hehe all original 71 240Z

[ZmeFly]

i like this one i mean the car looks nice but notice the indiscrepencies, with the all original matching numbers, heres part of the ad

You are Bidding on a 1971 Datsun 240Z. It is bone stock and original right down the the interior. This is a serious survivor. The 240z was purchased in California and has been in California its entire life. This was a one owner car. I purchased this from the original owner who was 92 yrs old. The car only has 129,888 original miles. The quarter panels, doors, trunk, frame rails, are all rust free and original. This car was unmolested and garage kept for the past 30yrs. This car is 98% restored and all the hard work has been done. This 240Z still wear all of its original interior and the numbers match on the motor and tranny. The car wears Minilite wheels and tires with great tread. The car runs and drives like new with no mechanical problems. This would be perfect for any serious Vintage Datsun collector

The motor and 5 speed transmission are origianl and numbers matching. The cars equipment consists of power disc brakes which work excellent and stops with no problem, It does not pull or wander, it drives down the road straight and handles like new! It has a front sway bar. The car had all new exhauset put on from the manifold to the muffler a few years ago. The car wers new strut Rod Bushings, Sway Bar Bushings, Sway Bar Links, Lower ball joints and Differential mount. It has a new power booster, master cylinder and new brake hoses.

i didnt know that on american spec 240's that you could get a 5 speed, and notice where it says new power vac booster, yet in the pics its rusted. i also like the original dual mirrors too.

heres the link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2406566410&category=6187

[2ManyZs]

Something smells bad with this one...:cross-eye

Notice the VIN number? That car should have hatch vents, not C pillar vents. Yet it has the early console with one lever missing....It does have the right master cylinder for a 71 though.

The antenna is wrong too....Heater hose has been hacked up at the head, and the gas filler door latch isn't right......Nissan never numbered the transmissions on the data plates so even if it were a 4 speed, no way of knowing if it is original....

Either he put in the wrong Vin number or that is a 72 with some of the early trim.....

Nice, but not what he's advertising, hopefully someone doesn't believe everything he has written.

[Arizona240z]

mirrors, wheels, wiper blades.....just at a fast glance without reading any of the "info" bone stock my a$$ he should be shot for making that claim.

[2ManyZs]

Look a little closer, it's a 72 that he's tried to make look like an early car.

Can't see any tool boxes behind the seats, wrong valve cover, plus all the other things that are wrong with it.

[stevemasum]

Hey guys! I just think the seller may have missed entering one of the VIN numbers. I can't think of any real benefit to try to pass a 1972 for a 1971 car. And the car looks consistent for a mid to late year 1971 series II.

Besides what was already mentioned, there are a few extra things that I've noticed that contradict the Ebay description. The seat backs look reupholstered and look slightly different than the seat bottoms. The shift knob isn't original. I can't see the radio very clearly but it looks aftermarket. The car is missing the little black inserts for the interior door latch. Even though the painter was very generous in spraying the bolts, caps and latches, the car looks pretty good in the pictures.

[EScanlon]

I have a 71 built 9/71.

Here are my observations:

It's NOT Butterscotch, it's 920 Gold. (That's my car's color)

Mirrors and Antenna have been replaced.

Wiper blades have also, but that's minor. I'd be real surprised to see him still running 32 year old blades. However, the Wiper Blade HOLDER has also been replaced. The originals were Stainless Wires.

The Gas door is correct, but the lock is not. Although some dealers were known to be replacing that with a locking tumbler from tool boxes in order to make it a locking door in lieu of locking gas caps which were hard to find back then.

It may be a blemish, but it looks as though a dash cap is on the dash.

The rear bumper guards have been removed and replaced with some rusty bolts. At least he's using carriage bolts on the front.

The front marker lights are on backwards, they don't angle towards the front, they're supposed to be parallel to the flat plane running front to back on the vehicle in order to reflect properly. The backs are also backwards.

The hatch is correct for the year, so are the seats, console and valve cover. His VIN is probably closer to 33748. The Tool Boxes MAY be behind the seats, but I can't get the picture to lighten up enough to show detail, however the lack of a split in the rear carpet as well as the luggage stop (an accessory back then) indicates the tool boxes being behind the seats and in front of the hatch floor.

Even with all that, I say it IS worth at least $3.5 to $5K. There may have been some work as far as paint (door latches show it, as well as the tail light surrounds), and possibly some minor body work, but it's very much in good shape as far as the pictures are concerned.

I wouldn't mind giving it a personal look through, but in all honesty guys, this isn't the type that we've seen other people buy for equal or more money. Would I buy it? Probably, if I had the money and I didn't already have one, (and could get it home without SWMBO finding out until the deal was done). Hmm, that makes me think.....Hey 2ManyZ's how did you get your collection going?

Just my 2¢

[2ManyZs]

The second and third sentence in his history description says it all.

"It is bone stock and original down to its interior. This is a serious survivor."

And it's not. Period. There are just enough mods done to make it non-original or a true survivor. It's just a pretty nice car that looks to be in good shape, not a bone stock "survivor".

Whether he listed the wrong VIN number or year doesn't really make any difference to me, it's not what he says it is.

If it is 3748 then most of the problems stated earlier don't fit with the VIN number, hatch vents etc....

If it is 33748 there's a couple things that don't fit with it being a later car. Like the center console. The console looks to be an early model with the choke and hand throttle, yet only one lever. If it's 33748 it shouldn't have that, going by the fact that mine is 14749 and mine doesn't have the hand throttle.

