280Z Rat rod

[OlderThanMe]

OTM, your car totally counts as a rat rod with as much mixing and matching you did to get your engine going!

 

More like a frankenstein freak-rod

 

The car is no longer going to be on the road... Half getting crushed and the other half as a splice for a member here.

Oh well.

[bschiltz]

So are you picking up that roadster? You can't let me down in our showdown with Max!

[veritech-z]

So are you picking up that roadster? You can't let me down in our showdown with Max!

Soon as you clowns are ready for some of this:

and maybe a little of that (picture predates BOV install):

have OTM give me a call.

[bschiltz]

Hahaha, well so far I'm going to have to run down the 1320 unless Vic. British can get me a fuel pump relay.

[280ZX_factor]

This is actually a really cool idea, I think. When it comes to the wheels and tires, you could get away with bias radials and white walls, or at the very least, turned-out white letter tires. Since it's an s30, you could even rock those Moon brushed wheel covers. Round headlights mounted on outriggers in front of the tires would be cool, too. Of course, there's a million ways you could do this. Just a few thoughts. Cool idea, though.

[jtl260z]

Here is mine in flat black, not sure if it qualifies as a rat rod though.

 

I've got the same wheels on my flat black 260z.

[Guest vellomike]

I'd say to be a rat, it should have somthing sticking out of the hood and must have a huge shifter, and very loud.Im thinking about painting mine like racer X yellow with a black stripe and black front, I just bought a Z spider kit, now if I could find the time to install it

[speedgato]

Well, mine is painted ultra-flat black with 8 cans of Krylon. I have pieces of a 72 race z, a 72 daily driver z, a built to hell motor, heli-coiled shift knob, crash survivor Compomotive wheels with clear coat cracked off, seats out of a Supra that are spray painted, bent right frame rail so my hood doesn't close correctly, and a damn sunroof (!), does that qualify? Oh yeah, I race it on any and every track I can find.

 

 

[cygnusx1]

 

 

Builder/Owner top left.

 

I walked up to the owner and said "It's finished isn't it?" He said "Yup".

[BSD]

That thing is badass.

[Guest blackhyb]

how could you even compare a cobra coupe to a 280z rat rod and calling that car a rat rod you have no idea what the hell you are talking about and should learn a thing or two before you say dumb stuff like that i know you where trying to make a point but next time use like a ford coupe or ford truck anything other than a car that in that state is worth well over $700,000

im sorry just doesnt seem to qualify as a rat rod

[ShaggyZ]

blackhyb, if you're going to try to call someone out with any level of discernibility, start with some punctuation then move on to capitalization and complete sentences and proper grammar.

[Guest blackhyb]

sry some times i just get crazy plus its cinco de mayo.

 

my bad

[MJLamberson]

how could you even compare a cobra coupe to a 280z rat rod and calling that car a rat rod you have no idea what the hell you are talking about and should learn a thing or two before you say dumb stuff like that i know you where trying to make a point but next time use like a ford coupe or ford truck anything other than a car that in that state is worth well over $700,000

im sorry just doesnt seem to qualify as a rat rod

 

We correct people here, argue with them, and definatly disagree with them, but insulting someone or what they said in that manner is frowned upon

[Daeron]

did someone sayyyyyyy.....

 

 

S30 Ratrod? Howsabout the Grey Ghost, so named during the years it rolled the streets of WPB in primer grey while my old man was attempting to do the ULTRA budget resto (we were so broke he was reduced to driving this beater 240, so thats what he told himself ) That was mid 90's, he got an 83ZXT by 96, and at that point the Grey Ghost became a yard decoration for four years. Around Y2k, it slowly turned into this:

 

Immediately apparent are the 14x7 Toyota Supra wheels on it, with takeoff slicks (from god knows where) and also the cheapo G-nose kit. The g-nose was in poor shape, and massaged back into usefulness when installed on this car. It belonged to my uncle, and had came with a collection of parts. My dad used his car to put the kit back into usable condition. While it was a street car, it had a one-piece fiberglass front end on it on the road that he salvaged from a trashed fiberglass front end, and even grafted a standard ducted glass airdam onto it. We still have the old front end (not pictured) but a racer we know bought this Gnose off of him a few years back.

 

You can see here how ghetto-rigged the G-nose was. This car became the ultimate budget racecar, his total investment was under 2 grand in like, three years of running small time local club races in parking lots. The car spanked its share of Boxters and Corvettes.

