I went and looked at this car today.

http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/1796429194.html

It was the best one I have looked at so far. Here are the details...

THE BODY....

It has been repainted at some point and they did a pretty good job. There was one outward ding that blistered the paint on the passenger door.

Tad bit of white paint on windshield, hatch glass and quarter panel glass from so so tape work.

They didn't take of any of the windows when they painted it. There is some rust where the hatch glass meets the metal at the weather stripping, not too bad.

Rust around fuel door, where quarter panel skin is welded to fuel door pocket.

There was some rust on both sides of the hatch area by the taillights (god this seems like every car has this, or is that just the cars I am looking at?)

Small rust bubble where quarter window sill where it meets passenger door jamb

The battery tray, frame rails were in great condition. HOWEVER, there was a very soft spot on the passenger floor pan outboard of the "frame?" about the size of a silver dollar. The drivers side floor pan was great. In fact some of the original undercoating had peeled off and I could see the metal in good shape

INTERIOR....

Seats, steering wheel, headliner door panels all great. Has a dash cap though:ermm:. Carpet is faded but clean.

MECHANICAL...

Car drove great, the guy is selling it for someone (weird I know) New brakes and $1600 worth of fuel system work.

Car unfortunately is a 4 speed, I really prefer a 5 speed.

A/C does not blow cold....

I was going to offer $5500, but I don't think that will get it. I think 6k will though.

Overall from 10-20 feet this car is beautiful.

The downfalls for me is the rust (i am very very picky on cars with rust having grown up in the rust belt) the 4 speed, and the dash cap...

PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR THOUGHTS...

Cheap repaint? - Walk away..

I'll be selling mine soon. If you aren't a purist you might be interested

http://67.18.219.83/image_hosting/web_pages/Mike88se/images/240/240Z.htm

You'd be much better off with this: http://www.datsunclassifieds.com/showproduct.php/product/5049/title/1972-datsun-240z-w-2f-4-speed/cat/1

Go get it and drive it back. The white CL car is not worth half of what you are thinking of offering.

I hear ya, but Washington is a long damn way from Houston, TX...

You'd be much better off with this: http://www.datsunclassifieds.com/showproduct.php/product/5049/title/1972-datsun-240z-w-2f-4-speed/cat/1

Go get it and drive it back. The white CL car is not worth half of what you are thinking of offering.

Agreed 7500 is too much for that car. for that price in a 280Z it would need to have a much better body, (ie no rust) and should be mechanically sound, meaning working AC and the like.

The dash cap is not really a big deal if it was done correctly. Finding a perfect Z dash is like finding a leprechaun on a sunny day. The haste at which it was painted worries me. Could be hiding much more than you see.

1600 dollars in fuel system repairs is really nothing considering most of that was probably labor.

Sounds like to me they just did a quick job of fixing it up just enough to sell to a buyer who is not yet trained to spot the issues.

Walk away. There is no shortage of Z cars.

I hear ya' date=' but Washington is a long damn way from Houston, TX...[/quote']

Do not let this bug you. The price of a plane ticket and cost to ship the car down to you is WORTH IT for a clean example.

I flew to North Carolina to get mine and had it shipped back. The price for the plane ticket and Horseless Carriage VIP shipping was less than 1600 dollars and you can easily spend 3 times that much on a lemon just to get it running. Expand your search and save up for a plane ticket. There are some GREAT cars in this country to be had. Worth traveling for.

Something like this better? This looks like the one I looked at yesterday. I am going to be in northern Louisiana in a few months, maybe I will take a look.

http://littlerock.craigslist.org/cto/1791697464.html

You'd be much better off with this: http://www.datsunclassifieds.com/showproduct.php/product/5049/title/1972-datsun-240z-w-2f-4-speed/cat/1

Go get it and drive it back. The white CL car is not worth half of what you are thinking of offering.

Absolutely. I'd forgotten Dave was selling that car. The car in Arkansas sounds good but if I was looking for a 240z I'd have no problem buying Dave's car. From talking to Dave here I'd trust that everything on that car was done right. I still have the phone number of the driver who brought my car down from Washington if you're interested. He told me that if I ever needed another car transported to call him directly for a better price than the broker offers.

Hey Ben, I was wondering how your search was going. Just wondering how mine compared to some of the other Z's you have looked at.

Have you looked at this one?

http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/1810467036.html

Or this one?

http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/1800056036.html

Here is one in Topeka, no idea who's it is, says it is a Cali car.

http://wichita.craigslist.org/cto/1814535658.html

Bonzi Lon