Kathy & Rick

Interesting name for a color. In Italian "ossi" means "bones." I would have thought that name would have been used for some shade of white or beige.....

Back in about 1973 when I wanted to go with a 5-speed in our 6/70 Z, there were only two options: (1) to swap in a 5-speed out of an SRL311 2-liter roadster, or (2) bite the bullet and spend the money on the HD Competition Dept unit. I bring this up only because the internal gearing of the transmission itself is going to affect your final drive ratio. Since I was doing a lot of highway driving at the time, I wanted to go for fuel economy by keeping the 3.36 differential. The final drive ratio had been 1:1 with the 4-speed, so I figured the 0.864 5th gear would give me a nice overdrive. The problem that evolved was that with a high ratio (low numerically) differential, I basically had to ride the clutch just to get the car in motion. So much for economics: clutches were more expensive than gas at the time. So I went ahead and got a 3.90 Comp Dept limited slip. Multiplying the 0.864 times the 3.90 differential ratio brought me right back to a 3.36 final drive ratio, so after considerable expense, I was right back to where I had started. Except that I now had 5 gears to choose from to better suit the driving conditions of the moment. And for a guy like me who has always enjoyed shifting his own gears, the additional gear gave me, in effect, 25% more enjoyment. All Z Best,......................................Kathy & Rick

Hey Cesar, did you happen to notice the VIN# in addition to the production date? I keep a file on that type of information...... BTW how much of the car is left? Or should I ask, how much of the car has already been cannibalized? All Z Best,........................Kathy & Rick

I just stumbled upon this thread. You guys are evading the real answer to the original question: "What should I do with my father-in-law's Z?" The real answer is: "SELL IT TO ME, OF COURSE!!!!!" All Z Best,....................Kathy & Rick

You heard correctly, Lonnie! HLS30-00076 is owned by Bill Edens of Louisville KY. To say she is merely a gorgeous red car with black interior would be a gross under- statement. For this car NOT TO WIN best-in-show would be a rare "accomplishment." All Z Best,...................................Kathy & Rick

I sure wouldn't use a tarp over any car being carried on an open trailer, whether that trailer be a commercial hauler that can carry 9 or 10 cars or a small one-axle trailer being pulled behind your DD. No matter how tight you try to stretch the tarp, it is going to get air circulating under it to some degree while the rig is in motion. It will flap up and down and destroy the car's paint. Even such a soft cover as a fleece lined car cover can scuff up a paint job pretty well, much less a coarse tarp. Then again, you did say that you were going to completely strip her down and rebuild her, which I am sure means a repaint as well, so it is all a moot point. Nobody mentioned duct tape to seal up the places suspected of potentially leaking. Duct tape doesn't last forever, but it should be a decent stopgap since it sticks well and doesn't leak. Just thinking out loud.....hope it helps you a little bit...... All Z Best,..............................Kathy & Rick

Another butterscotch Z owner chiming in now. Frank, I'm glad to hear you're okay, but what about my "cousin" Sue? Was she with you? I'm distressed to hear about your car's misfortune, as she's one of the prettiest I've seen and especially, knowing about your personal history with her. Listen Frank, you have got to save that car, again with your personal history, but also with the low VIN number. I've seen some pretty bad wrecks, worse than yours, get straightened out so's you would never know the difference. In fact, I once did one when I was at auto body repair school; later it was used as both a drive-around company car for the school and a display at fairs for what could be done by their students. A full book of "before, after, and during" photos and finished in BLACK to see if there were any imperfections. Not to portray myself as any kind of hero, just to encourage you with what CAN, SHOULD, AND MUST be done. As one of the guys suggested above, if you have agreed value insurance with Hagerty and you insured her high enough, that is a great start, if not TOTAL coverage. But whether or not, it's obviously the fault of the trailer owner, and HIS insuror should cover it first. I would let Hagerty and his carrier duke it out to get you full coverage under a provision called "subrogation." All this failing, I would have no reservation whatsoever about hauling the case off into a court of law. My philosophy is simple: you were in no way at fault, so there is no possible reason you should have to be out ONE PENNY for your misfortune. In fact, if I were on the jury, you would be remunerated for inconvenience and distress, even ABOVE the cost of the repairs/rebuild/restoration/whatever. One of the nice aspects of being affiliated with Hagerty is that they have contacts all over the country, maybe even the WORLD, with whom they can find and obtain even very hard-to-find, obsolescent or obsolete parts. Another recommendation I want to make, is to deal with a very reputable classic car restoration facility. In fact, under the circum- stances, I wouldn't be a bit bashful or reluctant about taking her to the best one I could find. I can say that, because I know #721 firsthand, upclose and personal, and there is no legal reason whatsoever she should not be brought back (yes, restored) to her pre- vious state. And as another brother stated above, if Hagerty and your restoration shop can't find a part or two that you need, there are several hundreds or thousands of sets of eyes and ears right on this website that I would bet would WILLINGLY help you. All Z Best,............................Kathy & Rick

