It would be quite difficult to try and title/register this particular vehicle in many other states. Whoever paid their $3550 is probably uninformed of any of these factors.

Not all states are so lax with their smog laws. I lived in Arizona for a while, up until earlier this year, and went through the registration process there with my Z. Anything built after 1966 and registered in Maricopa and Pima counties must be smogged. Historic vehicle plates are given to any who carry collector vehicle insurance on the car, and are thus exempt to emissions testing as well.

Edited December 3, 200816 yr by blue 72

Is there any way to find the buyer or notify Ebay? We KNOW this isn't a '71 240Z, so whether the seller knows it or not, he sold a car that was not as advertised.

If you click on the auction, then on the "1" feedback the seller just got from the person who bought the Z, you can get to the real ID of the buyer. You can them click on the buyers ID, and it will bring up their profile. You can then use the "Contact member" link on the left side to send them an email.

I don't know if eBay will care if the car is legit or not - but it might be worth contacting them?

I sent him a message

Hello, My name is Mike and I belong to a message forum called classiczcars.com. I am contacting you about the recent purchase of the car advertised as a 1971 240Z. There seems to be some discrepancies about the model and year and wanted to direct you to a thread on the forum. Several respected long time member are concerned that is is not a 71 240 but in fact a 260z with mismatching VINS. This is not spam and it is not intended to scare you but I want to make sure you are informed.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32671

My username on the board is gotswap.

Thanks,

Mike

Edited December 3, 200816 yr by gotswap

Perfect wording. Thanks Mike. Hopefully, the buyer takes a look and can take action if warranted. With any luck, everything will work out for the buyer.

Got a response, looks like we were too late.

"thanks Mike and i think that you are correct

i wish i had known this before paying , i found out that a distributor cap for a 70 -74 wouldnt fit thanks"

Dang. At this point I'm curious if the VIN tags even match. He really should try to contact the seller and see what's up. If the car was stolen, then he will be screwed.

Nobody mentioned the idea that the Seats are not original either.

Not just a Z - zdisease

Just wondering is there anywhere on this site where we keep a list of "bad" ebay sellers to advise caution to new people such as myself? I did a quick search but didn't find anything...

Cheers

JC

search "bad ebayer list", and you will get the largest(mostly about one problem child...), but it has links to another one or two.

Will

If I had purchased the car, I would get some law enforcement involved-the proof the seller was aware that there could, and probably was, a problem is clearly documented here and in ebays internal messaging system-before the auction ended. The buyer could get his money back and the seller would have to deal with the situation he was aware of and chose to ignore.

Will

I doubt that this eBay ID will remain valid for long; doesn't seem like a long time eBayer.

But still, I certainly hope that eBay is informed

Came upon the below auction, and since it is not too far away, looked a little closer. Something seemed a bit odd about the car, what do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300275847579&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:MOTORS:1123

Listed as a '71 240Z with HLS30 29519, yet something seems a bit odd. I emailed the seller and asked about the discrepancies and was basically told to F-off:

(photos provided for posterity):

That's not a 240z...The tail lights and the center console are a dead give away. It could be a 260 with a 280 hood, or maybe a 280 with skinny bumpers. Who knows? No front marker lights to further prove the model.