MEZZZ

Thank you David for the warm welcome and advice. I have hit that search about 100 times already looking at a myriad of things. My Z is in South Dakota right now according to the carrier website...its coming from Oregon and will end up here in Cincinnati, 2600 miles later. I am getting anxious and want to do certain things and have been holding off on the desire to start ordering stuff. According to the PO, it needs the seats reupholstered and a good paint job...and the clock works intermittently..other than that, it is claimed to be solid and a good runner. I plan on doing the bulk of the work, including paint, myself...I will post pics as I go. Thanks again

Welcome Curtis..I am a new user on here too...I am STILL waiting for my '77 Z to arrive..it is on a truck right now and according to the website, looks like it will be hunkering down in Billings, MT for the evening. I have about 10 more days before it arrives..it was an Ebay sale and I am hoping the car comes as described. It is meant to be a "mild project" so I am looking forward to playing with it.

I just looked and Deans auction ended at around $11K, reserve not met. At least it got up from where he had it last time. Dean, it is a gorgeous ride, I think you just have to find the guy that has the $$ and it will be gone. Good luck.

Dean, I started this thread and did so because I figured some on here might want to look at the awesome workmanship that you do. I saw your ad the first time it appeared on ebay and felt compelled at that time to write you and tell you that your car was fantastic. You wrote me back thanking me and told me you take alot of pride in what you do...and..it shows! Good luck with your sale and with 350Z as well

Funny thing, I posted a link in the chit chat forum under check out my ride...it is a link to the car that someone said is posted from TroubledZ, the same link you gave me to read about. That is the one of sweetest Z's I have seen to date on ebay and one that obviuosly was rebuilt with alot of skill. True, the purists on here probably dont like the "aftermarket seats" the blacked out bumpers, etc...but the quality of craftsmanship is very apparent. Kudos on a job very well done! Funny how things come around full circle

I agree with what all was said by you guys, from the stock interior, aftermarket seats line to the "frame up" restoration...but you have to admit, that is one pretty Z and it looks like he did it right from the photo links he posted. True, $18.5K is alot of $$ and if I was going to drop that kind of money, I would probably want to be in charge of the resto myself to make sure it was done the way I wanted...but you cant take away from what he did, that is one sweet ride!

I wanted to post this link to a car I saw for sale last month on ebay. It obviously didnt make its reserve price but thought some of you might want to have a look. It might not be to the taste of the absolute purists out there, but still a very nice job done on the restoration/refreshing. Click the link in the ad to see alot of photos of the car both before and after. The before shots looked great, the after speak for themselves. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1972-Datsun-240Z-Original-Mint-Vehicle-Restored_W0QQitemZ150153188342QQihZ005QQcategoryZ6187QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I know you said to read this AFTER I got the car but I couldnt resist. My 2 cents worth...for the money, the car still looks like you got a great deal if everything but the rust issues were true. Granted, not an acurate description and I am sure you (as I will probably be) were dissapointed. For the price it looked great. I checked out your restoration pics and that sucks you had to take it down as far as you did..but hey, when you finished you got yourself one helluva car, it looks fantastic! I am pretty much the perfectionist, but I am also a realist in my thought that this is a 30 year old "unrestored-unmolested" car and it will need some work to get it back to a "decent driver" status.

Yes, it does help, thanks much for the advice. I do plan on driving her for a bit before I start the refreshing part. I am going to start with the interior, the seller says it needs seats recovered. I am leaning toward a rebuild with foam and re-upholstery kit from Motorsports and cleaning up all the other parts, repainting the tracks, etc. I will then rip off the half dash cover and apply a full dash cover, probably at that time I will put in a reconditioned clock as well. The seller said he installed a new carpet kit 3 months ago and that the interior is in great shape but for the seats. If he is honest in his description, the interior should be fairly well finished at that point although I will look into a new shift knob and steering wheel from Motorsports as they all come with the "Z" logo horn button As for the exterior, I will wait a bit on the repaint, planning to tear it down and do it correctly, off with the doors, hood, fenders, headlight buckets, hood, etc...look for any rust lurking, I am hoping to find not alot...fix the probelem areas and then apply POR15 to the parts you can see..i.e., inside of doors, inside of front fenders, etc. Top it off with new seals and weatherstripping. All this IF the seller is honest in the description and it runs strong. I know that is a big IF

That is B.S. he made you pay the freight charge on a defective unit. At that point, what choice did you have, but I would have definitely left him a scathing feedback after I got the working part back. I have been looking at a reworked clock as well, I will have to double check the to see if its the same guy.

