'72 240z Underbody pics

[EScanlon]

I'm going to chime in with a completely different viewpoint.

How much did you agree to pay for the car? $1-3 thousand? Not a bad amount for what we've been able to see. (just a few pictures of some damage underneath, none of which are fatal.)

How does the interior look like? Is it clean, complete and generally without major problems? Or is it trashed needing total replacement before you can drive it?

What about the exterior? Complete, original paint job? or a good quality repaint?

At the risk of offending you, I think you have a bad case of Buyer's Remorse and are being extremely hyper-critical, LOOKING for a justification to refuse the car and get out of the deal.

The cracked undercoating on the floor pan, big deal. Scrape it off, wire brush it, and reapply. That it is dried out, cracking and showing some rust beneath it is not only typical, it is in reality quite minor. What did you expect of 30+ year old tar based undercoating? If the undercoating were brand new, sticky and still gooey, THEN I'd be seriously worried that it had been applied to intentionally hide problems. Black paint sprayed in the wheel wells and on the underside of the car? That's such an old trick at used car lots as to make any body man laugh. A simple pressure wash gets rid of it and reveals what's underneath.

The pulled metal where they tied it down, that one I would get the shipping company to pay for. It's not more than a hundred or so. Any qualified sheet metal worker could repair that in fifteen minutes.

The crushed frame rail? I don't see NEW scrapes on it, I see as 2MZ said, damage from a floor jack, or a garage lift. If it bothers you that much, it can be replaced. But it doesn't look as though it has collapsed and therefore compromised integrity.

The red dust you see everywhere, could it be plain old dirt? There are LOTS of areas in California where they have RED dirt! Red Dirt = Red Dust.

Those look like the original tires, could this car have sat in a barn for a number of years? If so, almost ALL of the problems you've mentioned would definitely be attributable to not having been "woken" up or refreshed properly.

But in all of this, you've not given pictures of the exterior, interior, general condition of the car. Let's take a look at the rest of the vehicle, AND post how much you agreed to pay. That may be the biggest indicator of all.

As far as the transport company, did you shop for the "lowest" bidder? Or did you find a reputable transport company with credentials to match?

Sorry if this offends anyone, but I've seen worse, and from the very limited pictures we've seen, this is NOT a basket case of a car.

Enrique Scanlon

[EScanlon]

First off, even experienced body men can be fooled by the magnet check. A really THIN coating of bondo won't appreciably change the pull of the magnet towards the base metal. It takes a really THICK application of Bondo before you can easily detect it with a magnet, and then you have to have experience with it. The magnet test is best when detecting fibreglass replacement panels.

And before everyone chimes in that this is a "sure fire" way, there are body fillers out there that have METAL powder in them specifically for THIS purpose.

And the argument that bondo is ~BAD~ won't wash, just about EVERY car manufacturer uses some sort of plastic body filler to hide seams on the exterior of the car, small dents in the assembly line, or even in the transport process.

I think that there may only be a handful of manufacturer's out there that still use lead. Rolls Royce, Bentley, maybe Aston Martin, Ferrari and Lamborghini, might still use lead, but I seriously doubt that your average Joe Schmoe body shop in California is using it. Unfortunately, it is a dying art.

Sorry to come off so strong, but just had to put in my 2¢.

[PetesPonies]

rust is impossible to completely remove and prevent. I work with rust daily. When I see a car listed as rust free, I take it to mean no damage from rust. Surface rust is not damage. Rust is nature's own protection; yes protection. Given the opportunity to dry out, the surface rust acts as a barrier. It is when constant moisture is applied to an area that more serious rust develops. I would consider an old car with solid surface rust to be a very good car. The surface rust did it's job. Your shipping company broke some undercoating off. This may be a good thing. If there is rust underneath, then there are places that the moisture can get in. This would not allow the area to totally dry out; thus more serious rust can develop. However, I always ask people, will you be driving this as a primary car? In snow and rain? Salt? A car driven on sunny days will last forever, even if some problems exist. I think the torn frame rail is unfortunate and should be paid for. It will be an easy fix for a body tech.

[St.stephen]

Escanlon......I am completely with you!!!

How much did you pay for this car???

[TKR514]

It looks damn good for a 72. Unless you paid $9K for a "showroom car", it looks just fine to me. No way will a 30 year old Z have zero rust so I'm not sure what the whining is about. Heck, even the so called "damage" from shipping aint no big thing UNLESS you paid top dollar for this car....

[Inf]

I think my expectations were a little too high, this being a 30 year old car and also my first experience with a car this old. I absolutely love the car, and am keeping it. I plan on fixing a lot of the things I initially found wrong with it, even though I do not think I got a very good deal since the guy selling it to me flat out lied about several things to artificially drive up the price. I posted a longer related post in the open discussion forum.

Andrew