Factory restored Z

[MikeW]

Originally posted by lonetreesteve

The only flaw that my son and I could really see was some paint overspray on the chrome on the passenger-side door.

That's funny; I would have thought they would have taken the chrome off to before painting. That's how my car was painted recently. Perhaps the overspray was from a previous paint job that was the same color and they just didn't clean it up. That could also be what happened to the VIN plate on the car that started this thread.

[26th-Z]

Good job noticing the passenger grab handle is missing! Man, you guys are picky. I think the seat belt buckle is camera flash redeye or something as the rest of the pictures seem good.

I have "reproduced" a number of items for the restoration of my car, but I would never go as far as making up RP documentation. That's just absurd.

And if I were going to pay that kind of money for any car, I would get on a plane and go see the car, or at least have someone look at it for me. Vicky's description is right on for how to go about buying a car like this. Granted, $10,000 (or $30,000 for that matter) is inexpensive in the collector car market, but to a large extent, these cars are investment grade items like fine art and people don't purchase whimsically.

My take on this deal - after reading you nit-pickers take it apart - is that this car was probably driven, used, enjoyed, and left out in the rain once or twice. It's no garage queen - I think we would all agree on that - with paint damage and signs of saggy baggy door panel old age. "No! We want fresh, young perky door panels"!!! This looks like a car that could be purchased reasonably and fixed up to a higher value.

Vicky brought up an interesting thought I want to share with everyone when she compared her FR car to Zrush. If you have never seen Zrush in the metal, it will leave you with your jaw on the floor. The attention to detail is beyond description. Original, off the factory production line cars were NEVER that nice. They were cheaply constructed, quickly constructed, mass produced with very little attention to detail. Remember, these were cheap cars brand new and a lot of latitude was given when comparing Datsuns to market competition. This is the primary reason they sold so well - bang for the buck. I have struggled with this issue and had a long conversation with Mike McGinnis about this the other day. I intend to discuss this with Les Canaday when I see him at the ZCCA National Convention in a couple of weeks. Do I restore my car to outstanding standards or restore it the way it was originally constructed. There is a world of difference. Just for instance, I'm in the process of rebuilding the engine at the moment. I bought "I-ain't-bullshittn-you-Nissan-engine-blue" to spray the block. Should I assemble the block with the plated water tubes and engine mounts before I paint - getting overspray all over the bolt-on parts, or should I carefully paint the block and then attach the parts? Should I leave the paint runs on the engine mount brackets, or have them powder coated?

If I show up at a car show with Her Majesty all decked out and you are the judge, will you blast me for my sloppy attempt at restoration, or will you appreciate the time and effort I went through to replicate exaclty how the babe was built? I took lots of photos. I can document all of it.

[lordbiotree]

I think it's a $10,000. Just so happens to be the current bid. The owner probably drive it off and on. A dealer has it. Probably a local trade-in. if indeed it was a trade in, the PO had no clue what he owned.

-Brandon

[lordbiotree]

Originally posted by 26th-Z

If I show up at a car show with Her Majesty all decked out and you are the judge, will you blast me for my sloppy attempt at restoration, or will you appreciate the time and effort I went through to replicate exaclty how the babe was built? I took lots of photos. I can document all of it.

If you were to show up with Her Majesty and I was the judge I would commend you on all your hard work it took to restore her back to the way it came off the assembly line.

[v12horse]

Hey Chris, I think you should restore your Z to better than factory condition with cloth braided hoses, steel wheels with matching topy dates (Watanabes to put on and off), with the original steering handle, and all the early goodies. I think it would be extremely difficult to replicate the flaws that the factory made (not impossible), but also not accurate because you would redoing flaws that were made from machines and fast production. I know you are a big buff on Nissan history and you want to make your car a historically piece, and with the vin# that you have it already has that right, but the rest of the Z's are pieces of history as well. I am just rambling now, but I think no matter what you do with your car whether it be recreating the flaws from the factory or making it better than original it will turn out to be a masterpiece. I just hope you don't add the momo steering wheel, the euro bumpers, and the Watanabe's. I am sorry I am critiquing, I am just throwing out my opinion. The wats could be used for weekend drives and photo shoots. Hehehehe. I'll get off my soapbox now.

Take care,

Ben

[v12horse]

Vicky, no matter what I say about factory Zcars being restored beautifully, your car is definately one of them. I think you made a great choice with making it a sunny day car and keeping the toyo's and steel wheels nice. I have a few questions for you. 1) Did your car come with the steel wheels and caps from Pierre? If they did, do the topy dates on the wheels match the production date of the car? These are just out of curiosity questions. Someday I hope to join the old club of oem restored Z's like you and many others on this forum and around the world. Take care and snag that cloth radiator hose that is on ebay for your zed.

Ben

[gundee]

The ad says car has leather seats. Is that what they put on the restored Z's?

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by greyghost

The ad says car has leather seats. Is that what they put on the restored Z's?

Probably from that endangered species "Naugha" leather!

[Zrush]

Originally posted by v12horse

I have a few questions for you. 1) Did your car come with the steel wheels and caps from Pierre? If they did, do the topy dates on the wheels match the production date of the car? These are just out of curiosity questions.

Ben

Ben, I'm an idiot, what's a "topy" date? Something, something, "P"roduction "Y"ear. Where do I look for this info.......on the rim? And yes, the car did come with the steel wheels and hub caps from PierreZ.

Vicky

[26th-Z]

Vicky,

There's a number / date stamped into the outside of the steel rim. For that matter, many parts are stamped with numbers and dates - inspection marks (ken), and production-line humor. Geez, I call YOU GUYS picky!!!

Ben,

It's a real dilemma for me!!! Here I look at how nice the suspension and subframe would look all powdercoated with shiny cadmium hardware, and then....the factory slapped yellow paint on the suspension nuts when they were torqued - just slap-splashed yellow paint all over with an old brush from a can. Talk about anal. I have a drawing of all the connections that were splashed - some in red paint. While cleaning everything carefully, I notice that some hardware brackets and bits are gloss black, some are satin, and even some are flat grey zinc. I am of the mind set to put this back together just that way. Powdercoating would be nice, but I can't help but do a better job with just paint. And the pressure's off!! I can be sloppy and get away with it!!!

I have most of the parts to restore Her Majesty to dead stock original. Its looking pretty good at this point. A cloth radiator hose? Perhaps I should buy it and make a mold for "fabric textured radiator hose condoms". I also have a bunch of custom parts including that sexy Momo steering wheel. I should be able to display the car both ways.

Some people say the factory did this only during early production, but I have seen it on later cars. This suspension is powdercoated.

[26th-Z]

Back to the restoration program and the car on eBay....I would find favor with an automatic because they are not popular making them more rare. I don't think they will ever command the price though. Still, in good condition, I think this example would clean up to be a $20 - $25,000 car. It would be easy enough to clean the overspray off the door tag and I have a spare door handle around somewhere. A documented car can only appreciate.

There is information around about the restoration program. I have one of the checklists describing the work - essentially everything was inspected and replaced as required. The 3M tape used to wrap wiring harnesses is specified, for example. A great deal of the FR information references Wick Humble. "How to Restore..." seems to be the best guide - still.

[Zrush]

Originally posted by v12horse

1) Did your car come with the steel wheels and caps from Pierre? If they did, do the topy dates on the wheels match the production date of the car?

Ben

Ben

Scott has informed me where the topy dates are on the steel wheels. I highly doubt they match the production date of the car, but you never know, I'll check all 4 tomorrow. I have to pop the hub caps off. I hate hub caps and I wanted to change them but my husband said no. That's the way they came from the factory and that how they stay.

Vicky