Well, that was a bust. The car ran well enough and drove well enough. Manual steering was a bitch with the wider tires, but still.

The bodywork issues were all stuff you could basically rip off by hand. Just fiberglass with a foam filler. No metal cut from the fenders. The factory air dam was actually underneath that fiberglass bumper on the front. However, they did a hell of a job welding over the holes for the original tail lights. I could see from the back where they left the stock tabs. So it would be possible to cut it back out, but definitely not fun. But the definite "nope" factor was the terrible, terrible paint job. It was originally red and you could see it peaking out of every seam. I could do a better paint job with a six pack in me. If it had been black rattle can on top of factory black, that would have been better. Or maybe on a more valuable car (like a 280z) I might have looked past it.

Also, the master cylinder was definitely leaking at the brake booster, which probably means into the brake booster, which means you'll most likely have to replace both. Not the end of the world but definitely not helping the car's case.

Overall, it was a solid enough car. No real rust issues I could see. I found just a touch of water in the back and it's been raining off and on like all month here, so it must be sitting outside.

 

So this brings me to my next point. I was initially looking at the ZX cars because they seem to be cheaper than the S30 cars out there, but now I wonder if it wouldn't be better to look at "runner" S30 cars. The quick dig I did for parts on the ZX kind of showed me that I could get just about anything and everything for a Z car, but not so much the ZX. Would it be possible to find something like a 280Z without rust in running condition for $5K or is that just insanity? I've got time. I could keep my eyes open and maybe early next year fly out and drive one back to Texas.

Edited September 14, 20186 yr by Johnny Danger
typo

I would say you are not likely to find a no rust Z for anywhere near that. Keep you eyes open. I would say you are looking at a min of 7-8k for a late model S30 and that would be a deal. You would be better off getting about 10-15k and getting one that is in really good shape.

 

Edited September 14, 20186 yr by Dave WM

Did you see that '81 turbo for $2,500?  Montgomery/Houston area CL.

That would be a fun car.

WOW, prices have gone through the roof on Zs lately.  Didn't realize how much they are asking for basic 280. 

I bought my '77 for $1,200 in 2011 and spent another $1,000 on it.  Looks like now I would ask $12,000 to $15,000 for it.  Stocks and bonds, meh, not me.

 

Edited September 14, 20186 yr by siteunseen

https://bringatrailer.com/datsun/280z/

This has sales data for the 280z. This does not mean you couldn't come across a deal on Craigslist. If you hold your cursor over the dot on the graph it will link through to the ad for each car, so you can see condition

As an aside, you could also do a search for 280zx and it would provide the same graph so you could see what range the zx cars are trading for too

12 minutes ago, siteunseen said:

Did you see that '81 turbo for $2,500?  Montgomery/Houston area CL.

That would be a fun car.

WOW, prices have gone through the roof on Zs lately.  Didn't realize how much they are asking for basic 280. 

I bought my '77 for $1,200 in 2011 and spent another $1,000 on it.  Looks like now I would ask $12,000 to $15,000 for it.  Stocks and bonds, meh, not me.

 

 

For some reason, that one went totally under the radar for me. Not in love with the color, but don't hate it. The problem I'm finding is that CL pictures are not high definition. You see about a million more wrong things as soon as you see something in person. Houston is not far. Would be a cheap flight if it could drive back.

9 minutes ago, Patcon said:

https://bringatrailer.com/datsun/280z/

This has sales data for the 280z. This does not mean you couldn't come across a deal on Craigslist. If you hold your cursor over the dot on the graph it will link through to the ad for each car, so you can see condition

Thank you for that. I will do some digging. They have gone crazy in price. I remember seeing a Z on the road maybe 2 years ago. Looked on CL and what looked like decent examples were going to maybe 5k then. Suddenly they are all 10K plus cars. There are a couple of rough ones near me for 5K but I would have to buy knowing that a full teardown/rust repair/repaint was in the future for me. I could take my time in my garage, but still.

You're welcome. When the early cars started getting expensive that drove all the other cars up in price.

I buy a good many cars off of online auctions and the pictures there are the same way. I always assume the car has twice as much wrong as you can see in the pictures. Sort of like the girl across the room, many of them look better at a distance too!

3 hours ago, Patcon said:

many of them look better at a distance too!

And don't forget... Speaking of cars, of course:

Might be because the weather is cooling around here but all of a sudden there's a bunch of cars for sale.

https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/d/81-datsun-280zx/6696448147.html

https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/d/83-datsun-280zx/6695126826.html

https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ctd/d/1980-datsun-280zx-coupe-top/6694385453.html

https://portland.craigslist.org/clc/cto/d/1979-datsun-280zx/6683655333.html

https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/d/1977-datsun-280z/6681195403.html

https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/d/1982-datsun-280zxt/6672645630.html

Two of those cars have real promise

The 79' was cheap but would need more pics and check for rust.

The 82 ZXt looks like a lot of fun and looks pretty clean

2 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

2 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

 

Their Mom and Dad!