some guy

Having driven the 350, the only thing I found wrong with it are the reliability concerns. I had every intension of buying one after an hour behind the wheel. I was aware of the tire feathering problem, and was willing to live with it, but after reading countless posts of guys on their 3rd or 4th transmission I could no longer go for it. Seems they might have it squared away with the newest tranny (009) but they haven't been on the road long enough to see if they have truly fixed the synchro glitches. I tried really hard to talk myself into it though. I've driven damn near everything worth driving, and this is a fantastic car at any price. I couldn't care less if it's ugly (which it is), because I buy cars to drive them, not look at them. Heck, Chevy hasn't built a good looking Vette since the 60's. What new car does look good? I like the new MINI. I liked the E46 M3 but the new BMW's are awful. Have you seen the WRX? Porsche makes great looking cars if you can afford the price of admission. Give me a 350Z with a solid 6 speed and I'll be a happy camper. Hopefully Nissan will still do that. If they resyle it to look more like the originals, all the better!

I needed a break from searching for my Z, so I got a hair up it and decided to go testdrive a 350 Wednesday. After owning a 280 and 85 300 turbo, and driving several 240s and a later 280ZX I figured I should get behind the wheel of this incarnation. I never got the chance to drive one of the twin turbos, and regret it. What can I say? It's one hell of a car. I've driven an E46 M3, and while the M has more power, the Z was tighter in the corners (at half the price). The shifter throws were very short, and the controls felt nice and heavy. Getting my tall self behind the wheel reminded me very much of the Z's of old, with plenty of leg room and just enough head clearance. But the main thing was how it drove. The salesman buckled in tight and gave me the thumbs up. I really put it through the paces, and the car didn't let me down. It would make a great track day toy. I spent the rest of the night grinning from ear to ear. It's unfortunate about the build quality issues. I've heard many a horror story about tire feathering, bad trannys, weak clutches, etc. Plus the styling is a mixed bag. Other than that, I think Nissan produced one hell of a bargain. It that respect, they did homage to it's ancestor. Thanks for reading. I know this is the Classic Zcar Club, but I had so much fun driving the new girl I just had to share it.:laugh:

Do you know if he was still selling the car?

Wow, thanks guys. I sent him an email. At that price though, I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm sure some lucky bloke snatched her up by now. Or the gentleman came to his senses and decided not to part with her. Wasn't the ad from early this year? Am I wrong, or is that a very fair price? It seems a bit too good to be true.

I agree that it sounds great and is a good price. If it was in Colorado, or even a surrounding state, it would be very hard to pass on. I can't hop a flight to California right now to chase a car, and I would never buy a car I hadn't seen or driven. Plus, it would do ugly things to my bank balance. If I need to jump to the 7-9K range, I really need to wait a few months. It's a nice car, but it won't be the last car. I don't need to buy today, though I would if I found the right one. Unfortunately, this isn't it. Not today anyways.

Thanks, Carl. Wow, I had no idea that was your website. I've been reading a lot on there over the past few weeks. Excellent site. I understand that there will always be something I can fix or replace or improve. Just part of the love I guess. My bike is a good example. I paid 3K. It ran strong and handled well. I probably could have ridden it as is for a long time. I replaced the clutch, exhaust, added stainless brake lines, new speedo cable, windscreen, seat cover, water pump impeller, radiator cap and a rear tire. Then I did the body work and paint. I've now got about 4K in, and I could upgrade the suspension, a big bore kit, billet clutch basket, etc etc. But it runs great, performs well, and while the additional things would make it even better, they aren't necessary to enjoy the bike. I'm just looking for something similar in a Z. Blaine

Thanks, Darrel. I'll start using the variations in my searches, and look you guys up when I get a car. I tried to check out The Odometer, but it doesn't seem to like my Mac. I'll have to try to pull it up in the office tomorrow.

