My "new" '81 280zx

[norcal z]

Well, the Zcar bug bit me again, so I had to find a cure. You see, my ’72 hasn’t been driveable for the past 6 years, after blowing the head gasket. It needs a total rebuild on not only the engine, but everything else, too. Having left the NorCal Bay Area and and moved to SoCal into a HOA (that’s really a 4 letter word!) five years ago, I can’t perform any major repairs and the poor 240 has been parked outdoors. So for the past year or so I’ve been watching Ebay and craigslist, checking the prices to see where the market was at. And since I’m not as young as I used to be, I decided that a 280 zx was more suited to what I was looking for.

I found this nice ’81zx in the Oakland area last week, and flew up to look at it and make the purchase yesterday. I bought it from the original owner, who is now in her mid 70s and having had knee surgery, can’t drive the 5 speed any longer. It has just over 87K on the odometer, turning that milestone as I drove it home. Most services and repairs were done at a Nissan dealer, so except for the replacement seat covers (she told me that the original seats are still under the covers), it’s also in original condition. Her husband had kept a notebook in the glove box with notations on every service performed since it had about 8500 miles. I also got a manila envelope with most of the service records over this car’s life.

OK, now for the pics. These first 4 are from the craigslist ad, so they’re small; the rest the seller sent me. My camera is apparently taking a vacation, so I couldn’t take any better ones today.

The passenger side has 5-6 small door ding dents and quite a few paint chips, which you can’t see in this crappy photo, but they are there:

The Driver’s side has a few paint chips, but no dents:

The hood only has 2 tiny chips in the paint:

The rear is almost perfect, with no chips or scratches:

There is no rust anywhere on this car, and not even any corrosion under the battery tray. I don’t have a pic of that area, but here’s one generally of the engine bay, sent to me by the seller:

Here’s the interior with the original floor mats; driver’s side is worn out, but the passenger side is like new:

Once you take the floormats out, however, the carpet underneath looks new but is the original:

Also of note is that the dash doesn’t have a crack on it.

Here’s the rear cargo area:

The car drives almost like it was new. The engine runs flawlessly, the suspension is tight and steers straight down the road with little effort in turns, there are no rattles or squeaks, and all the accessories work - cruise control, A/C, and even the stereo, although I think the speakers need to be replaced). For about the first hour coming home, I drove it between 55-65mph, but later pushed it on up to 70-75, and it cruised right along. Even coming over the Grapevine I was passing most everyone, maintaining 70mph.

Guess that’s enough for now – I’m enjoying the ride!

Edited April 25, 2011 by norcal z
typos repaired

[scoutman75]

nice find

[SportBikeMike]

Nice car!

[signal34]

Very nice find!

I've always loved the two-tone blue and silver paint scheme.