Bryce, that's a good comment. Not having owned a '73 I perhaps shouldn't say anything, but the gears are whirling....... I am pondering how difficult it would be to make an adapter out of strap steel which adapts the '73 bumper to the '72. I visualize it as having holes to bolt the bumper to, and other holes to bolt it to the brackets that go to the frame. The cost of the strap steel and a couple of bolts would be a lot less than trying to buy a '69-'72 bumper in nice condition. One consideration that hasn't been mentioned is the distance between the bumper's extreme ends: is it the same on the '73's vs. the earlier ones? I suppose so; the parts manual (I gave mine away years ago) might give some indication. Another thought is: Reed used the term "restore;" to me that means to bring the car back to exactly as it came out of the factory. To Reed it might mean something a little different. All Z Best,..................................Kathy & Rick

Hi Yury, Rick here. Check out the www.CTZCC.com website; they are right in your back yard. I wonder if Yury's intro would help him better if it were located in the "Supporting Vendors" grouping on this site?-- Just thinking that is where I would start if I were looking for parts and stuff....... All Z Best,............................Kathy & Rick

Jerry, Rick again. I wanted to address your question re: optimum size of an enclosed trailer. Since the Z is only about 13-1/2 feet long, a 20-footer would give you plenty of length, with about 3-1/2 feet both fore and aft (you want to get the car over the axles; that is why I didn't say 6-1/2 feet on one end (with the bumper against the rear door or the nose)). In a V-nose trailer, you get not only a better aerodynamic effect, but also some extra length up in the nose since the V-nose extends forward over what would otherwise be exposed trailer tongue. This space can be utilized for any number of purposes. In the case of a 20-foot trailer, the 20 feet refers to the rectangular box, to which is added the length of the V nose. I wouldn't go too short, however. We bought a 24-footer, and now I wish we had gone 28' or even longer. Maybe even a gooseneck. We designed our trailer with various living conven- iences to minimize motel expenses, sort of like a living space up front. A 28-footer would have given us another 4' for the purpose; or, the ability to carry TWO of our Z's at a time if we ever wanted to do so. Up till now all I have addressed is LENGTH. By all means, don't forget about the WIDTH. The inside of the trailer is about 8' wide. The trailers are designed with the wheel wells up into the cargo area, but still low enough that one can open the door of a Z above them. No problem there. Let's see... 8' inside, minus about 5 or 6 feet for the width of a 240Z leaves at best 1-1/2' on each side. How many of driving age are still shaped like a pencil? Certainly not I !!!! Load your Z too far to the right, and you scuff your Z's paint. Or worse. Moreover, the bal- ance of the trailer will be skewed: excess tire wear on the right side tires, excess weight on the curb side (right side) resulting in poor handling, and the propensity to "yaw" (sway back and forth from side to side, sometimes violently). BAD decision. So now that I've driven the Z into the trailer, how do I get out through that tiny available space between the Z door and the trailer wall? I DON'T!!!! Crawl out through the rear hatch? I don't think so!!!! Haven't figured out how to release the hatch from inside yet (only 41 years). And I haven't even addressed the matter of agility! Are you thinking, "climb out of the sunroof?" Don't even go there; we don't tolerate those types of things in old original Z's!!! Aha!! How about an ESCAPE HATCH???? Yeah, that's it!!!! A wide side door in the trailer that allows the driver door of the Z to open as though the wall of the trailer weren't even there! GO FOR IT!!! All Z Best,................................Kathy & Rick