Did anyone notice the half dash cover that looks to be secured on the passengers side with a sheet metal screw? Along with the paint overspray it looks kinda tacky.... Notice how the bumpers are pushed right up against the body? Front and rear?

[Mr Camouflage]

Originally posted by 2ManyZs

Notice how the bumpers are pushed right up against the body? Front and rear?

The bumpers looks normal to me.

Funny how people think that all the cars came out of the factory one after another in order of their chassis numbers. I'm sure that most of the time they did, but every now and then some hiccups had to occur.

And there wasnt a sharp cut off when they said right all series 1 style cars are finished, now we are going to build series 2 cars.

So you will find cars that were produced in the grey areas inbetween.

Ok having played devils advocate, i aggree that this car isn't a little old man's car that i found in a shed type car that its represented to be.

He's had this some time and its the produce of his restoration attempts. Badges? he might have put them on because the others were missing.

$3K respray? there is overspray all over the strut tops, and over the door catch. The rear pannels have been painted matt black.

How can he say its a 1 owner when he is the second owner? wouldnt that make it a 2 owner.

[bart]

Well I am new to the Z universe buying my first one several weeks ago. I bought a 1971 series II which was built 7/71 with a vin of 38642. The seats in the e-bay car look different, the uphoslstery at least. the center consule looks identicle to the one in my Z with only 1 lever. The gas cap cover does look different, but the bumpers and lioghts all look the same. My car is also the same color which is code 920 which I found on one chart being called Klondike Gold, and other places being called mustard gold. Funny thing is the shift knob looks the same as mine, but didn't the Z's come with wood ones that matched the stearing wheel? The valve cover looks identicle to one I have, the antenna looks funky on this car like it is in backwards or something. Anyhow the biggest differences I noticed between this one and mine are the seat upholstery. Well those are the things I noticed.

Bart

[bart]

and the mirrors are different too.

Bart

[EScanlon]

Ok guys, this was beat to death some months back. Camo restated it quite succinctly, just because the VIN numbers were close does not mean that they came out to be carted away in that sequence.

I have VIN 43274; it has the center console with the two openings for levers. I myself added the hand throttle, and since hand throttles were not available with Automatic Transmissions, I know it's a custom car. But the hole in my console is filled.

Wasn't it about a year ago that we had a member with a VENT on one side of the car, while still having the vent holes in the hatch?

Regarding the hand throttle, most cars in the U.S. either did NOT have it installed or had it removed at the dealer. Americans just were not used to a vehicle with a hand throttle. Alan can correct me if I'm wrong, but MANY European and Japanese cars had the hand throttles installed, American cars were the exceptions. Where Europeans / Japanese don't mind having to give the car a little gas to keep it going during different conditions (and the choke is not what it needs) American's expect the car to do that automatically. And speaking of automatic function there's yet another point.

During the late 50's and early 60's there was a big push by the Big 3 car manufacturer's to produce automatic cars. There was the presumption that everyone wanted one. As a result, it was hard to find a STICK SHIFT at the dealer's yard. Yes you could order one, but if you wanted it now you usually ended up with an automatic.

Now, along comes Datsun with it's Sport Cars. The 1600, the 2000, and then the 240 Z, and they're all Stick Shift and they have Throttle Controls. The 1600 and 2000 had it on the dash so not too many problems, but the 240 has it on the center console and the problems began.

Let's not forget the sentiment in the U.S. back then to Japanese products. Made in Japan was still seen as a joke or a symbol of a cheap product. So ANY problems were seen as normal and standard due to the fact that it was a JAPANESE product.

Whether by honest error or sheer stupidity, owners would pull back both handles to start the car. Let's see, let's choke the hell out of it, and yank the throttle to 2/3 of it's travel.....Get the picture?

Or for those folks that were using it as a crude Cruise Control the sudden got to step on the brake and clutch and the engine goes off racing, and honest officer it's a dumb Japanese car...

Get the picture? Dealers, whose job depends on being able to sell more of these cars quickly yanked those "pesky trouble making throttle controls". It's amazing that ANY survived.

The seats are correct also. Look at the reclining mechanism. It's the original Series I tilting mechanism. My car came with that, but I replaced the mechanism with one from a 72 to gain the ability to tilt the seat forward to access the hatch area from the door.

So, has the car been worked on? Undoubtedly. Is it worthless? Not at all, I still maintain that even with all the work we can discern just from the pictures that, unless there's major rust being hidden by careful application of bondo and paint, it's worth 3.5 to 5k.

2¢

[Bambikiller240]

The car does appear nice, but who ever re-assembled it, did not know what the heck they were doing. As mentioned before they have the side marker lights installed in the wrong direction, they assembled the antenna with the plastic spacer rotated to a ridicules angle that any fool should have known was wrong. Not to mention the screw or whatever it is on the side of the dash/dashcap. Lord knows what else they assembled wrongly or left out, or modified in some fool way. The details of the paint job(see the overspray EVERYWHERE in the engine compartment) show that no care was taken at all to do a proper professional job.

I would not pay more than $3,500 on a good day. There are too many discrepancies visable for me to trust that any care at all was excercised in the areas that I cannot see. Wiring harnesses would be a big concern of mine. It doesn't take much lack of care to do something that could cause a major short.

To quote Geo Bush Sr "Not Gonna Do It!"

Carl