BombFactory

I'm not sure if you are still in the market for a paint shop, but Mark's Body Shop in San Carlos does excellent work. Rod, the owner, specializes in classic cars and I saw two Z racecars in there a few weeks ago. He was doing the metal work to flare the fenders on one of them. He does a lot of work on 1950's and 1960's Porsche’s and has a 1957 356 Cabriolet in there right now that he did a complete on, so that would be a good idea of the quality of craftsmanship. Rod also specializes in custom pinstriping and airbrushing, so any contrast stripe you want would be no problem with him. I am very familiar with bodywork and painting cars, and a quality complete job (bare metal strip, paint jambs, engine comp, underside of hood, removing front/rear windshields, etc.) using quality paints (I prefer PPG) is going to run you about $7000 if the car is pretty straight and needs only minor bodywork. However, because you have done a lot of the work in stripping the car of parts, it should be much less than that. PPG Paint materials (primer, sealer, base and clear) alone run about $1200 shop-cost! My advice is to save the money and spend it on the paint. It might not seem that large a difference from a $4500 and $7500 paint job, but in two years when the paint starts peeling from your door jambs or from around the windshield and rear hatch because the glass was not removed, you will be very red in the face. Don't quote me on this, but I believe that PPG materials are guaranteed for life if painted through a certified shop which I believe Mark's is. You might call Rod and see what he thinks a rough estimate would be, as his prices are very fair. There info is posted below. I have had nothing but good experiences with this shop. Mark's Body Shop 643 Quarry Road, San Carlos, CA, 94070 650-595-0862

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I'm picking up the car Saturday morning, so I'll be sure to get some pictures posted soon. I must thank Fun_in-my-z for his generous offering of parts--very cool of you. I have way to many questions running through my head, so I'm off to search the forums for answers before posting what has already been posted many times before!

Hello All, I eventually knew that my path of owning, restoring, and modifying classic cars would eventually lead to the ownership of a foreign car. I'll admit that my first step into the foreign world was with a 1967 Volvo 1800S-but that didn't end very well. I have always liked the look of the early Z cars, and I know that Datsun put some awesome engineering into their cars. I just finalized the purchase of a 1972 240Z which is still wearing its birthday suite of Orange. The car was purchased from the second owner and is 99.8% rust-free! It has its usual parking lot dings and the right side has a shallow but decent size crease-dent that runs down from the back of the front fender to the start of the quarter panel. It's nothing a little hammer and dolly work won't repair, but I'm on the hunt for a cherry door and fender nonetheless. The trim is all in excellent condition, and the interior is very presentable. The car has some suspension upgrades and rides/drives very well. The L24 was rebuilt not too long ago and judging by the receipts sports oversized pistons, a hotter cam, and some other parts that I'll have to look into. It really is a clean car mechanically and structurally, which is why I can deal with the right side body damage. Anyway, a long introduction but I'm looking forward to learning more about these cars and driving mine.