Jerry, you need to contact Rance Aluminum Trailers "right up the street from you" in Elkhart. (574) 266-9028. Tell them Rick Morgan in CT sent you and they will surely slam down the phone. LOL LOL In 2011, we also decided upon an enclosed trailer. We did a LOT of shopping around, comparing, and analyzing; then came up with the conclusion that Rance was not only the best QUALITY, but also the best VALUE. I define VALUE as: how much QUANTITY and/or how much QUALITY am I receiving per dollar spent. And I'm not ashamed to DEMAND value, because (I'm retired now) I always made it a point to GIVE it. First, the acquisition cost of an aluminum trailer is going to cost quite a bit more than the steel trailer right from the get-go. But a lot of this will be amortized over the ensuing years by (1) less maintenance of the trailer itself being required; (2) offering a great deal less weight to be pulling around; and (3) a higher resale price should you ever decide to sell it. One more advantage is that if you have, for illustration purposes, a trailer with 7000 lb gross vehicle weight (GVW), and the trailer itself weighs 5000 lbs, you can safely only carry 2000 lbs of cargo. Whereas if you have 7000 lbs of GVW but the trailer itself weighs only 3000 lbs, you could carry 4000 lbs. Now with a 2300 lb Z Car it wouldn't be a problem in either case, but if you ever wanted to carry something heavier, it might. Or, if you wanted to carry the Z PLUS a literal ton of stuff for your tailgate party, you would still be within spec. An additional thought: if you carried a 2300 lb Z in a trailer weighing only 3000 lbs, you're asking the engine in your prime mover to work a lot less by having to pull nearly a ton less. How much is fuel nowadays? Back to Rance. We took delivery the evening before the morning we left for the National show in Nashville. I wanted to install the load leveler/sway control package that Carl talked about (above), but there was barely time to load the car, lash her down, and hit the highway. So we decided to take our chances on a trip in excess of 1000 miles each way, hoping (or should I say praying) for the best. Great decision (I make those occasionally, sometimes as often as 3 times per year.) The trailer didn't "dog-track" (trail so you can clearly see all of one side in the mirror, but can't see the other side at all); didn't yaw (sway back and forth from side to side); and pulled so effortlessly that if I hadn't looked in the mirrors, I wouldn't have known it was even there. More testimony upon request in this thread. Or anyone can call me at home to discuss: (203) 484-7850. All Z Best,.........................Kathy & Rick

Ditto on what 72 OJ said (see above)! All Z Best,.................Kathy & Rick

Lonnie, how much to just get in, onto the grounds, and look around? I'm sure that's no freebie, either. And probably another week's pay to get into the big top and watch the auction on the big screen because the stage is "at the other end of the football field"........ I think I'll just stay home and watch from here, saving the price of the plane ticket and whatever else......... BTW I was surprised to see this thread at all, because over the years I had consistently heard that BJ was pretty "anti" Japanese cars. Anyone else heard the same?-- or if you heard something different, what was it? All Z Best,........................Kathy & Rick

Just found this thread after several weeks being away. No, ZHead, as we found out, it's not that red car you're thinking of. The red Z I'm pretty confident you're talking about is one of TWO twin 1972 240's owned by Mark Lambert, president of the MD Z Club: one to drive, and one trailer queen. And I MEAN trailer queen: 4400 original documented miles, and she rides inside the enclosed trailer behind the Titan everywhere she goes. GORGEOUS car, and has been at nearly every ZCCA (or ZCON) National. Now I do believe that Mark's car COULD pull $30 grand if he ever decided to sell her. (Which I perceive to be highly unlikely.) Now from what I can see, the 113 avocado car in this thread doesn't appear to be anywhere close. But giving credit where it's due, the gal has started high and has plenty of wiggle room. NO, NO, NO!!!! I meant in the negotiating the sale of the car!!!!! Another case in point: our #00171 car has 28K original miles. This I know is authentic because I bought her from the original owner, whom I knew, on 8/24/1973 when she only had 23K on her. The point being, I wouldn't doubt that there are probably a handful of low-milers still around. But as they say, "The Devil is in the details." Which in this case means being able to document the alleged mileage with paperwork in the form of service receipts, purchase papers, cancelled checks or credit card statements, and maybe even an old registration or title. I agree with H4LIGHTS and esprist: there seems to be a pretty serious disconnect between the apparent amount of usage versus the claimed low mileage. This itself would cause me to think in the $6000-$10,000 range, nowhere near $30,000. FWIW,..............All Z Best,.......................Kathy & Rick

Hi, Jeff: I'm sure the other guys have it right, that you meant to say "brown INTERIOR," alternately called tan, butterscotch, and probably a few more. However, the #114 brown EXTERIOR didn't come in till the 1972 model year (VIN #48691 is the earliest I currently show with #114 brown with butterscotch interior). Getting on to the green cars, now: the #907 Racing Green was one of the original colors in 1969, as Carl implied above. In fact, Bob Sharp's first 240Z C/P race car had originally been that color when being the first 240Z to be shown in 1969 (it was the car that had the roof dented in when a model sat on it at the Toronto show). That car was (and still is) VIN #00006; if you ever happen to see "ancient" archive videos of an all-red 240Z sporting racing number 33, that is the same car. And later as the famous National Champion red-white-and-blue car, you are looking at that same car. Chris Wenzel's #00026 and #00027 are both green on tan, while our own 1969, #00171, is green on black; so you can see that both color combinations went all the way back to the beginning. The #907 Racing Green ended after the 1971 model year; #42919 mfr 8/71 is the last of that color I currently have recorded. The #113 Metallic Green (which we usually used to call "avocado") started with the 1972 model year; #47431 mfr 9/71 is the earliest I show in that color. Hope this is helpful to you. All Z Best,.............................Kathy & Rick