecked 1972 240Z from a wrecking yard as a parts car and built 1 good car from the two. I would add some photos here if I knew how.

 

When I got married and built a house I had to choose between the Monaro and the Datsun. The Monaro only got about 8MPG and the 240 is so much more fun to drive, so the Z stayed.

 

The 240Z was my Wife's and my main car until a couple of years ago when we had a baby girl and we had join the real world and get a 4 door. The Z sat under my house for few years, but I have recently fired her up again for a couple of sunday drives. My daughter loves Dad's old red car, She says it looks like Lightning McQueen and goes fast.

 

I am now getting the bug again, I am thinking Brake and Suspension upgrade, Flat top pistons, Fuel Injection, Lightened Flywheel, Bigger Cam and a mini Whailtail.

 

Les

[jkh280zx]

[My first post.] My 72celica was getting old and I wanted another set of wheels. I saw this 80 280zx N/A CB w/ louvers, awesome looking car at a downtown dealarship in Santa Barbara, CA. Then, I went a few streets up and talked with a Toyota salesperson about a 80Supra and got all of the info. Went back to the Datsun delearship and starting talking this for that!! Well, I bought the 80Zcar for less and was happy. She was fine. A joy to drive and no problems. Moved to the BayArea; worked late and was heading home on El Camino Real (south) or dealership alley and there she was my next and only car since 1984, a 1983 280zxt, CB w/ louvers. My 80wheels had 98K miles on it and it must be ready to fall apart, right!!!!!!!! [Now I know.] Well I walked into the Datsun delearship and started talking to the first wave; he was good and informative. We talked about this dream car. I could tell it had not been hit; had a player in the glovebox; was very clean; and it had only 9K miles on the odometer. The next wave came at me and started to downgrade my wheels (never do that! why don't they ever learn!), so I let him drive it. He came back and continued to talk about my wheels. I pointed my finger in his face and said tomorrow I will buy this car and I do not want to see your face. I said to the nice guy, talk with your finance guy and I will talk with my bank and you and I will make a deal tomorrow. We did and I have been pleased ever since. Yes, I sold my 80wheels to a young couple from Napa Valley, so many crisp 100s and paid off the loan; the bank and I were both happy. Currently, I am working on an essay (w/pictures) to describe the upgrades done during the first 300K+ miles and the "refreshment" of my 83 L28ET to an L30ET with many more upgrades. I have HybridZ to thank for all info that defined this project. This lastest 83Zcar experience has been good for me. Not being mechanically inclinded, I have learned lots and will share. Thanks to you all.

[het976]

1970, I am 13 and my sister's good friend buys a silver 1970Z, one of the first 5 in Oregon. He comes to visit and I get to go for a ride. I thought it was a cool car, but don't recall being really blown away (I was into muscle cars then). The car got distroyed 6 months later when he endos it at over 100 on I-5 in Southern Oregon. He replaces the Z with an Italia (which was a Italian sports car with a 351 clevland engine). Now that car impressed me.

 

Fast forward to 1974 and my mom meets my step dad. He also has a 1970 240Z. I drove that car many times and really loved it, although it had a bad habit of sheiding wheel covers, which I had to pay for.

 

I liked it enough that in 1976 I bought the 1971 that I have today. I modified and drove that car for 20 years until we moved to Colorado in 1997. No one was driving it, so rather than pay to move it, I sold it to the neighbor kid. I actully cried the night it went away...I had poured my heart and soul into that car. I always regretted selling it.

 

Fast forward to 2007 and and I am back in the Pacific NW and can't sleep after an Asia trip - I do my "let's look for Z's on e-bay" thing and I see this car that looks like my old car, except mine had a sunroof (yes I know, stupid thing to do). It sure looked like my car, but not exactly it. I look at the picture showing the spare tire well and there is a large bold head showing...then I sure it was my car...For years I towed a ski boat with the Z and the bolt was part of the hitch. I thought, how many z's with flared fenders and a trailer hitch do you think there are?

 

The car was local and I go over to look at it and there it was...New paint, wheels, but my car, although just a shell.

 

Long story short, by shear luck, I win the auction and the car is mine again (I was on a plane when the auction closed and would not have won it, excpet for the other guy who wanted it got the close time for the auction confused and missed bidding on it)

 

My 22 year old son (who never got to drive it) and I are rebuilding her from the ground up, doing it the way I would have liked to years ago. We just put the engine and trans in and have hung the front suspension, so progress is being made.

[les71z]

I would like to try to add my photo to this post as I couldn't figure it yesterday.

If this works, this is my 1971 240Z that I rebuilt in 1995.

 

Les

[cygnusx1]

My friend Chris and I raced BMX together back in the early 80's. He was two years older and thus got his license first. After beating the pants off his parents Oldsmobile Omega, he bought a 4spd pistol grip 71 Firebird, then he bought a 77 Z. He drove it like he stole it wherever he went and eventually totalled both cars. Then he bought a prime gray 76 and pulled the motor to be built. In about 1985 he sent the motor out to a speed shop where they built it up blue printed and balanced with 11:1 compression, venolia pistons, headers, 510 lift 490 duration cam, triple webers....and all the goodies. His plans were to paint the primed 76 with black and deep purple striping. I helped him install the jewel of a motor with the twice pipes about when I was turning 16. We got it running OK and about that time he had gotten his license revoked and his insurance dropped him for various "creative driving" manouvers. He moved to San Diego from New York. The car sat at his parents house here in NY until my other friend Jerry bought it when we were in high school in about 1987. Jerry had bought a nice original 77 and eventually blew the engine driving stupidly. We pulled the blown stock motor out of the 77 and dropped in the built motor from Chris's primed 76. Once we got the motor in and got it tuned up, I helped Jerry setup the suspension. We had a killer high-school racer car. Traffic light racing at it's best. You know what a high compression L28E with triples and twice pipes sounds like in between the buildings of NYC at 7500rpms? I was hooked on Z's by that point and knew a lot about them from working on my friend cars. I was driving a rusty Alfa Romeo Berlina. It could no longer pass inspection due to rust and I was entering college. I saved enough money to be able to look for a good solid Z. I pulled out the New York Times, 1989, and found a Z for sale in Manhattan with 69,000 miles on it. Overnight, I dreamt that the car was Silver. The next day I went to see it and it came down on a parking garage elevator, nose out, in slow motion. My jaw dropped. It was the most perfect Z I had ever seen. Second owner, silver (psychic), 69K miles, un-marred, for $3500, from Texas, serviced at Bob Sharp in CT. My parents were completely against it because it was impractical....I bought it anyway, of course, and I promised the PO and the Parents that they could come to me 20 years later and the car would be in better shape than it was then. I kept my promise and it's almost 30 years now. It was my DD for most of college, winter and summer. The winters really got to it so when I graduated and got a real job, I bought a 90 Civic used as a DD and began working on the restoration and modification of the Z.

 

The built motor from Chris' car, which became Jerry's, now belongs to Buzz (Mike) here at HybridZ. The motor build is about 30 years old now but only has about 10,000 miles on it!!! Buzz is restoring the rest of the car as we speak and I still dream about that motor and cant wait for Buzz to finish the car so I can hear it again!

 

-Dave