This is pretty close to what I'm looking for, only a bit more than I can spend right now and a long ways from home. Like I said before, I really don't have time to get into a new project. I'd rather find one that's ready to go, and pay more, than get a good deal and have a lot of work ahead of me. The 70 on craigs really had my mind turning, but it's not practical for me right now. I'm looking to land somewhere between the 2K cars that need work and the 13K cars that are advertised as perfect. http://www.classiczcars.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=1503&cat=1 BTW, sorry for hijacking the thread. I really didn't mean to, and if I could turn back time would have introduced myself and my desires in the proper area.

Thanks, Steve. It's an automatic, though, and I'm looking to get more car than that. Carl, I guess I'm looking in the 5-6K range. I've been searching nationwide to get an idea on prices, and that seems to be where I'd like to fall. For that price it looks like I can get a Z that runs well, has minimal rust, and looks pretty good. I've seen Z's in this range advertised as "no rust" but I've known enough of these cars to take it with a grain of salt. http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp;?tracktype=usedcc&searchType=25&pageNumber=0&numResultsPerPage=50&largeNumResultsPerPage=0&sortorder=descending&sortfield=PRICE+descending&certifiedOnly=false&criteria=K-%7CE-ALL%7CM-_65_%7CH-%7CN-N%7CR-500%7CI-1%7CP-PRICE+descending%7CQ-descending%7CX-antique%7CZ-80126&aff=denver&paId=196557208&recnum=7&leadExists=true This is the first one I looked at. The upper body areas are in really nice condition, as is the paint, glass, interior. The underside is in bad shape. Pretty much rusted out from front to rear. The engine doesn't run well. Not much power. It clunks really hard going into gear. All and all, a nice looking car, but that's about it. Had it ran really well I might have been temped to do the rust work. Had the underside been better I might have been tempted to tear into the engine. I also called about a 72 that's about an hour north of me. It was restored 10 years ago and engine rebuilt 70K ago. The guy talked about a little rust but says very minor (which I figure means a bit more when I start looking), that it runs really strong, handles well, and looks really sharp. He wants $5800. That's more in line with what I want, if the description is pretty accurate. Unfortunatly I don't know when I'll have time to check it out. Does it sound like I'm on the right track, money wise (5-6K)? All I really have to go by is what people say in their ads to get to that figure.

Thanks for the offer. It took the whole commute home to clear my head and think this through. It's rash decisions like this that caused me to go out looking for a nice older bike to commute on and come home with a ridiculously fast crotch rocket. It took me a year to get that sucker all sorted out. I better stick to my original plan and find a good condition driver. I'm just not worthy of having that car. I'd rather be driving then restoring, and she deserves someone who will take her all the way. That said, if any of you local boys have a good solid driver you want to sell and get some '70 240Z seed money just let me know!

I called and talked to the owner. Real nice lady. She says because of the gas tank it's not really driveable (keeps clogging the filter), but if that's fixed it runs well, has good brakes, etc. I did some google searching for a gas tank but came up with zilch. I guess I could always push it home.:eek:

Thanks, Carl. Yeah, I'll definitely buy another Z. I just don't know if this is right for me. I really need advice here. I can't spend 10-20K. I know that much.If I could fix what NEEDS to be fixed now, and leave the details and fine points to do a little at a time, I could make this work. But if I'm looking at 10K just to fix what needs to be fixed, and make this thing a solid driver, I'd better keep searching.

Hi folks, I've owned a couple Z's in the past. A rust bucket 78 (that I wish I still had) and a POS 85 turbo (that I'm glad is gone). I finally decided to pick up another one a few weeks ago. I'm here in Denver, but hadn't seen this on Craigs. I've been doing "Datsun" searches and this didn't pop up. This really has me interested. I need your advice though. I don't have the time to restore it personally. There's just no way. What kind of money would I be looking at to get this thing into a solid daily driver? I'd be willing to take it all the way to prestine over time, but for right now I need to know what I'd be looking at to get the rust work done, and get the body solid. Likewise for the engine, I just really don't know what kind of investment I'm looking at. I've really been looking for a daily driver that I could have fun with, but I haven't found what I'm looking for. I hadn't planned on a serious project, but this looks worth it. Sorry for the noob questions, but I found this forum and saw this thread, and well, now I'm a bit excited!