Bummer. Thanks for the advice, I guess I was just wishing I could do a high quality external-only restore and undo all the damage I did to it as a kid. Then it would still be all original interior (except driver seat cover) and mechanically and look nice on the outside and so be worth close to what it would if I hadn't done that.

Understandable but my first concern would be you disassembling the car and getting stalled out. I'm 10 years in on my project...

The classic Datsun market is good right now, in 10 years you might not be able to give the car away!

The car is worth more now the way it sits than freshly painted and disassembled.

I think Carls advise is very solid

15 hours ago, orangecounty240z said:

Hm. Ok, I'm a novice in this area, and working on cars in general. I am physically fit and mechanically inclined, I'm usually able to figure out how things work. If I had space to work on it indefinitely, would someone with this background be able to disassemble the car to get it prepped for paint, and assuming I take copious notes and pics and bag and label everything, put it back together after?  My dad MAY pitch in once in a while for things that need two people. How much space is needed? i'm guessing at least a two car garage, one place for the car and another for the parts but that could be too small?

Yes this is all doable and if you were going to keep the car for yourself to enjoy it for years to come then you would see people saying "Go for it".  But as you are prepping the car to sell it then it really it is best not to mess with the originality.  Carl's advice above is rock solid.

OK thanks everyone, I'm thinking about whether and how to get/keep this car. It's a beauty to me for sure and a family heirloom. Just don't know if I can justify keeping a car I'd be afraid to actually drive. Even if it's only worth $35k I don't have the cash handy to buy it right now.

Wow a ten year project! That's incredible. I guess I can see that happening to me - I start trying to just fix the outside problems but when I take things apart I find other problems, or I break something and it takes a year to find a the right vintage part, and then find out that that part requires another part that takes another year to find, etc.  Would love to hear your story, or can I find that by searching your previous posts?

27 minutes ago, orangecounty240z said:

OK thanks everyone, I'm thinking about whether and how to get/keep this car. It's a beauty to me for sure and a family heirloom. Just don't know if I can justify keeping a car I'd be afraid to actually drive.

Just get it running and drive it.  It's an old beat-up 240Z now and it will be an old beat-up 240Z after you have some fun in it.  Get good insurance before hitting the road.  That will be the only money you should really spend on it.  That's what insurance is for, reducing risk.

It's actually running great, the problem is I'd have to buy it from them and don't have the cash. It's really up to them whether to sell it to me, or on the open market, we haven't had that discussion yet. I'm actually shocked my dad even considered selling it, I assumed he'd keep it for life.

On 11/1/2020 at 7:22 PM, orangecounty240z said:

OK thanks everyone, I'm thinking about whether and how to get/keep this car. It's a beauty to me for sure and a family heirloom. Just don't know if I can justify keeping a car I'd be afraid to actually drive. Even if it's only worth $35k I don't have the cash handy to buy it right now.

Wow a ten year project! That's incredible. I guess I can see that happening to me - I start trying to just fix the outside problems but when I take things apart I find other problems, or I break something and it takes a year to find a the right vintage part, and then find out that that part requires another part that takes another year to find, etc.  Would love to hear your story, or can I find that by searching your previous posts?

That's what happens when you have too many projects and a big family. I am also doing all my own body and paint work. I have a build thread here on the forum

wow read through that, years worth of work in a few hours. Looks like you haven't worked on it in a year?

11 hours ago, orangecounty240z said:

wow read through that, years worth of work in a few hours. Looks like you haven't worked on it in a year?

I have worked on it some this year. Mainly blocking panels. I need to post up my current progress.

I've been hurt for much of the year and work has been busy, so progress slows down or stops. If I can get it painted things should pick up