Since you called a meeting of the club Chris, Greg welcome aboard. I am trying to do exactly what you are planning and 26th Z is doing. Another member of the club says it takes one weekend to prep the car for the bodyshop. That is, take it down to bare metal so only the shell is left. While you the paint shop has it blasted and painted you have to do the real work, getting everything restored to factory. I'm sure you are aware that there are some different parts on our early cars, Endo-san (Kats) has done a great job documenting some of these on his website:

http://www.geocities.jp/datsunz903/

I too am like Carl in that I grew up with these cars, owned my first 510 in 1977 and 70 240 in 1980.

Glad to meet another member of the club. We know a few people in Ohio so we will see if we can find a decent paint place.

Fred

HLS30-00040 10/69

HLS30-00095 10/69

HLS30-00793 12/69

Well, I'm late to the club meeting as always, but welcome to the site, Greg! I can't help with any local shops, since I don't live around you, but I did buy my 280Z in Cincinnati from a private party that I met on e-bay! Picked up my 240Z on a side-street right here in good old Champaign, IL. I hope you have good luck finding someone to do the body work - no one around here would touch mine, since all they want to do is collision repair. But if you have wheelbarrows full of money, you can take 26th Z's advice and cart it off to Maryland or something! Good luck getting her back in shape - I find that the research on what the early cars looked like and had on them is half the fun .

Mark

Welcome to the club. If I wasn't trying to move I'd take that wheelbarrow full of money and do the restoration for you. That is if you want your Z to look like mine

My wife would probably kill me too but that's ok because it would be worth it.

.. one of our Zero Rust dealers in Lebanon OH asking if he knows anyone with the skills to do the metal work. He is pretty well connected in the restoration hobby in the area and I would trust his input. I'll post here or privately if he comes back with something positive.

Cheers.

I'm working with my second welder and I talked to fifteen body shops before I found the guy I'm working with. I didn't like the welding work from the first guy and had to have some redone. There are some interesting VHS tapes available from Eastwood Automotive about welding and sheet metal fabrication for restoring old cars. Steve Covell? Is that right? They can give you an idea of what to expect. There are plenty of sheet metal forms around. http://www.rustrepair.com/ and for the trickey stuff, you have to find a donor body shell. But be encouraged! There are plenty of guys doing it and coupled with the rest of the car restoration market, you shold be able to find someone to help you out.

Hi Greg:

Did you find the Date of Manufacture on your Z? It 's on the drivers door jam. Also the original engine serial number - which is on the data tag under the hood..

thanks,

Carl B.