Looking at buying a 240Z

[BadDog]

Having done my own amateur "refreshing" just 3 years ago, I may as well put in my $2.40 :-)

I'd have to agree with Carl's assessment of what's incorrect/missing on the car. I'm no purist (see my gallery for pics of my resto process), but some of those things Carl mentions stick out like a sore thumb to me: missing diamond-pattern vinyl, engine bay color (and painted-over rubber bits and seals in there) and the missing/blacked-out trim. I can't tell if those hatch hinges look rusty, dirty, or orange/red, but I see rust on the little hatch bumper/guides on each side. A *lot* depends on the quality of the body work (how straight those panels are) and paint, and how good of a job he did on the floor panel replacements.

IMHO, purely as a driver and in NY state, I'd probably put it at about 6K-7K, depending on the condition of hoses, brakes, seals, etc. You could probably sell the intake, linkage, and carbs and get enough $$ to fix the carpeting, vinyl, and seat issues while having enough money to put stock-style intake and round-top carbs back on (if you wanted to go that route). For a $12,000 driver, I'd expect to not find all the incorrect things Carl mentioned, and I'd want it to be a completely fresh driver, i.e. not mainly sitting for 18 years.

I kind of disagree with ajmcforester on the 280 vs. 240 point... I've had both cars, and I'd probably go with the 240 again. Yes the 280 has fuel injection, but my SU's are pretty trouble-free and easy to maintain. My 280's fuel injection was reliable too, but parts seem to be getting pretty expensive for that system. I wish my 240 had the better body rigidity of the 280 as well as the steel door beams (for crash protection), but then again she's lighter on her feet :-) And for the record, I see the oft-maligned/overlooked 260 as kind of a bargain: Not as heavy as the 280 but stiffer than the 240; less electronic$ for the engine but a bigger block to build mild-to-moderate performance onto, etc.

Also, contact the upstate clubs (Rochester, Syracuse, Albany) as there have been e-mails shooting around locally in the last year with nice Gen 1 cars for sale at reasonable prices (I'll PM you an example, but it may be gone by now).

[xray]

Late to the party, I know....

Carl, my question about valuing an older restoration was more a hypothetical than actually applied to this car. There's no other metric available for valuing modified cars, so NADA (regardless of personal opinion) has to do as an initial jumping off point. I think well-done modified cars can have strong support in the Import side of collecting, just as we see regularly on the domestic muscle car side...

After seeing this car though, "well done" may not apply. No need to rehash what's already been well-described but this car is an old driver-level refreshification. It's not a 5k car, but it's certainly not 10-12k. I have to revise my early estimate downward, and depending on workmanship I think it's on the low side of average, around 7-8k (still assuming bodywork is good). To revert to stock would be tough, but not impossible (expensive, yes)...but it wouldn't take much to make it into a well-sorted modified Z (assuming minimal metalwork.) New seats, better interior, a nice dash, new weatherstripping (looks to have overspray)---hey, it's only money, right?

If bought for 7500, and 10k wisely spent I bet you'd pretty be pretty close to breaking even if you had to sell it...

[BadDog]

Well said xray, and that brings up the point I forgot to mention, re-sale value. One can't reasonable expect to be able to sell the car they "restored" to their personal tase for what they put into it. By the same token, if you can buy a well-done, reasonably-original-looking Z car that you can enjoy without putting a lot of extra $ into it (i.e. buying somebody else's 20K "restoration" for 12-15K) then if you choose to at some point, you should be able to sell that well-bought car and not lose your shirt :-)

I (and many others) wanted the experience of fixing up an old Z, and we paid for it ;-) Now that I've had that experience, if something happened to my Z and I wanted to get another one (and I had the $$$$!! ), I'd probably take 10K and go buy somebody else's 15-20K up-to-snuff restoration