 

In this next picture, you can see the 70 hatch with one-piece spoiler molded on. I think we still have this; it may go on my car.

This paintjob was done by my dad and a friend of his, using a red color that was the result of mixing a few cans of leftovers from some other jobs his friend had done lately. The white "mouth" and smiley on the back were done because my Dad was afraid the paint would start looking too good, and it was Temporary with a capital T. He figured, he couldn't leave it looking this way for too long....

 

 

The Grey Ghost lost its original 240 motor when it threw a rod out the passenger's side of the block. For the record, the engine continued running, belching oil out all over the road while my dad pulled it into a left turn lane, waited for traffic, turned into a parking lot, and then turned the key off. When the racecar was taking shape, I begged him to use the large chunk of rod he had left as a shift knob; alas, discretion prevailed. He built a middling compression 2.8 liter block, and installed the E88 head he had made back in 85 for his OLD 240 (RIP 1989) It had the larger exhaust valves, but he retained the stock e88 intake valves, and ordered his cam accordingly. He says this head gives him great power and fuel efficiency both; all I can do is repeat what he tells me. I've never driven this motor, only seen it, watched it, help build it... My dad has had this cylinder head as long as he has had me, and the car it originally came out of (the '72) IS my earliest memory.

 

The entire interior was gutted, and my dad welded a piece of 1" square steel between the rear shock towers. There were a couple gauges dangling around inside; by the time the car was retired it had been well set up interior-wise, but I don't have any pictures. It was an elemental beast, powered ultimately by a four barrel holley. The engine lives on today in my dad's 78 280, and the one piece fiberglass front end from its road days is destined for my 75 280.

 

Sadly, the rust in the chassis, and the lack of dedication to this particular car wound up sentencing her to be cut in half and sent to the scrapyard about a year ago. My brothers have a 240 ITS car*, my dad has the 78*, my uncle has his 72* and a 73 auto^, and I have my 75 former DD/project^, and no one had any effort or love to give to this car. It wasnt worth selling, believe me.

(*=sweet S30, ^= project/ratrod)

 

 

heres a youtube playlist of six, five second video clips of the Grey Ghost at speed. I think this is in the parking lot of the MetroZoo in Miami. The 4th and 5th videos are my favorite.

 

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=80A011318B890123

 

To me, the concept embodied in the term "ratrod" is about the vehicle's roots. Underneath that shiny maroon paint, that car was ALWAYS the Grey Ghost... and no matter how nice he made it look (rather clean by the end, but very superficial.. after a two year retirement it was all rusting out again) it was always function over form, with a bullet. This car taught my whole family a number of lessons, many through mistakes but many through successes as well. It will always have a special place in my garage.

[BlueZ31]

i like cars that "fall" into the rat rod definition i.e. use used parts and fit them however possible, like veritechs Z, making a good car into a rat rod and buying new old looking parts is like taking a newish pair of jeans and cutting the hell outta them so you look like you just blew in from the bad part of town..lol..

[Calgary280ZT]

My 77's not a rat rod, but I liked an earlier post that said rat rods were kinda reaction against too many pretty show cars. That's how I feel. The car's got Rustoleum white paint at the moment, gonna change to black in the next year or so. I'm toying with a fabbed whale tail spoiler. I'm looking for a company that can make custom steel wheels with baby moon hub caps (I'll powder coat them black).

 

I guess the look I'm going for is "industrial." Lots of guys in the Calgary oil business have Beemers and Porsches or 350zs...then drive them like my grandmother. My car looks like crap but goes pretty good...and once the Rebello head and T3/T4 go on this summer, will be even better. But it won't look much better....

[Zdigg]

oh jeez, you want to talk about rat rods, I need to take pictures of my heap. Mine is a 74 shell with a 73 engine and tranny, (sadly the good 240 was title less and the 260 with the bum engine wasn't) it is currently in four different colors with the roof in primer, the rockers are gone and I patched the floors with fiber glass. my hatch is off of my 240 and soon the hood will be too, I couldn't get the blinkers to work so I installed dune buggy blinkers in the grill and now the lower valances just have gaping holes( I tell people their break vents.) the cars lower center valance is off the 240 and was collapsed in so I beat it back out, it looks horrible. but I don't care because the look on every ford mustang owners face when I beat their asses in my jelope is good enough for me.

[Devil-Z]

Here's a friends Z Rat.

 

[Devil-Z]

My 2+2 is pretty ratty.

 

Here's an old pic.

 

 

A more current pic.

 

 

and another old one.