Hello, to start I'm 44 & I have 3 boys... Yea! My youngest is Brent (age 9) he is like me into all things cars. He has grown up with all the talk about RHD cars, he Loves them... & he is Left handed, so I know he's still 7 years from a drivers license but it's never to late to start thinking about a car. I found this 1979 Nissan Fairlady 280Z for sale. It needs a lot of work but runs... it was brought to the US from Japan. So it's a factory RHD car. After 3 days of thinking about it.... WTH, I got it for a high price of $900.00. Now was it worth it & where do I keep a car for 7 years while I restore it W/O him finding out about it?

I know.... Good Luck! I thought the car was a steal for the price & I can do all the body, electric & mechanical work to get it back to almost new, so am I a cool dad or a dumb arse?

I can't pick the car up until next weekend, about 2hrs from me. When I get it here to my shop I'll get better pics & info posted on it, but this is what I went off of to buy it...

Thanks, Chris.

Congratulations-cool Dad!, and welcome to the Z ownership club!

Storage with out him knowing....got a buddy with an unused barn or silo?

That's a tough one, since it will take some time and energy to straighten it out.

Keep it a secret until the year before his license, then there is one hell of a birthday surprise, and an excellent Son and Pop project!

Will...

i think you should restore it with your son. let him do what he can and you do what he cant.it be a great surprise, but i think the experience will last much longer than the surprise 7 year later.

I vote Cool Dad!

And I'm with Overdrivex, restore it with your son. I read a series of articles a few months ago in Classic Motorsports about a Triumph Spitfire the author rebuilt with his son; great learning experience for his son, and gave them a project to bond over.

Wish my dad had done that with me when I was young....

#1 for storage....get it out of the grass...sure fire recipe for floor pan rust...

Very cool dad thing to do. Read up on the site for how to check the car out properly for rust. You'll want to stop any rot in its tracks before it makes any further progress.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Z ownership!

Thanks everyone for the praise, I talked to my dad (age 77 & doing tree work every day..) to see what he thought. He & I think that I'll get it home & look it over to see how long & how much to get it road ready & then show it to Brent on his 10th B-Day in Oct. I have a nice shop that I work on my own toys, so I can clear out a spot & we could work on it this winter & maybe by April take it to a few local shows for "in progress" classes. Just to see what people think...He does love to go to the car shows.

I have worked on cars for most of my life, JR High was a 74 Pinto wagon.....My dad didn't work with me on the cars much, he just said there's the tools.... fix it! So I did. But I think it would be funner to watch & teach brent how to fix it.

Now the big question.... I have the chance to pick up 2 - 280z's one 83 with T-Tops & one 82 with a turbo for good parts cars. The turbo Z is 75% gone but the drive train is there & the T-Top is 99% there, no back glass & the fuel pump is out. Both for about $500.00 I know he will want to add a turbo & T-Tops to the 79 but I think we should keep it stock...being a RHD Fairlady and all. I don't know much about the value of this car yet, still looking & reading what I can find about this car.

So if I keep her stock then I'll have some good parts to sell to help pay for her rebirth, & If I modify her to his liking, I'll speed more $$ & likely take away from her value. Right??

LMK what you all think.... Please.... it will help me convenice him to leave her stock.

Thanks, Chris.

Welcome to the forum. Based on the fact that this car was stored on the grass, and the look of the body from the few shots here, you may just end up using the body of the 83 assuming it's not any worse than the RHD model.

From what I was told I bought it from the 3rd owner. One was a lady in the Air Force, 2 was a mid 30's guy who drove it for awhile & then parked it to fix it back up, but sold it to the guy I got it from & he only had ownership for a few months. So I think it's only been where it sits for 19 weeks. I did look under the floor boards & it looked & felt solid. I'll know more when I get her home.

The 83 is black & a little better body, I'll take some pics of that one & post today.... So most of the parts will interchange? (83 -79)

I was wondering if anyone knew what the factory colors where avail. for this car? A lot more questions to follow......

Thanks, Chris.

Wow!!! 3rd vote for coolest dad award!!!

Sorry I haven't been back on for a few days... I did get some pics of the Black 83 280Z. It's ruff also, but has the stock rims. Thees are the ones I want to put back on mine right? After I get my fairlady home on Monday I'll post new pics & get the black 83. I'll see just what I need of it & the rest will be up for sale.

Thanks for the votes... I'll take a video of his B-Day surprise & post it... this is going to be great!!!

Thanks, Chris.

I'll chime in o doing the work "with" your son.

1) He will appreciate the car more and will be less likely to take chances with it after putting a hundred hours or more of labor into fixing it up.

2) He will learn a lot in the process.

3) It's quality dad/son time!

Have fun with your project!