Youngins: How'd you end up with a Z?

[Fuzzydicerule]

I Suppose ill post an addendum

Im 20, My dad had a 260 and a 280 back in the 70s, 260 was wrecked and the 280 was traded in before i was born.

Never really noticed them until my friend got one, granted it was a pile, but it got me interested. I had planned to get one a year ago, but i ended up getting another car, and then after i bought and sold a Mitsubishi Starion in april, i found the car i currently have, Paid 950 bucks and then found out the wiring was ****. Luckily, the chassis is "relatively" clean, and i should be able to get it actually driveable in the next couple of days.

Im 22 now,  and im on my 3rd Z car

 

(to anyone that says that Z's dont fit tall people,  im 6'6" and i fit better in an S30 than in any other car ive ever owned)

 

That First car that i bought in may of 2011 was a pile,  it went through a few iterations.  Got started driving it as an L24/4spd with some shitstain DGV's.    Then at the end of the summer, after lots of running issues, i put it down for an L28ET swap.   Spent until marchish 2012 trying to get it running, and ended up LS1 swapping it.   Sadly it was never "complete" and i ended up getting another car to swap shells, and then decided that i didnt want the LS, and then i decided i didnt want an S30 anymore.   Sold off both of them In October of 2012,  The new car for some good profit, the old car for a pretty good loss..

 

During my "time off" i started off trying to get back into Foxbody mustangs, in the form of an 85 Capri RS TTOP,  one of my favorite mustangs.  Big mistake, after lots of time and not alot of work, i stripped it and sent it on its way.   

 

I also ended up picking up a daily driver to to take some miles off of my cobra (which has since been sold) and i picked up a 1990 miata that was in overall good condition for 1600 bucks,  which i consider to be the best 1600 ive ever spent.   Long story still long, i ended up doing some worth to that (coilovers, wheels and tires, new top, etc etc,   and then i realized that it was murdering my back and i needed something bigger,  

 

During alot of this time, my friend had a 72 240z with 80k original miles and full Technotoy tuning suspension that he didnt drive alot,   he ended up loaning it to another friend of ours whos Rx7 blew up,  long story short (and after i had warned him against it)   Said friend ended up puttng the thing up a K rail, Bending the Front right strut tube, Tension control rod.  In addition it also tapped the left side of the ass end and dented it behind the sidemarker (as well as scuffing the sidemarker)   In conjuction with the fact that the L24 was super tired and felt like it was making at most about 70 HP,  Friend number 1 kind of gave up on the car, and was dead set on making it into a Chumpcar/LeMONS car.  

 

Shortly thereafter, he proposed a trade, my miata for his Z, The famage ended up costing me about 80 bucks in parts  (40 for a new pair of struts that i sectioned, and was able to reuse the old cartridge because the tube was bent at the base, not the middle) and 35 for a new "hockystick" for the TTT tension rod,  and the thing is driving as good as ever.    We also Swapped in a medium built L28 that he was using as a motor for a hotrod,  so the thing would have a bit more power, and be  alot easier to drive.

 

 

Thats where im at now.   However owning a miata has made me apprehensive towards these more vague cars,   im actually going to be doing a 1jzGTE swap and swapping a Miata SLA suspension into this car soon...  Should make for a fun, pretty miata...

[miky360]

I'm 22 bought my first one when I was 20

 

My reason for buying an S30

 

1. I've always had a things for classic cars

2. Affordable

3. Japanese

4. Wangan Midnight lol

[cjack300zx]

I'm 43, I fell in love with the Z32 at first site. I didn't become interested in the s30 until I started attending Z meets and the more I saw them the more I liked them. I own a 92 300zx and a 74 260Z and I'm at the point now that my favorite Z is the one that was just driven

[grayson260z]

^{One day I was bored and decided to drive down this road I'd always wondered where it went. The road turned to dirt and I quickly started hearing banjo music and fearing for my life. Then as I crested the PBR can ridden hill I saw this little red gem sitting on the side of a bank. I remember saying, and I quote," There is no way in hell I am seeing what I think I'm seeing." But sure enough it was a '74 260z with minimal rust. So I passed the idea on to my father who, mind you, is a die hard GM fan (like we've never owned something that did'nt come from the factory with a Lynyrd Skynyrd CD already in it. Just kidding, or am I?) But anywho, I told him about this Datsun out in the middle of the woods and he was acutally really intrigued in it. So I immediately got on every single forum I could find and signed up! I finally nutted up and got out and talked to the guy who's yard it was in and he quoted me $800, so I knew I might actually get this car. Then he pointed me in the direction of a nearby used car lot saying it belonged to them. The guy also quoted me 8 benjies saying that whenever they had parked it a few years earlier it would not start due to a "burnt valve" and then told me that it also came with 5 boxes of spare parts, ranging from new panels to brand new carpets for the entire car and so much more. So after about 2 weeks of my dad saying we would go pay him we finally did. The day afterwards I met the guy at their lot and he followed me to our shop with it on a roll back. (probably the longest and most exciting 10 minutes of my life.) But we got it there and as we were unloading it and I sat in it for the first time I can't even describe the feeling of fitting in a car that has known so much history, It was just an overwhelming sensation of being connected (I'm not sure where that came from but I swear I'm not on acid.) Then over the weekend that followed I purchased a battery and 5 gallons of fuel expecting a PITA weekend to follow to try and get it to start. But! low and behold the actual first try it turned over. Then we sprayed a little sumthin sumthin in the carb and boom! It fired up and actually idled for about 3 seconds before us having to cut it because of it spraying fuel. So we replaced most of the fuel line with some stuff not from the Carter presidency and it ran like a top on about 5 cylinders but meh, I could live with it. THEN, the tear down started. First the interior (Seats; moldy Carpets; moldy) everything was gross and smelled of death. So now as it sits it looks like a sad little forgotten race car attempt but don't get mistaken this thing will live! I have already purchased a s13 rear subframe (for $10!) and have found a guy selling a mostly stock l28eT that really only needs a turbo ECU that I'm gonna try to grab up. Then later on down the road I would REALLY like to JZ swap it but i guess that would only happen if the L28 s**ts out on me. By the way I'm am 16 as of getting the car and am honestly awe struck that I acutally got it but I'm hoping to make it even more beautiful of a car than it already is. If you've made it this far then thank you for reading through a bunch of stuff I wrote when I should've been working on stuff in class. Thanks again! - Grayson}

