2300 mile road trip for $250.00 240 worth it?

[lonetreesteve]

Looks like the white one Art was talking about was sold back on February 11. Unfortunately for Eric, it only states that the car must be paid for within 2 weeks of auction end and doesn't give a time frame of when the buyer needs to pick up the car. Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8037361020

[Fun_in_my_z]

I was going to bid on that one. But she is to far away

[RAZ1]

The pictures don't show you that there is a replacement door on the drivers side and the day before we got there the owner said someone ran into the car crunching the front pass side fender.

How somebody ran into it out in the middle of nowhere is beyond my comprehension. Even with those problems, the car was worth $355.00. It is also sitting in soft sand with low tires maiking it a real PITA to move.

I'm telling you this place was a riot just to walk around. Z's of every generation in many different conditions ranging from crap to really crappy.

I have to say I had a good time walking (in the woods) around looking for stuff. Every once in a while I would find a diamond like two decent front bumpers for a 240Z or center consoles with no cracks. I'm telling you this was the disneyland of Z car junk(yards).

[dkd021]

I went today & got a 1970 & '71 for $500. Well, I got the 70 today & I have to get the 71 within the next couple of weeks. The 70 has the original motor & is totally complete. However, while it's not rotted away, it has rust in every common rust place in a Z. The 71 is really a heap with fender flares & spoilers, but it too is complete.

The guy was really cool though. He just started giving me stuff. I couple of extra hatch struts, three steering column covers, a nasty but straight splash pan to name a few. I finally told him that if I wanted anything else I'd call him.

I had to rent a tow dolly & will have to again so my total will be $600 plus gas. He lives about 90 miles from me. It wasn't too bad of a drive for me since about 70 of that was interstate highway.

[er34gtt2000jp]

Hey guys,

Sorry I am late but we were so beat Saturday night and I could not get the forum to load on my laptop so I said F*** it and went to bed.

Well I was able to get the white 240Z and only paid $270.00 for it! Very little rust from what I can tell, hatch, trunk and floorboards all good! Doglegs need a little attention, but the frame rails and battery tray are A-1 sweet-as!

I need to send a HUGE thanks out to Art, you are the proverbial POOP! Thanks for the help and advice, and for coming along for the ride......I was a bit nervous about driving off into the back woods with some stranger who seemed nice enough but you never know right!

I am sooooo glad I did not get the brown 72' it was way bad! Pretty complete but would have needed an entire new front end from the shock towers forward.

Anyway, back to the story!

After you left, it got to be almost 2PM and I was thinking to myself it is gong to take us a good 4 or 5 hours to get to Flagstaff. This SUX! So that was it, I was walking down the hill going to get in my truck and go home. Pretty bummed. Then the guys girlfriend shows up, the one who was setting up the auctions. She was very concerned about the brown car and almost fell over when she saw the white one. After we explained the situation, It took about 2 minuets for her to ask me to make an offer on the white one!

So then came the loading fun! After getting my truck up the mountain and changing the one tire out that someone had try to steal and removed all the lug nuts I tried to turn my truck around in this maze of cars and small trees! Well anyone who has towed a U-Haul auto-transport know they do not back up for crap! So it took about an hour and my truck in 4WD Lo to get turned around. Then in the middle of this the transfer case in my truck decided it wanted to go into neutral and get stuck!

So now we were STUCK in bum-f***-egypt on the side of a mountain with a POS U-Haul trailer hanging off the back of my truck! Oh and did I mention cell coverage is almost nill and it was 3PM now!

So that was it, now I was really going home, I called USAA roadside assistance and was was about to disconnect the trailer so we could pull my truck down the hill (so the wrecker could find us!) when along comes some guy who is a Suzuki dealer mechanic. He saved my arse! He gets my truck into 2WD and helps me get turned around so I could drive back down the hill and load the Z up.

Well by this time it is after 4PM and we finally get the Z loaded. Thanks god I borough my Z keys with me. I was able to jiggle the ignition enough to get the steering unlocked and with the help of two other guys and my wife we pushed the car up the little incline it was on and down around the bend to the trailer.

We made it into Flagstaff about 10PM and let me be the first to say, I SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN GALLUP! That drive SUCKED!!!!! Especially since I was dirty, tired, hungry (no lunch or dinner) and I got a bit of sun stroke to boot! So I was feeling like CRAP and had to drive for 5 hours to get to the hotel.

