I am planning on purchasing a 1972 Datsun 240Z very soon (end of week)...and am wondering what you think about using it as a daily driver to and from work and school mostly. Is it fairly reliable, or what should I expect?

Congrats on your future purchase, if the car now is a semi or daily driver I think it wil be fine, if the car sat or hasn't been kept up regularly you will run into issues. Things to expect from my expierences would be wheel bearings , brake issues if it sat too long , carb issues all really depending on how the previous owner kept it. I would recommend switching the distributor to electronic to make it more reliable and to reduce service issues < points and such>. Good Luck and Enjoy

well the the guy im buying it from has had it garaged and trys to keep the miles down (only 38000) but he says he takes it out at least twice a month since he stopped driving it regularly last year

and he already switched to electronic...

Electronic what? What else has been done to the car? Brakes, Clutch, Heater, etc. Would need a lot more info on the car to make an informed answer. A well maintained 72 could easily be a daily driver. One that hasn't had wear items replaced, or has been neglected (other than being driven 2 a month) could be a problem as a daily driver.

A car that has been neglected may not show problems until hundreds or thousands of miles down the road. Never trust everything a seller says about how they cared for a car : of course they wont tell you how they only changed the oil every 10000 miles, or put bondo over rust, or .... etc etc etc. They will usually tell you what YOU want to hear so they can get your money and the car out of their garage.

I am not saying all sellers are dishonest, but every day it seems there are fewer honest people in this world. I have been lied to in the past by tons of people trying to sell me their car, as well as the guy who I bought my car from 2 years ago.

If you do buy this car, I suggest you make sure to have a decent budget set aside for 'just in case.' The car is, after all, 33 years old. Something will go wrong with it. As often as people praise the reliability of the early Z cars, tons of things still do go wrong with them just because of age, as any old car will have. Nissan engineers hardly designed these cars and their components with a 30+ year service life in mind.

Back in the 80s my Dad had an acquaintance who would buy a new car and NEVER change the oil : He would simply top it up whenever it started getting low. He would sell the car to someone later(50-60k miles later) and totally BS them about his maintenance. I recall him getting really outrageously high prices selling his Toyota Previa and Honda Civic. That's downright criminal. This guy was what you would call a "nice guy" otherwise as well...

Be wary!

The current owner switched the distributor to electronic. I guess you are right about trusting sellers but i guess i trust him more than other people i've purchased cars from before.

Well if the car you are looking at was in Florida I'd say don't do it and where is it.

Since it's in Cali. go for it. IF, most of the car checks out. Look for fluid leaks,oil, water, check the water in the radiator. If it's milky you could have a head gasket leak.

Look behind the wheels for brake fluid leaks. Check the fuel filter for excess crud. Look at the back of the engine between the block and transmission. An oil leak there could mean a rear seal is leaking.

Remove the air filter, stick your finger in the carb and push up on the piston. See if it travels easily. Both up and down. If it takes a while to drop, then it will need to be cleaned. Crank the car and repeat the carb thing while running. Listen for variations in sound. Also does it die.

My 72 was a daily driver for several years, like 20. It never left me on the side of the road, but I was always inspecting her to keep tabs of the condition.

Good Luck

Yeah I got it all checked out no leaks, the carb is fine. It runs smoother than the civic i drove earlier. Thanks for the advice

Welcome to the site. It really helps to be mechanically inclined when you own one of these cars (or any 30+ year old car). With help from these guys almost nothing can't be or hasn't already been fixed. I've been daily driving (30 miles +/-) a day for 3 years. Before I took ownership, the car had sat for 3 years.Do a search on pulling cars out of extended hibernation for things to look for. And after you think you've got everything replaced or fixed, something happens (30 year old part). But the beauty of these cars is most problems can and are fixed relatively easily.

Best of luck,

Dave

Welcome to the site. If you do go ahead with your purchase, bookmark this site and place it at the top of your list. Lots of help around here and a nice bunc of people.

As far as buying a Z as a daily driver, it really all depends on what condition it is in and whether you have spare weekends to maintain it I would love a reliable Z as a daily but to me it kind of defeats the purpose of driving a classic car. I tend to think that the less you drive it, the more you appreciate it and love it when you do.

Good luck with your purchase

Thanks to all for all the help. I feel more confident on buying this car.