Rust claims another victim

[Arne]

Some of you may be aware that recently I have been stripping my yellow 240Z in preparation for rust repair and paint. This weekend that process came to an abrupt halt. Friday morning I found that the passenger floor and associated frame rail is much worse than I had thought. After taking the car to the shop where I was going to have the work done for further consultation, the body man 'thinks' that he could still patch the floor pan, if I got replacement frame rails from Charlie Osborne. More labor, of course. (Totally understandable, and I expected that.) It still might need a replacement pan, he won't know for certain until he starts cutting. Probably figure on doing the driver's side rail while we're at it.

Sigh...

This is the rusty straw that broke the car's unibody. Add this latest to rust in both doglegs, front fenders and probably the rockers. Sadly, I must admit that it's just not worth it.

Here's my dilemma. Let's ignore all the costs I have into the yellow car up to this point. Chalk it all up as learning and help with debugging the red car. So starting from zero now, the reality is that it's going to cost $5000 at least to get the car reasonably rust-free, presentable and reassembled. Maybe as much as $6000. After that investment, it would be a running, driving, clean and mostly de-rusted 240Z with a straight and freshly painted body. But it won't have the original engine, the interior would be intact but aged, bumpers would be there but would need re-chromed to be up to the quality of the rest of the paint, mis-matched wheels, soft suspension, old paint under the hood, etc., etc., etc....

In that condition, could I expect to break even on the body and paint? Say I finish it for $5500, could I sell it for that? And the honest answer for here in the NW and with the recently faltering economy is probably, no. Remember that while the yellow car is a Series 1, it is really nothing special, not low VIN, no longer has the original engine, and is an automatic car converted into a four speed. It will never be a high dollar car no matter how much I spend on it. Dump another $5-6000 on it now and it's probably still only a $4000 car in today's market. And since I can't to keep it for several years until things improve, it doesn't pencil out.

On the other hand, instead of dumping a bunch more on it only to go further in the hole, I can part it out and cut my losses significantly. The thought of parting it pains me a bit, but it's time to get real. While the rust makes it a poor restoration prospect now, it still is still mostly complete and has a lot of parts with value. A fair number of those parts are hard-to-find Series 1 parts, which shouldn't be too hard to pawn off, either.

So instead of going farther in the hole, it seems to make more sense to stop the bleeding and sell off parts to re-coup some of my investment. I can save the proceeds for painting the red car instead. And if I hang on the the shell of the yellow car, I've got a nice roof for the red car should I decide to get rid of the sunroof. (And I'm leaning that way right now.)

So keep an eye on the classifieds, soon I'll be listing parts as I continue sorting and figuring out what I don't want to keep as spares for the future.

[WingZr0]

Sorry to hear that

Don't frame rails usually come up on Ebay for a houndred or so,

if that helps with the cost?

The other side is you can spec it out and make a really cool

Hot Rod/Street Racer Z that could be worth all the additional money you put

imto it if it's possible and you got the time.

NO?

~Z~

[geezer]

It's sad to hear of another being parted for the benefit of others, but I think you have thought this out well and are making the right decision. Hopefully you will recoupe enough from the sale of the parts to offset the cost of the learning experience. I can relate to your dilemna because the '70 Z I'm restoring needed even more work than yours I think. The difference is I'm equiped to do the work myself and there are not many other Z's available locally. You are right about the ease of selling Series 1 specific parts. Good luck to you Arne, I hope you do well selling the parts. I'll be looking for a few pieces myself.

[Mike B]

Arne, sounds like a smart financial choice, given the alternatives. Emotionally I agree it is a tough decision, but I think you are correct that you couldn't count on getting back what you would have to put into once you've finished it. I think you are right to cut your losses now and part it out and put the proceeds back into your red car.

-Mike

[bkelly]

Here's my take on rust repair. If the car isn't a total wreck you should do it. The problem with old cars is people think they have to get their money back or make money. Why not sink $10k into a car that's "worth" $6k when it's done? If you're going to keep it and drive it, what's $4k? You'll get your money back in use. The good thing about old cars is they very rarely go down in value. You know what's crazy? Buying a new car! I paid $23k for my daily driver 2 years ago, today it's worth $10k! $13k depreciation in 2 years and it's still going to drop! Buy a new Z and it will drop more than a 240 in good condition the second you drive it off the lot!

[Arne]

If you're going to keep it and drive it, what's $4k?

Very true. If it was my only Z I'd do it. But since I already have another that is far nicer than I could afford to make the yellow one, I was just planning on fixing it to sell it. And even then, I wasn't even trying to break even, I knew long ago I was going to lose money on it. I was just trying to not go into it any deeper than I already was.

[bigoak]

Man, sorry to hear that...

Alternate thought...(assuming you can get the structural integrity good enough for the following...)...save the money from a paint job, fix the mechanical side cheap but well...have some fun building a auto-cross/track vehicle...bigger cam...bigger carbs...bigger brakes...maybe find an L28 to rebuild...

She won't have to be pretty...just tough...part-out or keep the interior for your red one...

Neat project!

Just a thought...

[sakijo]

If you have the time and the space, fix it slowly. No need to dump lots of money all at once . . . slowly, as it comes. If not, try to sell to someone else who can fix it. Last resort is to chop it up for parts. I feel your pain . . . .

[WingZr0]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

........If not, try to sell to someone else who can fix it. ....Last resort is to chop it up for parts....

There you go , that last sentace right there makes since.

Why not try it and she what it brings?

Maybe you'll be surprised :rambo:

[Arne]

I tried selling it months ago. Too many 240Zs with way less visible rust available here in the Pacific NW. I got offers in the $500 range. Shoot, I've got almost that much in the cooling system alone (all new - three row rad, heater core, hoses, t-stat housing, OE wire clamps, etc.).

No, like I said, it pains me to part it, but it still makes the most sense.

[BRE-240Z]

I tried selling it months ago. Too many 240Zs with way less visible rust available here in the Pacific NW. I got offers in the $500 range. Shoot, I've got almost that much in the cooling system alone (all new - three row rad, heater core, hoses, t-stat housing, OE wire clamps, etc.).

No, like I said, it pains me to part it, but it still makes the most sense.

If you didn't have the red Z, there'd be no question. The yellow Z would be what you had to work with, the repairs it needs are not all that bad, and you'd fix the car. But having the red Z makes the yellow Z entirely superfluous. It's nice on an emotional level to say 'fix the car!' but the reality is that the yellow car is just a source of funds at this point. What brings the biggest return? That's the only question.

Is it worth more as parts? Or as a complete car, minus what it takes to fix up? The problem, of course, that the 'what it takes to fix up' part of the equation is likely to be a significant chunk of change.

My guess is that you're better off parting the car.

[Arne]

If you didn't have the red Z, there'd be no question. The yellow Z would be what you had to work with, the repairs it needs are not all that bad, and you'd fix the car. But having the red Z makes the yellow Z entirely superfluous. It's nice on an emotional level to say 'fix the car!' but the reality is that the yellow car is just a source of funds at this point. What brings the biggest return? That's the only question.

Is it worth more as parts? Or as a complete car, minus what it takes to fix up? The problem, of course, that the 'what it takes to fix up' part of the equation is likely to be a significant chunk of change.

My guess is that you're better off parting the car.

Exactly my reasoning Brian, in every way. If the red car hadn't found me, the yellow car would already have new floor pans, and any other rust cut out as needed. Yes, I'd be into it far more that it'd be worth, but for a car I'd be keeping that's immaterial.

As for which way is it worth more, no question at this point it's worth far more in parts than I can get for it as a whole car, even if I sell the various new parts at 50¢ on the dollar.