Some young people destroy their first cars; some don't. My first car, a 240z, was taken out by a dead pine tree, 25 years later...

Some of that depends on Mathew and how mature he is. I do think a 280z would be better than a 240z. they are marginally safer and more refined.

Mathew,

Are you in Illinois?

What I meant by destroy is more like “drive to death”. Without the skill or money to look after it, it will not last long in good shape.

Matt    As far as your budget goes, you should be able to find a good condition drive-able 280z depending on your location.  If you are in the Chicago Lake Forest area, pretty much count on shipping a car to you which can get expensive and eat up a chunk of the money. Of course, luck can strike anywhere,   If its the California Lake Forest, a local low rust car becomes much more possible.

The pacific north west states are a good source for the car you are looking for.

Best of luck with finding one!

As said already, working on mechanical stuff teaches you a whole lot of other skills.  "Figuring out" sense too. 

Oh yeah, tools out the wazoo! I have things I'll never use again but maybe one day?

Edited October 27, 20195 yr by siteunseen

On 10/26/2019 at 3:58 PM, SoCalJim said:

Matthew, my first car was a MG Midget.  As long as you drive responsibly, the choice of car shouldn’t matter much.  It’s all up to you.  The weakest part on any given car is the “nut” holding the steering wheel.  ?

If you have a need for speed, there are track/autocross opportunities out there, although they may require you to be at least 18 years old.  Good luck with whatever direction you end up going.  ?

Jim, thank you for responding.  My good friend has a triumph spitfire, and he takes care of it very well.  In a way he has inspired me to try to look for a classic as well.  It sounds like so much fun to fix something and have it run or even start up   Haha.  How was your experience with the midget, because I was also looking into getting an MGB if the Datsun didn’t work out. 

On 10/26/2019 at 5:08 PM, superlen said:

Matthew ,

Buy a 280z and learn how to fix anything on it that breaks!

It will be old, it will break a little. No worries, you'll work on it. You will fix it. You will learn stuff. At some point one of your friends "NEW" cars will break too...perhaps a waterpump leaking, or serpentine belt adjuster gets weak. You will know how to fix that too.

Working on cars is a very important character building experience, and it hones your critical thinking/debugging skills tremendously. You don't need to know how to rebuild a transmission to get through life. However, experienced in diagnosing car problems translates into better diagnostic skills with every problem you will run into in the future.

Your future success in life depends on buying a 280Z now! ? Feel free to show this to your parents.

Len

Thank you so much for responding Len.  I will definitely show this to my parents, there was no better way you could have put it haha

On 10/26/2019 at 7:38 PM, Patcon said:

Some young people destroy their first cars; some don't. My first car, a 240z, was taken out by a dead pine tree, 25 years later...

Some of that depends on Mathew and how mature he is. I do think a 280z would be better than a 240z. they are marginally safer and more refined.

Mathew,

Are you in Illinois?

Thank you for responding.  I am from the lake forest in California, not the one in Illinois

8 hours ago, Matthewramstead said:

Thank you for responding.  I am from the lake forest in California, not the one in Illinois

Thats good. You should have a good selection of clean fairly rust free Zs

Matthew, regarding your question about my MG Midget experience, I'd say it was a pretty good car, and fun to drive.  However, when I owned it, back in the 1970s, it was very small compared to the other cars & trucks on the road.  And, there were no SUVs, and a lot fewer trucks to contend with back then.  Today, my 280Z, which is a lot larger than a MG Midget, looks very small compared to the vehicles that I have to share the road with.  I'd be very, very reluctant to drive something as small as the Midget on any major highway.  I hope this info helps you in your decision making.

1 hour ago, SoCalJim said:

Matthew, regarding your question about my MG Midget experience, I'd say it was a pretty good car, and fun to drive.  However, when I owned it, back in the 1970s, it was very small compared to the other cars & trucks on the road.  And, there were no SUVs, and a lot fewer trucks to contend with back then.  Today, my 280Z, which is a lot larger than a MG Midget, looks very small compared to the vehicles that I have to share the road with.  I'd be very, very reluctant to drive something as small as the Midget on any major highway.  I hope this info helps you in your decision making.

Ok thank you, this is definitely something to consider.

Way back in the day when pop music sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks, my first car was a '73 240z.  Even though the car was only 6 years old, it constantly required a lot of  of love and money. Otherwise, they wont age gracefully. Maybe 280z is different than 240z.  But mine did not age gracefully. Whatever could be broken was. If you are obsessed like I was and already made up your mind and if you can swing it, buy a z and keep it.  Also buy a car to drive.