Thanks to all for the kind replies. Bigoak, do tell on the other story about your car looking good in the photos, it might make me feel better when it finally arrives Escanlon, I checked out Sublimes age after I posted that, I too thought the age may have factored into the guys decision, like sure kid, I will sit her all day waiting for you to show up, and if you do, sure kid, I'll let you take her out for a test drive Bre-240Z-I think more than anything, I like the rims, I hate to admit it, but I kinda like the white letter tires on them, they seem to go together well. I wasnt a big fan of the pop up sunroof but chose to live with it. Still not quite sure about the rear louvers either. I think they all flow together nicely as they all look correct for the period. I am pondering to keep it as close to stock or to update it with different rims, seats, maybe do the body kit style front and rear bumpers to lose those hideous stock ones, or I may go with a bumper swap to the older style. I look at this as a clean canvas awaiting to become a work of art. Stay tuned

Thanks Sublime...I have to admit though, that doesnt give me a warm, fuzzy feeling that he gave you the run around on viewing the car. Congrats as well on your purchase, is your avatar photo the car? Post some photos for us to view. On a side note, I contacted the seller a few hours ago and the bank has yet to clear the Cashiers check, so, it looks like it wont be delivered to DAS until next week. I called my bank to complain, I was under the impression a CC is as good as cash...my bank told me today it could take up to 10 days to clear! That is ridiculous in my opinion.

Thanks for the welcome Ron, the link is posted, I am ready to hear the bad news from you guys I already scoped out the 1/2 dash cap on my own..that is going quickly as well as the seat covers as I think I will concentrate on the interior first. The needed paint job is also very obvious, the seller told me the original owner had it done awhile back and it was obviuosly not of a high quality. As long as it is fairly clean and straight without any major rot, I will be okay. He claims when he bought it he went over it, under it, on top of it and found no evidence of any work being done to the body, no patchs, no bondo, just a solid unrestored and unmolested (until I get a hold of it ) car.

Okay, here is the link to the ebay ad http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29392-2357-0?uid=3519677&site=0&ver=EOIBSA080805&lk=URL&Item=140146872287 The shipping quote from DAS on an open trailer was $777, then of course if you want it on the top shelf, its more, insured, its more...I paid $976 altogether, which honestly, I thought was very reasonable for 2600 miles, especially with the high diesel prices. Let me know what you think.

That would have made way TOO MUCH sense! I just found this today in lining up websites for the refreshing stage. This is the 3rd car I bought on ebay, back in 2000 I bought a 94 Infiniti J30 in Florida, flew in, drove home, that car is still in the family, I sold it later to my brother and he gave it to my one of my sisters kids last year, still runs and looks great. I bought my daughter a Hyundai in Cleveland 4 years ago and she just traded it 3 months ago on a new Scion..I also bought a Harley Davidson 4 yrs ago and sold it on ebay last year...all in all, I feel like I have had decent luck so hopefully it holds out on this Z. The seller said he has 3 Z's, one setup for racing, one "77 Nap Z, the special edition yellow car and this one. On the phone, he seemed very well read on Z's and very sincere as well. He told me he was using it lately as his daily driver due to gas prices and it runs, shifts perfectly, no leaks, no strange noises, everything works as it should with the exception of the (surprise) clock, which works intermittently. He said he was going to do 3 things to it, rebuild the seats or do the Miata switch, swap out the 4 for a 5 spd and a nice paint job, he claims with those 3 things it could be stunning. Said he bought it from the original owner and he is only selling it because he has a chance to buy back his 1st brand new car, an '87 IROC Z that he sold to a buddy years ago, regretted it ever since and now has first dibs on getting it back. Sorry to ramble...but I am just (a little) pumped about getting one, I am sure my wife is just as excited for me...NOT... She told me it is to be a hobby and NOT an obsession...she knows me TOO WELL.... Thanks again all.

Thanks all for the (fast) welcome. I am sure I will become a regular on here as there are MANY, MANY things I will either want or have to do once I get her. I am not shy with the camera so I will be posting some pics soon for sure. The car has a 2600 mile journey to get here and right now, for the past 3 days, we have been waiting for a Cashiers Check to clear before the seller will drop it off at the shipper. I thought they were as good as cash but both his and my bank said no, we live in a fraudalent world now Hell, I could have sent a personal check if that was the case, here is hoping that this is the only bad luck I have in the purchase and that the car is "as described" Does anyone know if I am breaking any board rules if I were to paste a link to the (expired) ebay ad? There are photos, etc on there and you guys could give me your honest opinion of the car

Hi all, just joined up a moment ago, sure glad I found this site! It looks like a TON of useful info on here and the even more! I just bought my first Z 5 days ago (ebay) and am having the car shipped cross country from Oregon to Cincinnati...stay tuned on how it works out, I am more than a bit nervous buying it sight unseen. It is claimed to be "no rust".....how many times you heard that one unrestored and unmolested, seats either repaired or replaced and I quote "with a quality paint job this could be a show car. Here is keeping my fingers crossed...if not, hell, it was bought as a project anyway!