260Z on Mecum Auction

[Mike B]

I was just watching the Mecum auto auction from Des Moines, IA that I recorded Friday night and saw a silver 260Z automatic with 19K miles. It got bid up to $15,000, but didn't meet the reserve. My first time seeing a Z on a TV auction. They spent about 4 mins talking about it. One of the floor commentators is a guy named Stephen Cox, and he said he owns one that he races. He talked it up as being a very rare one year only model, a "follow up to the very successful 240Z" and that the 280Z came out the next year. They also said that since there are early and late model 260Zs that adds to the "rarity". They talked about some of the "innovative" features under the hood, like the inspection lids, and the OHC straight 6 engine that "doesn't make a ton of horsepower, but gets the job done". Also pointed out the plastic engine fan saying "it came from the factory that way to lighten the spinning mass on the engine". Then the other guy says "hey this care has an automatic" and the first guy says "I know, I wasn't going to mention that". It looked very clean and stock, as you would expect for a 19k mile car.

I checked the Mecum site and it looks like the same car sold for $15K at the Indianapolis show in May, so I guess the buyer was trying to flip it for more at another auction?

Here is a link to the Mecum auction page http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=IA0709-82364. It is also on the dupont registry site http://www.dupontregistry.com/autos/search/DRauSearchDetails.aspx?itemid=676948.

-Mike

[=Enigma=]

It appears that that the license plate brackets on the early style 260Z front bumper are offset. Has anyone seen this before? My 73 bumper is not like this. Also, any idea what that orangeish colored plate near the EGR control valve is? Lastly, did all the US 260Z's have the evap container on the front right wheel well. I thought these didn;t come into play until the 280Z...

[Rif]

All I can say is ," that is one sweet lookin car". I LOVE DATSUN CARS!!!:beer:

Edited July 20, 2009 by Rif

[fixitman]

It appears that that the license plate brackets on the early style 260Z front bumper are offset. Has anyone seen this before? My 73 bumper is not like this. Also, any idea what that orangeish colored plate near the EGR control valve is? Lastly, did all the US 260Z's have the evap container on the front right wheel well. I thought these didn;t come into play until the 280Z...

Early 260Z's had offset license plate brackets and evap containers. Since my car was desmogged so long ago, I don't remember the orange plate near the EGR valve. It's probably a bracket for one of the pollution control devices.

Fixitman

[Oiluj]

I saw that auction as well. Was interesting to hear the "muscle car" guys talking about the Z. From the comments, it sounds like one of them has a track Z.

[VITAMIN Z]

I can not believe I missed this one! I always watch this show and I was waiting for a Z to pop up. This one looks great, and makes me wonder how many more original low mile Z's are out there.

[Mike B]

This car was auctioned by Mecum at St Charles, IL last Thursday and was shown on tv again. The car had a reserve of $15k and sold for $15,250. The idiot floor commentator (who supposedly has an S30 race car) said he spotted one incorrect item under the hood - the Nissan valve cover, since Datsun didn't become Nissan in the US until several years later. Typical clueless muscle car commentators.

-Mike

[sopwith21]

I remember that car... man, it was a last second, knee-jerk call. That car was thrown at me with about 40 seconds notice (literally) but it was still really nice to see a Z on the program. At the moment this car was on air, I was actually thinking of some of the people that I yack with on this forum and wishing some of you were here to talk more about it. Some of the people here could have spent the entire 4-hour show talking Z's, and I certainly could spend 4 hours listening to them.

Still, I was delighted to finally see a Z on the show at all, especially a 60. We'll get the occasional 40 or 80, but that's the only 60 we've ever had so it was a treat. I wish you guys could have seen it in person. The people on this forum would really appreciate it more than a general muscle car audience.

As you can imagine, I don't get many opportunities to promote Z cars on the show. Most of the Japanese sports cars don't get much respect (and Bill Stephens still jabs me mercilessly for daring to praise the Z), so it's fun to try and make a few new Z-car converts every chance I get. Maybe next time we get a Z, I can squeeze in a some quick props to all the cool people on this forum before the producer yells at me.

Stephen Cox

Mecum Auto Auctions, HD Theater

www.SopwithMotorsports.com

[lonetreesteve]

Looking at the pics, the car looks very clean and original; however the engine bay could use a little cleaning.