Johnny Danger Posted September 10, 2018 Share #1 Posted September 10, 2018 I've been around cars and motorcycles since I was 16-ish (Geez, making that about 20 years now). Had an old mustang in HS. Learned a lot on that. Discovered Japanese motorcycles and ditched the mustang. Did motorcycles only for about a decade. Later on I picked up a BMW X3 as a family man. Loved the car, didn't love the day I found out it would need the head replaced. Got a nice Mazda CX-5 which is dead reliable, but pretty meek overall.So now here I am looking for a fun car for not too much money that can keep me from piling on the miles on the Mazda. I bounced around a couple of ideas and thought I was headed in one direction. But then I remembered Z cars. I know the 280ZX is the "dog" of the early series, but I love it anyway and they seem to be a great deal because they aren't as sought after.I was kind of on the fence and then I went and looked at one. Man, it was trashed. Missing lots of interior bits, what was there was scuffed or cracked, rust through the rear floorboard (this was a 2+2), couple of rust holes in the hood, power steering wasn't up to par, didn't even bother to test the a/c, but MAN was it fun the whole 2 minutes I drove it at slow speed around the neighborhood. Kind of have to have one now.I was born in '82 (b-day is in a couple of days actually) so it would be cool to find a nice 82. But otherwise, just putting aside some cash and trying to find something clean 5 speed in the DFW area. Not quite daily driver, but driver status with the occasional downtime to fix issues.How prone are these to rust damage? They seem almost as bad or worse as the 60's and 70's American cars I looked at. Are the turbos problematic? Any other known issues to watch out for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteunseen Posted September 10, 2018 Share #2 Posted September 10, 2018 (edited) Good example... Edited September 10, 2018 by siteunseen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Danger Posted September 10, 2018 Author Share #3 Posted September 10, 2018 He, yes, I did just look at that ad! It is 1) a bit of a ways away and 2) a bit more than I want to spend. I guess I should specify what I mean by clean. Really just looking for a complete, good runner with fair interior and a straight body with no rust damage. Paint doesn't have to be perfect. I've got a little bit set aside, but will probably have about 5K to spend in a month or two. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheee! Posted October 23, 2018 Share #4 Posted October 23, 2018 You need to become more comfortable with rust on a Z.... unless those pockets are REALLY deep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patcon Posted October 23, 2018 Share #5 Posted October 23, 2018 I do agree, it's hard to find a rust free Z for 5k. Probably difficult even at 10k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteunseen Posted November 4, 2019 Share #6 Posted November 4, 2019 Nice looking tires and wheels but too many lug nuts for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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