I was at a friend's house in Chardon, Ohio around 1973. An acquitance of his pulled up in a Orange 71 240Z. I had been ogling them for awhile and he asked me if I wanted to drive it. I said sure. He wanted to show me the ropes, so to speak, and we left for a short ride. It had been raining earlier and the roads were damp. Two lane blacktop. We were tooling down the road and came upon a young kid riding a motorized scooter. The kid was in the left lane going in the same direction we were. The driver was coming up to pass and tooted the horn to warn the kid. Just as we were about to pass the kid swerved in front of us and the driver cut hard to the right to avoid hitting him. We drove into a drainage ditch, slid into a driveway embankment and roller the car over once. No injuries but the car was totaled. I bought my first Z shortly after that and have had at least one ever since.

I read the road test of the 240Z in the April 1970 issue of Road&Track magazine and recongized the car as a great value. Then, in 1971 I visited my brother down in Miami and he pulls up in a blue 1970 Z - so that was my first ride. Between the article and that ride, I said to myself: I should get one of these someday...

Bought mine in September 1972.

I was born in June, 1971 (a month after my current Z was manufactured). I knew immediately it was my destiny to have a Z...

Actually, it was 1988 and I was living in Ottawa. A buddy from my part-time job bought a '72 240Z in Montreal and needed someone to drive it back as he didn't know how to drive stick yet (my luck). An awesome 2 hr run on highway 417. The growl the car had in second gear stuck with me and I was hooked...

I bought one in Jan 70. It was the first, and only, new car I've ever owned. Wish I'd kept it, I'd be a member of the low VIN club.

I bought one in Jan 70. It was the first, and only, new car I've ever owned. Wish I'd kept it, I'd be a member of the low VIN club.

how low a # was it?

HLS30-00488. So far it's not accounted for on any of the Z registers I've looked at.

I bought one in Jan 70. It was the first, and only, new car I've ever owned. Wish I'd kept it, I'd be a member of the low VIN club.

how low a # was it?

HLS30-00488. So far it's not accounted for on any of the Z registers I've looked at.

Man, that would be a find for you :classic:

Man, that would be a find for you :classic:

I'm not looking to find it. What kind of condition would it be in today? I actually traded that car in for a 72 less than two years later. Datsun gave me what I paid for it! I guess they knew something back then. Looking back to what I said in the other post actually those were the only two brand new cars I've ever owned not counting my wife's HHR.

Now that you own a 280z, how would you compare it to the 240z you used to own? I know it's been a long time since you used to have your 240z, but it I thought it would be kind of interesting to hear how you would compare your newer 280z to the older 240z that you once had in terms of reliablity and how they drove and such.

Well, first off, the 78 has been very reliable. Cold A/C, always starts, always passes the biennial smog check, no major problems. Like you've heard before, the 240 was more of a 'seat-of-the-pants' type car. Both the 70 and the 72 would out handle the 78 and they were both quicker though I'm not sure the 240's I owned with 4 speeds would run the top speed that my 280 would with it's 5 speed. As far as reliability, I didn't own either 240 for as long as I've owned the 280. About a year and a half for the 70 two and a half years for the 72 and 10 years for the 78.

My first ride in a 240 was in 1982. I was a sophomore in HS and my best friend had a '73 with triple micunis (sp). We were on our way to a party off a 2 lane blacktop when we passed it going about 90mph. Tim (the driver) pulled up the e-brake, turned the wheel and dropped it into 2nd and somehow we ended up going about 40 mph the opposite direction without sliding off the road. I purchased my 1st '72 about 2 months later. I owned it for about 5 yrs.:love::love::love:

My first ride in a Z was the 260z that I own today. My friend that I met back in I guess would have been 1979 had one, well I should say his dad had one(we were only 6yrs old back then). His dad bought the car new in 74 and when we turned 16 we would drive it all the time. They kept the car until 2005 and then had to sell it so I jumped on it. I knew the car for all those years and always wanted one so when the opportunity came up for that Z I had to have it. I will probably own this car forever and I made a promise to my friend that if I ever did sell it he would get first chance at buying it back. I am so happy to have a car that I have been around for almost 30 years it makes it all the sweeter.

First ride was in a 260 I bought in '86. If I had known then what I know now I never would have bought it but all I knew then was I wanted an S30 body style car. I went to Okinawa in '82 and S30s were the hot cars to have, even with the ZXs out. There were RX-7s, Skylines and Laurels but the S30s were the shizzle. Owned that 260 for 11 years, bought a trashed '72 in '91 that ended up at the crusher when I found my '73.