Don't read if you don't want to look at a 280ZX

[mdbrandy]

Hey. I looked at going over to the dark side today. 1982 280ZX with 59,000 original miles. 20 miles from my house here in central IL. Owned by an older couple since they bought it new in 1982. All original, supposedly garage kept. So, it looks really nice from 20 feet.

[mdbrandy]

But then you start to look closer and see all the places that the "older" gentleman had fiberglassed over rust and thought he was doing the car a favor. Mostly small areas like near the front side-lights.

[mdbrandy]

Then you see the big one. Hole in the drivers floorboard under the pedals. Frame looks good, passenger side and firewall and battery tray look good. But not this.

[mdbrandy]

And both doglegs are really ugly. Fiberglass hacked repairs.

[mdbrandy]

Interior is great. Everything looks really good. And yes, it's an automatic. Rats. So, just for grins, if any of you out there that know ZX's owned this car and wanted to sell it, what would you ask for it? Engine seems to run well and looks OK. Trans kicked down and pulled OK. Car handled fairly well, if way softer than I am used to. Might need new shocks.

Thanks.

[gramercyjam]

I would pay $50 to have it hauled to the junk yard.

[2ManyZs]

Before you decide you ought to run the car through a car wash just to see if the T-Tops leak...

If it weren't for the shoddy repair jobs it wouldn't make a bad "parts-chaser"..... well, unless you really don't want an automatic that is.....

Judging by the similar cars on Ebay, they don't seem to have a lot of interest in the 82-83's unless they are Turbo's....or at least that's what the bids reflect.

I'm not even going to hazard a guess on what it's worth....but considering there's an 82 on Ebay with a 5 speed and some rust showing and no bids at a starting point of 2K yet....

And if you could get it for a really low price, you could always use it to donate parts like the disc brakes and maybe the engine for your 280 if you wanted too....shame it doesn't have a 5 speed....

[mdbrandy]

Originally posted by gramercyjam

I would pay $50 to have it hauled to the junk yard.

Wouldn't have to - you could drive it there under it's own power!

Now, let's have no anti-ZX snobbery here. I went to see it because it was one of the only Z's in the area being advertised. And as long as I have my 240Z to dream of...

Bottom line is I'm keeping it in mind, but I really don't want it very badly. I think they're asking WAY too much for it, but I thought I'd get some opinions. I looked at the e-bay adds too. They, however, had done the same, and had come up with some examples that either had something special about them (that was not apparent to me), or the people that had bid large amounts of money on them were crazy. Probably the latter. Kelly blue-book on the car is somewhere around $2300. And that's in "excellent condition" with no rust. Oh, that's actually for an '83. KBB only goes back 20 years .

[gramercyjam]

I owned an '83 Turbo for about 15 years and I loved the car so no snobbery here. That pic of the drivers floor - tells me that the car has terminal cancer, what you can see is the tip of the iceburg and usually the easiest to fix. What you can't see is the killer. Buyer should be prepared to drive it as is until the wheels fall off. To repair this would require way more work and materials cost to fix than the car would ever be worth.

[Bambikiller240]

I'm no fan of ZX "cars", but heck it's got an L28 w/ EFI and probably an R200 Diff so it's worth more than $50, but that cancer would scare me from a safety standpoint. What other hidden parts of the car are ready to collapse next time it hits a pothole.

I will say that the car is a great example to prospective Z buyers of why it is SO important to do a thorough inspection of a car before making an offer and purchasing something that becomes a project (money pit) that one hadn't planned on .

[gramercyjam]

One mans junk ....

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by gramercyjam

One mans junk ....

...............is another man's parts inventory for eBay sales!