Call me Pooky. I've been on the site for months now but this is my first post. I am truly indebted to many of you for all of your helpful insights and advice, not to mention encouragement. Back when I was in high school my sister dated a guy that had a silver 280z. I thought it was the coolest car. As I got older and more financially able to take on a restoration I had no doubt what car it would be. This was my '77 280z when I bought it for $4k back in 2011. (I spent too much!) It was drivable, nevertheless I started tearing it apart the very next day. I hit it hard for about two years then bought a cottage at a favorite fishing location and the car fell into an auto cocoon until last fall. I have tons of pictures of the transformation. Thanks to the pandemic I've been laid off for the past month and got it almost road ready. In the original picture it looks pretty good, with the exception of those awful bumpers, but had a lot of cancer in the usual places. With the exception of sand blasting the body, I've done ALL the work myself. Even painted it myself. Thanks Youtube! I'm lousy about keeping track of receipts and bills but I would venture to say that this project has run up to about $15k so far. All I have left to do is get some type of front bumper on it and put in the windshield and hatch glass. I'd also like to get it tuned up by someone who knows these cars. Honestly, I wouldn't know one that runs good from one that runs bad. The second picture is probably in 2012 and the last picture was taken today. 

Pooky, that looks great, love the wheels and the 240z hood.  More pics?

Grannyknot, just for you. ( and anyone else who's interested!) After sand blasting I found out just how much mud was in the hood. It was hit in the front at some point and the vent holes were also rotted out. Too much work to fix. I got the current hood by putting a wanted ad on Craigslist. Got it for $60 or $90. I wanted one with vents to keep the look of a 77 but took what I could get. The rims, also from from a wanted ad on Craigslist, I got for $50. You can see they were pretty corroded. I first sandblasted them in a harbor freight blasting cabinet that I bought just for the car years ago. Sanded and polished the turbines as best I could and taped them off. Duplicator graphite wheel paint, a coat of clear and 20 hours later, time to order tires.

Great to have you join us!  Love seeing pictures of projects under restoration....  ?

Nice job on the wheels, they look great!  The stripped car pic looks like the car is pretty solid.  I've never seen the rubber bumper ends painted like that and now I know why.  Wow, are those ugly in white!  BTW, love the hat.

As far as solid goes, it was ok. I welded on my fair share of patches. Totally solid now. Keep in mind I'm no welder! Some pics...

I made my own frame rails out of 14ga steel. Made a poster board paper pattern first.

Nice patchwork.