Oiluj

For polishing the "shiny" stuff, I can recommend a product called "Miracle Polish". Very mild abrasive and works well for most things. Even works to restore slightly oxidized rubber surfaces. Works on plastic, brass, stainless steel and plated parts. Warning: With any abrasive polish, when polishing plated parts don't get carried away or so will the plating!

The mirrors do look great. I had the second pair of mirrors painted the same as "back-up" replacements. Doming the same with tailights. Have 3 sets I'm going to restore. Will keep one set as just-in-case replacements and sell one set.

Pics of my rolling chassis on 7/31/08 just before being towed home. Hood ended-up staying because William needs to fix a small flaw. Engine & seats will be done in about 1-1/2 weeks. The assembly fun begins!

Arne, Before reading you post my first impression was: "Why does it need a refresh? The paint is Shiny" (with a capital s)." Then I read your post. I agree with your choice to remove the sunroof. She will look great! Or, you could leave the white primer on top and call her a canvasback... (for you duck hunters out there).

Thanks for the compliment, though William of William's Auto Body in San Mateo gets all the credit for picking the Mercedes silver. It's his paint of choice for Z's and does look good. I worked with him to get the stripe color just the way I wanted it. I have a target to complete the car by the end of September so I my buddy & I can drive it to San Diego for the Miramar Air Show. However, I think work and other obligations will probably delay completion till later in the year...

Yep, that's what I'm talking about, the type you moisten with water to install. I've spent about an 1/2 hour looking on-line, but no luck so far.

Welcome to the forum. Before you buy, check out the search feature of the foum. Also, listen to the advice of the experienced individuals on this forum. I have found members of this forum to be very helpful.

Welcome to the forum. As others have stated, the search feature is really helpful.

Here's a pic from 2 weeks ago...

I'm talking about the ones that were applied to the top, inside of the windshield. The ones I remember were silver and had "240Z" in darker letters that could be seen from outside the car. Did some web searching have not found a source...

Nice looking wheels! I painted my Panasports gunmetal, but they are darker than yours. I like the color of yours much better!

Welcome! This is a great place full of knowledge. Don't be afraid to use the search function.

Get my 72' 240Z back from the body shop on Friday! I went to visit the car at William’s Auto Body yesterday and it is almost completely assembled. All that’s left is to paint & mount the racing mirrors, rear spoiler, polish the paint and install the door windows. The color is Mercedes Brilliant Silver with a slightly darker silver rally stripe. William nailed it and “ghost” is a good description of the stripe. It is very subtle, but visible in shade or diffuse light. When in direct sun, if there is any glare off the paint it is almost invisible. Just the effect I wanted to achieve. Hopefully the new paint won’t get dinged during the assembly process. I’ll try to post some pics of the car next weekend. Now the real work/fun begins… I’m sure I’ll have a few questions as I install the engine, drive train, rebuild the suspension, interior, etc.

Nice TR! The TR6 was the best of the TR's. They wend downhill after that.

Laid-out the carpets from my 72' 240z, (Nov/Dec 71' build date), to use as a trace-out pattern for my new carpet. I noticed what appears to be inspection stickers on the back of the rear and passenger front carpets. This makes me wonder if these are original to the car. Might be original as the car has only 78k miles. The back carpet has no attached pad and luggage strap notches. The fronts have sewn-in horsehair padding. Ignore the white paint. My fault, I left them out in harm's way. I recall in the VERY long carpet thread a while back that someone wanted original carpets to use as patterns. I did a search on "original carpets" but don't have an hour to read the the whole thread... These are available when I'm done copying them if someone wants them.

Sorry Carl, I no longer have the link for one and the other the link is dead... However, after reading the your definintion of #1 condition, I would probably rate both the cars as a strong #2. They were both high quality partial restorations of original condition cars. Based on the pics I'd guess they were 85 to 90 point cars. (Of course pictures can hide minor flaws). They were low mileage, (about 50K & 75K miles), with clean undercarriages, glossy paint, perfect interiors and no evident rust. They even had the original exhaust systems in visually excellent condition. Both cars had spent most of thier lives in dry storage. Last year I offered $18k for one and $16.5k for the other and lost both to car collectors. If I had offered more I'd probably be driving my 240z today without having to do any work. Restoration of my current 240z (including purchase price), will cost me about $25K and it will not be as "perfect" as either of those cars. However, my driver will have upgraded brakes & suspension, Rebello engine upgrade and a few extras. These upgrades total about $6.5k, so it's not a true apples-to-apples comparison. I would have loved to own either car, though in 20-20 hindsight, I'm glad to be restoring my current car to the way I want it...

I guess I'd challenge the "Collector Car Market Review" prices. Having shopped for a Z in the last year, 8 months ago prices were significantly higher for a #1 or #2 condition car. #3 cars were going for $6 to $8 K here on the left coast, and #2 cars were in the low teens. I never saw a #1 car, (in person), but the two I saw on the net that might be considerd close to #1 condition were priced and sold for about $18K.

Welcome back! My father used to commercial fish for Salmon in Alaska when I was a kid. He'd close down his boat repair business and fly-up for the season to make extra money.

Really Nice! And I really like the stripes...

Paraphrased from "A Clockwork Orange" "The 240Z gave me a warm vibraty feeling all through me gutty-wuts". and "The 240Z ate the road like spagetti".

I'm thinking that lack of spare tire storage will be a problem down the road when you eventually want to sell her. I suggest you keep the spare well. Use it as extra storage, to mount a subwoofer, stereo amp, gps locator, etc...

Nice price! How about a pic?

Carl's comments are all "right on". It is supply & demand, as well as car condition. After 17 years, I sold my 1960 MGA for just a couple thousand more than she cost to purchase and restore. Even though it was a nice restoration, MGA's were never a well recognized collector car compared to some of it's contemporaries. This was reflected in it's market value. A "driver" quality Z in "used" condition will probably not increase much in value outside of inflation because it won't attract a collector. However, I do think that a very nice 240Z restoration w/ excellent paint, pristine interior and in mostly "stock" or "era correct" configuration will represent an attractive, high value buy for collectors in the next 5 to 10 years. Articles on 240Z's have begun appeaing in car collector publications which helps to create demand. While there are a lot of Z's around, attrition means there are fewer and fewer nice examples in existence every year. Lastly, we need remember it's a Global, (with a big G), marketplace. Collectors in other areas of the world often spend more than US collectors for cars that are considered more desirable or are harder to find in their part of the world. Case in point, my MGA went to Holland and I got a couple thousand more than I could have gotten in the US market. While I do look forward to my 1972 240Z gaining more recognition and "value" in the collector car market, I don't think of her as an investment. I have no intention of selling her unless my situation changes and I am forced to do so...

Give it 5 years and I think 240Z's will be in the $30,000 area. However, most of us don't have Z's as investments, but because we love them. If they gain value, all the better...

Mine 1972 is #59196, built in 12/71. Close siblings to: 1972ZDave 1972 HLS30-57681 540z 1972 HLS30-59414