[BluDestiny]

^^^ start a build thread. It's nice being able to look back 

[Trevor]

 

 

^{By the way I'm am 16 as of getting the car}

 

 

start a build thread. It's nice being able to look back 

 

....when you are 40 and wonder whatever happened to that car project....

[hwvigo]

Im 27 got the Z when I was 25 my dad bought the car new in 75 and I had always loved it and worked on it and drove it . It had just been a once or twice a year driver for my dad so on my 25th a got the title and keys as a gift , but in return for them I had to promise to never sell the car and to do somthing with it not just let it sit like he had for the last 10 years so that is were my story starts.

  build thread http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/116744-75-280z-refresh/

[grayson260z]

Im 27 got the Z when I was 25 my dad bought the car new in 75 and I had always loved it and worked on it and drove it . It had just been a once or twice a year driver for my dad so on my 25th a got the title and keys as a gift , but in return for them I had to promise to never sell the car and to do somthing with it not just let it sit like he had for the last 10 years so that is were my story starts.

  build thread http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/116744-75-280z-refresh/

those are always the beginnings to great things!

[rolmsted]

My first car at 17 was a 1997 Camaro (v6 5 speed) I wrecked it on rainy after noon on my 2.5 mile drive home from school trying to drift a few corners. The car sat in my driveway and I have to get a part time job to save up and fix the car, this is where I got my first bit of automotive experience, I got a part time job after school at a repair shop, learned a few things, save up in the meantime  I was tearing down the front end of the camaro taking parts off ( where I afterwards learned to label and take note of each bolt because the put back together was agonizing) getting it ready to take to the shop to have the frame pulled straight, fast forward 6 months and a birthday I had the camaro up and running, I got a full time summer job with the construction company I worked for previous summers to buy the camaro. One job we were rebuilding a redwood deck for an older gentleman who was recovering from a life threatening car accident he had been in and spent months in the hospital. he had 2 cars under covers on was obviously wrecked terribly, however I was hesitant to ask as I knew it was a traumatic experience, however it was killing me to know what he had. after a couple weeks we got to talking one lunch and he told me it was a 1972 240z he had rebuilt and a women had fallen asleep coming around a blind corner in his lane and smashed him, we all know the superb safety features of the Z *sarcasm*. I had no idea what a Datsun was and he showed me his wrecked car, I couldn't believe he survived, he also showed me his parts car, a red 1972 240z, that was sitting for what he said was a year, and not currently running, I figure it also sat long before he got it. We ended up working out a deal where I would go to his house on the weekends and work off $1000 at $12/hr (what I was making at construction company) and I could have the car (83 hours of work), I went to his house religiously on weekend and worked mostly 5 hours days some full 8 hour days, while also working on the car when I was done for the day, finally got it to start up and run after what felt like a year, only really about a month. even thought I was only about half way through my hours he signed the title over and let me take the car home. I was so excited on a rainy day in the mountains with dim headlights, no wipers, and no defroster, I followed a friend home that brought me to get the car, I work another 20 hours for him and got caught up with life and never finished the work, I since moved away to college and am going home for spring break in a couple of weeks, just got my tax return, and am going to his house to pay him the rest of what I owe him. I am now 20 years old turning 21 and having my 3 year anniversary with the car in June/ July. 

[DevilZ]

Recently sold my 88 rx7 for speeding tickets on my cbr1000rr. No car, no license at the time I was pretty depressed. Started looking for some car therapy on Craigslist. Found a 78' 280z 2+2 for 1100. Asked about it, owner said he needed to sell because bills were piling up. Couldn't afford it at the time so I said GLWS and keep my number just in case. Little did I know a month from then he texted me "I'll do 700."My response was simply "be there Friday with a trailer. " and so began my Legend of the devil Z

[RebekahsZ]

Went looking for a rust-free 510 and found a rusty 240z. The rest is history. I'm really a street-rodder who lost his way...