JoelH

Just a heads up, but it is in pretty bad shape. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/70-240Z-series-1_W0QQitemZ300212530985QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item300212530985

I'm in the northeast and I can relate to this. I would never buy a car sight unseen so the only car I would get on a plane to see was one I planned to buy unless it was misrepresented. I am in the works to buy a nice one now but I have emailed a couple of people about their cars out of state and I've gotten mixed reaction to sending pictures, details, etc. I think when you have something for sale you never know who's a tire kicker and who's the real deal. Unless a seller was willing to send me bunches of detailed pictures I wouldn't be interested and I'm sure for every serious buyer he sends pictures to there are ten window shoppers so I can understand the seller's lack of interest in a way. Don't forget to add the hotel room to your travel bill with the air fare and rental car.

The video looked fun! I wish we had those clean roads to take a car out on now. Linking a video like that might create more interest because it sure made me want to go for a drive!

Thanks for the insight Carl and everyone else!

I actually bought the Wick Humble book. I was a little disappointed in the level of detail but I don't see me restoring a car so it's mostly for light reading. As far as the car in question here I'm beginning to lean away from it. Carl points out a lot of things about the car that move it away from stock although with all due respect Carl, I don't think a well put together modded car automatically drops it to basement levels. Maybe you didn't mean that but that was the impression I got. I do want to thank you for your keen eye though. The reason I'm leaning away from the car is that I want a 240Z that is for all intents and purposes stock in the interior and exterior with aftermarket wheels. Sorry the original hub caps look blah. Besides that, triple carbs, rebuilt 2.8 block, etc under the hood is just fine with me. This car just strays too much from that and although I think I can get him down quite a bit from $12K I just don't think the car satisfies my nostalgic side for the old 240Z.

Ok, I'm going to try and post a bunch of the pictures of the car in question. Opinions are appreciated either in the thread or via pm. Thanks!

$5K? Wow, you drive a hard bargain! He just sent me a boatload of pics and it looks pretty good. I haven't seen many turn key cars in the $5K range but looking at the car I know it needs stock mirrors ($200), deck emblems (~$60) and I'd like to replace the seats which I'm sure would run me several hundred. Besides that he thinks the clutch master cylinder needs replaced ($40 part) and he says he would get the carbs re-synced. At least he does appear honest in his assessment of his car. Honestly, I haven't seen many cars in the last couple of months at least that look this good for less than $8K+. I have talked to him about price and he's come off quite a bit from $12K but I don't think he would go to $5K and honestly I don't think he should. I agree the car is far from stock but I think it could be put back in reasonably stock exterior with not a great investment and I really don't mind the performance mods under the hood. I do appreciate the candid opinions so far and I'm just trying to sort this out and see if it's worth a trip down this week and if it looks good, what my offer should be.

Sorry for the double post but I don't see where I can delete the first message.

Good point Steve. I just talked to the owner and he's sending me more pictures this afternoon. It is missing the driver mirror. He put some 280ZX mirrors on it and he said they were junk. He has some 280ZX power mirrors that are not installed but I told him I wanted to go back to stock mirrors and he said they could be swapped out. Not sure if that is possible but maybe. He said the non stock seats could be changed out easily. He said there was surface rust on the driver's side door pillar but that's it. He did say the car hasn't been registered since 1991 and he has only driven it on a couple of side roads near his house since then. That gives me pause. I could understand if the car was a real collector car but the non stock stuff I think takes this one out of that category so why would you put all the money and time into the car and not drive it? Maybe someone here can explain that but it just strikes me as odd.

Good point Steve. I just talked to the owner and he's sending me more pictures this afternoon. It is missing the driver mirror. He put some 280ZX mirrors on it and he said they were junk. He has soom 280ZX power mirrors that are not installed but I told him I wanted to go back to stock mirrors and he said they could be swapped out. Not sure if that is possible but maybe. He said the non stock seats could be changed out easily. He said there was surface rust on the driver's side door pillar but that's it. He did say the car hasn't been registered since 1991 and he has only driven it on a couple of side roads near his house since then. That gives me pause. I could understand if the car was a real collector car but the non stock stuff I think takes this one out of that category so why would you put all the money and time into the car and not drive it? Maybe someone here can explain that but it just strikes me as odd.

Has anyone used the auto appraisal people to check out a car? There is one I've found that will do an inspection for $379 and provide a report and pics within 72 hours. Anybody had a good experience with any of these?

Thanks everyone for the replies! Jim, that is certainly a nice offer and if you pm me, I'd like to talk to you more about that. The owner did the work himself before he had a family and basically he says the wife wants him to get rid of it. It's only had 2000 miles in 18 years so I doubt it gets out of the garage at all these days. As far as rust he said he saw some surface rust on the pillar but he wasn't specific. He replaced much of the sheet metal but not the rear quarter panels. He replaced the floor pans and fenders at least. The pics are from last fall so I was going to talk to him tomorrow and ask him more about the car and ask for more pictures. He was at his son's hockey game so he was a little busy. He did say he thought the clutch master cylinder needed replacing and that doesn't seem too bad but that and the missing mirror raised my eyebrows a bit. There seem to be several z's out there to pick from but this one is the only one I've seen so far that was within a reasonable driving distance. I really didn't want to pay this much and I wouldn't pay $12k but I don't mind paying a bit more for a turn key car. Anyway thanks for the help and Jim thanks for the offer! Joel

Hi folks, I'm new to the site and looking at buying a 240Z. I might go see the one listed here this week. http://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/car/586810217.html By looking at the pictures, does it look like to you guys the driver side mirror is missing? I'm in New England and trying to find a daily driver and would like to get one that has been restored or refreshed already. I don't mind paying a fair price but I really don't want to overpay. I don't have to have a completely stock car but would prefer the body and interior to be stock. The guy with this ad says it has non stock seats. How hard are stock seats to find and replace? Any comments on the car in the ad or in general appreciated. If you don't want to post them in the thread a private message is fine. Thanks!

I've seen this car on ebay a couple of times in the last month. I really liked the way it looked but it's the opposite side of the country from me. I seem to remember he mentioned in his ebay ad that the wipers and hazard lights didn't work but he doesn't mention them in this ad though.