Your best Z find

[280~Master]

I thought it would be interesting to hear about great Z car finds.

It could be a nice car for cheap or just that special part you been looking for. Lets all try and list a great story or if you have a super bad one go ahead and tell everyone.

I will start first.

It was about 1994 and I was living in Walnut Creek CA, looking for a vehical. I was mostly going to tow truck places and finding cars that were being sold for back storage fees. I had gone to look at a truck that needed a clutch and missed buying it by about an hour. The great thing was there were 2 280Z's sitting in the lot both for sale. One had a hole in the engine block but was a solid car. The other had been wrecked. Ran head-on into a telephone pole. Just been restored and had a newly rebuilt L28 with a nice cam upgrade. I just happen to getting both of the cars for 600.00 and that includes towing to the house. Did the engine swap and a few parts here and there and drove her for 5 plus years. The great bonus was I made 200.00 off of the old body and parts.

[george71z]

I was in the midst of restoring my 71. I had taken off the front cover as the timing chain tensioner had come apart, and I could not get the car to run right. I knew next to nothing about L24 motors at the time. I was on an errand and passed a gas station with a 72 with a for sale sign in it. I stopped and asked about the car. The owner was asking $1200. He took me for a ride and I swore it had a V-8 in it. Nope, the L-6 with triple Webers on it. I offered him $1000 for the car and sealed the deal. I got the whole car and swapped motors into my 71. Best deal I ever made.

[sblake01]

I paid $275 for my 78 with a stuck left rear brake, a loose rocker, and faded paint. But it ran, everything else was in good shape (except the gas tank!) and it only had 48000 miles on it. Some 12 years and only about $2800 later, it's the car in my signature pic. The other two have similar stories but you wanted a Z story.

[280~Master]

Stephen,

I do like that red truck and would love to have it.

[IBZINYA]

In 2006 My youngest daughter and I conjured up a scheem to go autocrossing. I had raced SCCA GT-5 in a Datsun 1200 in the mid 80's at Portland IR and have always had the bug! After looking for ever for a decent start car I realized that there really was no after market anymore. The next logical step.... a Z of course! We looked for a decent candidate but colamitty struck late in 2007 when my 13 year old daughter was diagnosed with end stage renal disease (Kiddney Failure). We had life flight bills in the $35000.00 range plus ambulance rides and medical bills to the tune of a new home. We are still awaiting transplant but there is a light at the end of this tunnel. This disease is covered by the Americans with diabilities act.. however you must qualify.. and part of that qualification is you canot have more than $3500.00 equity in your vehicles. At the time I owned a 2005 Dodge Neon (paid for) a 2001 Dodge Dakota quad cab 4x4 (paid for) and a 1999 Neon for my then 17 year old daughter. So I traded in the 05 Neon on a 07 Dodge caliber R/T awd and that took care of that equity.. Sold the Dakota and used part of the money on my 74 Z. I had to give th 99 Neon to relitives.... So I found my Z on Craigslist 15 minutes after the owner had listed it. He had pulled it out of a barn in Spokane Washington after a 12 year Hybernation.. He was reluctant to let me drive it home becuase he wasnt sure it would make the 3 hour journey... (Silly man, its a Datsun) So I made it home and found the water pump to be wobleing and the rear main seal pukeing, but it was in my garage. Best part is so far in a year of ownership most of the parts I have needed to replace have come from the 4 boxes of spare parts he supplied at the time he sold it to me. Even the water pump and rear main seal were there in Nissan bags and boxes. So with 1 autocross under our belt we managed to be the fastest car on street tires and beet out some others in higher classes and we are hooked. Our newest delima is of course how to afford tires... took 4/32 of our Toyo PX4's in one afternoon... yup wife is pissed..

This is the Z as of yesterdayLOL