Need some advice on selling

[grannyknot]

Hi guys, I need to sell my early Z to make room and money to start the next Z project. I thought I would list it on BaT but they want to start it with a reserve that is so low I just can't live with it so I'm also thinking about ebay but I have never sold on ebay before so am not familiar with the best way to present it, how to organize transport, the safest way handle the money transfer. I'm not really sure how much to ask for it.

I thought I would post some pics here and a description of what has been done to the car and see what you guys think, I know you will be brutally honest and that is a good thing, don't pull your punches. It's hard for me to objective about this car because I have put so much of myself in it.

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I have owned this early 1970 numbers matching Datsun 240Z, HLS30U01955 03/70 since 2002, in that time the car has under gone a complete rotisserie restoration. I have a new Z project in the planning stage so I need to move this one along to make room.

The odometer reads 58,000 miles, that could be 158,000 but I have no way of knowing for sure, the original engine may have been rebuilt at some time in the past 46 years as the compression is excellent and runs very well.

I completely refreshed the engine. The cylinder head was removed, cleaned and skimmed, all new gaskets, seals installed along with a new timing chain, water pump, thermostat, belts, hoses, sparkplugs and wires, cap/rotor, also a rebuilt Datsun gear reduction starter was installed.

The twin SU carburetors were sent to ZTherapy for rebuilding. Original distributor was rebuilt and a Pertonix

electronic ignition installed to replace the points, a rebuilt internally regulated 140 amp GM alternator was also installed.

The original radiator was rebuilt with 3 cores. The car was stripped down to the shell and rotisserie mounted to weld in the new Zeddfiding floor pans/ rails with BadDog rails welded over top for added strength, while everything was off the car all suspension/steering parts were cleaned down to bare metal and coated with POR15 paint. All bushings were replaced with OEM rubber including steering rack bushings, engine/transmission/differential mounts, all suspension bushings, tie rods,ball joints. Reinforced mounting plates were welded in to accommodate uprated sway bars but only the stock front sway bar is installed at the moment. I stripped many layers of paint off the car, sealed it and re painted with a Jaguar grey.

Old style bullet side mirrors were mounted and all stainless steel trim was buffed.

 

I also installed new KYB shocks with stock springs, new wheel bearings front and back with new seals,

a complete new stock braking system including new master cylinder, stainless steel flex hoses, pads, shoes discs and drums also new rear wheel cylinders and front calipers.

The original 4 speed transmission was refreshed with new seals, bushings, new clutch kit, a new clutch master and slave cylinder were also installed. Drive shaft was rebuilt with new U joints.

The gas tank was sandblasted, boiled, sealed and painted, a new tank sending unit was installed.

The wiring harness was removed, unwrapped, cleaned and restored with new connectors were needed,

a new fuse box was also installed.

From the collectors back is a  2.25” stainless steel exhaust system with a SS Ractive exhaust, sounds great!

The wheels are restored vintage Appliance basket weaves, 15” x 7”, the tires are Bridgestone Potenza 215/60 . There is one hub cap missing, I have  two hub cap services looking for a replacement.

The bumpers were re chromed with new rubber trim added.

All glass is original except for the front windshield that was replaced with new, all glass seals and weather stripping is new. The dash is 100% perfect as it was one of the last new dashes to be sold by Nissan in the 90’s. The heater box was completely restored with new heater valve, hoses, foams and seals.

The interior of the car was coated with Lizard Skin type heat/sound deadening, then Murder Mat sound deadening, then 1/2” thick underlay insulation. A new MSA diamond hatched vinyl interior kit was installed,

new door panels and carpet kit also. The original seats were re upholstered about 10 years ago and are in good shape. The car comes with an Alpine sound system installed as well as new seat belts.

The original unreliable clock has a battery operated digital clock installed behind the the original face plate.

[S30Driver]

An absolutely beautiful car!  

Are you saying that BAT won't let the seller set the reserve at any price level they want?

Best of luck with the sale Chris, I am sure it will do very well on either Ebay or BAT.

