With all the talk of car values, it's got me wondering if I really got the good deal I think I did.

I bought my 1 owner, always garaged 1973 240Z with 78,000 original miles back in October 05' for $5500 here in Cali. It was almost completely original when I bought it except for what looks like 2.5" exhaust piping, a 77-78 aftermarket 5 spd, early round top SUs and air cleaner, some bullet mirrors, a Kenwood AM/FM/Cassette radio w/4 cheapo speakers, and a urethane front air dam.

In going through the car, the worst rust I have found is some VERY minor surface rust near the battery tray, around unused bolt holes on the lower front radiator crossmember, and on the suspension components(front and rear transverse links, rear link member, front crossmember, rear link mount brackets). If you saw the pics of the red Z on auction at JB, my suspension had less rust than that one. All of this has since been media blasted and repainted. There is absolutely no ROT anywhere that I find.

Also, there is a lot of rock chips behind the wheels and on the rocker panels, probably from regular driving on a gravel road. The PO must have has some major road work near him him at some point which did the damage to the paint. Hard to notice unless you look close, but there's lots of it. I'm thinking of painting the lower portion black or coating it with a rubberized bed liner type material to cover/seal it. You can see the damage to the rockers via the link in my sig. Note the lips of the wheel wells. Comments? Suggestions?

At the time of purchase, KBB and one or two other valuation sites placed the value at approx $6500. Again, I paid just $5500. So did I pay too much, too little, or just enough?

I don't know if this will answer your question, or not, but...I bought my '73 for $300. The rear quarters were rusted through on the wheel arches and both front fenders had some rust behind the wheels. Also, the drivers side door was dented up. There were smaller dents on the car, such as the hood, roof & rear end. No rust in the engine compartment, the battery tray, inner fenders & frame rails were solid.

I've done the body work (the rear quarters were done by a shop), repainted the engine compartment and the rest of the car, rebuilt & refinished the suspension & brakes, had the engine rebuilt, had a header & new exhaust system installed, replaced the headliner, carpet & door panels and installed a full dashcap, etc... I've got over $8k invested in the car, and that's with me doing 80% of the work. How much over I'm afraid to know. I can't bring myself to add up all the receipts!

There are only one buyer and one seller are you happy with the car? That's all that matters. The rest is just personal opinions. I paid 1,800.00 for mine in 73. Too much? Thirty three years later I would say probably not. I am in the process of major repairs and repaint and will have two or three times the original price in it this time alone not counting my time. Worth it, would be spending my time doing something else if not.

u got a great deal even with the sunroof. jk. any 240 with the minimal amount of rust u describe for just over 5 grand is a steal in my book. of course u cali guy are spoiled and expect a lot more for your bucks.

rust is the major issue when buying any car.

You got a very good deal. I got my 1972 240 for $750 BUT, it had just been in an accident, the whole passenger side was pushed in, the drivers door hinges were bad, the door itself was, the rear hatch deck was rusted out, along with the bottoms of the fenders, battery tray. The hatch had been bondoed and it was cracking, the rear quarter panel was smashed, same with the door jam. I've put about $2500 back into it so far. Sounds like you got a really good deal for a non-cancerous car. Great find.

u got a great deal even with the sunroof. jk.

:cheeky: Funny guy....don't be dissin' my sunroof. It's period correct and dealer installed. At least I didn't cut the hole 30 yrs later.

u cali guy are spoiled and expect a lot more for your bucks.

You're just jealous. Don't be a hater.

Seriously though, I felt like I made a good deal at the time. It was a bit more than I budgeted for, but I got a lot more than I expected.

I just picked up a 1972 240z with only two small rust bubbles: rear deck and rear hatch. Everything else looked fantastic:

Rebuilt L24

Newly upholstered seats

All gauges working

Dash cap

No dents or dings in the body

Original 5-spoke mag wheels with center caps

All emblems

Beautiful orange color

Vinyl is intact and unmarked

$4100

I am giving the car a thorough refreshening: replacing the interior carpeting, replacing all weather seals and bushings, sound deadening the plastic interior panels (applying a strip of neoprene where the plastic meets the body), replacing all fluids and seals, etc.

FWIW: I paid just short of 12K for my Skyline and have sunk close to 7K into it since. Mind you, these are just for maintenance and repairs, not go-go things. My mechanic says that I have a great car and he's seen Skylines going for 20k with a lot more problems than mine has (rust, etc). I say if you're happy with what you got for what you paid, then nothing else matters.

Yeah, I'm happy with the deal I made. I just need to get this thing back on the road. I'm almost done with the suspension refresh. I just need to finish painting a few things, get the fasteners plated, and rebuild the brake system. None of this really needed to be done, but I thought I'd do the brake system for safety reasons and WIAT, I thought I'd repaint all the running gear to eliminate the surface rust. 280Zx dizzy swap is done and I"ll be adding an MSD 6AL, Blaster II coil, and Taylor plug wires. You know how it goes.

My '73 Z set me back $1200. It was mostly original. It had a repaint, a crappy repaint. But everything was there. The engines valve and piston kissed so that set me back a little. Right now I would say I have $2000 total into the car (with the $1200) I had to replace all of the brakes ($300), I swapped in a L28($150). New wheels and tires ($270). Belltop SU carbs($150). The body is mostly strait, the roof looks like something sat on it a few times. Only major rust is on lower drivers quarter in front of the wheel. I have another $500 of suspension parts ready to go on it once i have the time. Oh yeah, their is a crack on the dash (this reminds you that it is a Datsun), and the carpet is in pretty bad shape.

To answer your question, $5500 for a good condition Z sounds right to me. Consider the cost of parts and labor to get a beater Z into good shape and it will be well over $5500. Then again, few cars are worth the money that is dumped into them.