But a we made it back to Cali last night in one piece. The car is still on the trailer (all the tires are flat again). But I could not be happier!

Here is a run down on the car;

1973 240Z

original color was Orange

appears to be the original engine, with 3 screw round top carbs

3 into 2 header and cheesy monza tip with no muffler

not too much rust (that I can find so far)

SUPER COOL Wheels! (for 1980 maybe)

and it needs a complete restoration!

Damage to right front fender, bent the inner fender up a bit where the headlight extension bolts on but it is fixable

All in all it was an exciting trip, full of peril and drama. But i would not have passed it up for anything.

Thanks again Art and to everyone who posted on this thread. You guys rock! Oh and as soon a an admin approved my photos you can see the car in my gallery.

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=8081

I will post some more photos and an update now and then on the car later.

Eric

[lonetreesteve]

Eric,

Oh man, what an adventure! I'm really glad you were able to buy the white 240 and for such a great price! As for the brown one, no wonder they didn't show the front on the car on the Ebay pics. Sounds like the white one is pretty solid. As of the time of this posting, the pics of the car weren't in your gallery yet, but I will check it out tonight when I get home.

[cremmenga]

Sounds great man! a road trip is always fun even if you end up getting nothing out of it!!! Let me know if you need any parts I have a SH*T load I need to get to selling, mainly just engine stuff and some other parts too!! good luck man!

[er34gtt2000jp]

OK guys,

It looks like they approved my photos.

I did a little work on the Z, mainly exploratory surgery but the verdict is good. I took off that mangled fender and the air dam. The inner fender looks good, the front part where the headlight and hood hinge bolt up is a little tweaked.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/big_daddy_nismo_4x4/detail?.dir=/df68&.dnm=447cscd.jpg

I think I will take it to a body shop and have that professionally fixed after I have the shell stripped.

I took a bunch more photos too, the rear bumper indentations on the quarters had been filled with bondo and very poorly at that. It took me about 30 seconds with screwdriver to get them to this;

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/big_daddy_nismo_4x4/detail?.dir=/df68&.dnm=adf3scd.jpg

here is the remains, let this be a lesson to all....never bondo over painted metal!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/big_daddy_nismo_4x4/detail?.dir=/df68&.dnm=5c01scd.jpg

I had to pull the cowl to get the fender off so i cleaned out the crap from under the cowl and took these photos as well, looks pretty good if you ask me.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/big_daddy_nismo_4x4/detail?.dir=/df68&.dnm=23d9scd.jpg

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/big_daddy_nismo_4x4/detail?.dir=/df68&.dnm=548bscd.jpg

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/big_daddy_nismo_4x4/detail?.dir=/df68&.dnm=fd77scd.jpg

I also took a few of the frame rails and floors, gonna need a little work here. One small rust hole on the drivers side, but that is all I could find. Pretty solid, just bent up a bit.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/big_daddy_nismo_4x4/detail?.dir=/df68&.dnm=312bscd.jpg

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/big_daddy_nismo_4x4/detail?.dir=/df68&.dnm=a879scd.jpg

And lastly the drivers dogleg, by far the worst rust on the car.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/big_daddy_nismo_4x4/detail?.dir=/df68&.dnm=970bscd.jpg

All in all I think i made out pretty good, just don;t ask how much it cost me in gas!:nervous:

[ncz]

Eric, great adventure and road trip. And on top of that a poor neglected Z will get a new lease on life. Can't beat it. The rust factor isn't too bad. Are you going to have it blasted or go it with the wire wheels? Whatever it will be fun to watch you get it done. Have fun

[RAZ1]

Way to go Eric, I thought the "whoa is me" approach would work.

I said it at least 5 times there and I'll say it again, best Z in the graveyard. And at $270.00 one hell of a bargain.

I should have given you a cell number and you could have come by the house and picked up some of this sheetmetal that I have. Oh well. maybe next time.

[cremmenga]

hmmmm I can't stand it!!!! HOW MUCH DID IT COST YOU IN GAS?!?!?!

[er34gtt2000jp]

hmmmm I can't stand it!!!! HOW MUCH DID IT COST YOU IN GAS?!?!?!

STOP reminding me!!!!!

The horror, I haven't even checked my bank account since I got back.