[dtshaw66]

Any idea what your buy-it-now price would be?

[grannyknot]

I'm not saying anything bad about Bat, they know more about selling cars then I do.  But they have different priorities then me, they want the cars they list to sell and a lower reserve helps that. A reserve that I am comfortable with hasn't been agreed upon yet. But it is possible (like every seller) that I think it is worth far more then it actually is, that's why I'd like know what you guys think it is worth before I do.

[Mark Maras]

 I see quality Zs in the 15K-25K all the time. Some of those are 280s. The excellent restoration and the early build date should make this one more valuable than those. I'd be surprised if you couldn't get at least 25K for it. Possibly a lot more if you find a buyer, with a fat wallet, (top 1%) that has been trying to find a good one. You might contact Jay Leno. This car is soooo good he may be interested in it. And what a great home to send it to.

 Buyers in other parts of the world are paying extraordinary (ridiculous?) prices for these cars. Europe, Australia and especially the Middle Eastern countries are the ones that come to mind.

[jfa.series1]

Hi Chris,

That is a beautiful car -well done!  You did not share the VIN or build date with us but the carb snorkel suggests early to mid 1970.  You build list is impressive to say the least.  Hagerty is showing 1970 cars in condition 1 Concours at $55.5k, condition 2 at $34.2K.  Your car certainly exceeds condition 2 so I would suggest your price will be in the range of $40k or more.  As to shipping etc. - leave that to the buyer to arrange, FOB your driveway!  As to money handling, talk to your bank about verified funds transfer options.  No Nigerian Prince deals!!!

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1970-Datsun-240Z

[grannyknot]

Jim, the VIN is HLS30 01955  build date 03/70

[Patcon]

I agree with Jim probably $40k or so. I think his estimation on condition is very good also. If I were gonna put it on Ebay I would list it on Ebay UK also. I have sold cars out of the country, they can load them on the truck when the funds are secure in my account. The seller took car of his own shipping arrangements. Take pictures of the car and the mileage prior to loading and forward them to the buyer. Buelller !!!? If you want, open a separate account for the money transfer so they don't have an account number where you keep your regular money. The car looks great, I don't know if the color will work against you or not. Is it close to a factory color?

[cbuczesk]

You might want to touch up the paint by the nuts for the front strut mounts. Maybe add a hood emblem. Can you grind down some of the welds where the new floor was patched in? A little grinding, some filler and undercoating would go a long way.Those welds really pop out to me. Maybe add a shim to the left door upper hinge. It appears to set in from the fender in the first pic. Some of the pics have too much sunlight and others had odd reflections that make it hard to see the body lines. If I'm buying a car from far away I want to see as much as I can in the pictures. It might help to paint the grill and tail light panels the original gun metal gray. Or it might not. It's hard to say what the buyers will like. Try to get the wrinkles out of the carpet for the picture. The engine would look cleaner if you removed the black engine hook by the fuel pump. I know that I'm nit picking on most of this stuff but it's a really nice car that can bring some really nice money!

Change "be rebuilt" to "been rebuilt" in your ad here - The odometer reads 58,000 miles, that could be 158,000 but I have no way of knowing for sure, the original engine may have be rebuilt at some time in the past 46 years as the compression is excellent and runs very well.

Chuck

 

[grannyknot]

So here it is listed on ebay, wish me luck,http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-Z-Series-/201565818749?forcerrptr=true&hash=item2eee424f7d:g:HggAAOSwYmZXGAK5&item=201565818749

[Zed Head]

You asked for advice.  I suggest starting out with positives in your description.  Not "One of the wheel caps is missing"!

I'd list all of the Series One, early 240Z bona fides first.  That's going to be your type of buyer, probably.  Hit them with the Serial number right off the click.

I'd attach a video link of the engine running also.  Maybe even a moving shot.

 

p.s.  You misspelled Zedd Findings.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Zed Head

[zKars]

It will be interesting to see where the price goes. Watching carefully.

Good luck with the sale!