daddz

My first car was a used 1983 Datsun 280ZX 2+2. I bought it from the original owner in Jan. 1990 for $5100 with only 62k miles on the clock. It had been garage kept and it was in pretty good condition. I remember the car being able to chirp the tires from 2nd to 3rd which is not bad for a big heavy pig. I traded the 280ZX a year later for what I thought was the pinnacle of a sports/gt car at the time an '87 Toyota Supra. I really wanted a '77 or '78 280Z and I had stalked a few local '78 280Z's thanks to my pizza delivery job and one of them actually traded her '78 280Z in at a local dealership where my stepfather worked. Once I saw it on the lot I made several trips to look at it but they took it in for $2,000 and were trying to resell it at $3995. It was a maroon Z with front air dam and three piece rear spoiler and had the rear window louvers and factory four spoke alloys and it was very well kept. I have tried (unsuccessfully) to locate that car over the years to see what became of it. The first car(s) I had access to were a string of "new" Mustang GT's when visiting my uncle's house (sometimes he would toss the keys and say 'see you in about 15 minutes" which is all you need to scare yourself with an '85-'87 GT w/ a 5 speed). He also tossed the keys to a '74 MGB one day and I was allowed to go for about 45 minutes. Fell in love with that car; he had traded a guy an '81 Mustang I-6 for the MGB and he kept it one season and sold it. I actually got to drive my mother's '86 Nissan 200SX XE coupe w/ 5spd. as my own for about two years ('88-'90) and an old '80 Ford LTD. The LTD was a plain jane model that looked like an unmarked police car and I got away with more s*** in that car than I should have.

Alan, Thanks for the pictures as well. If we all had our druthers it would have been much more crowded. Hopefully your work will bring you close to more of these events in the future?

Vicky, Thank goodness no one has a bunch of Wine Red Metallic (#611) 280Z's in that condition coming to market or I would be in trouble. :nervous: At $18,600 and it didn't meet the reserve price. I would like to know what the reserve price was. Using the Federal Reserve website to calculate what a dollar spent in 1978 would cost today the original retail price using his window sticker of $7739 works out to be $23,098.30. Assuming this car is as close to "new" as one could find.

texasz and 240zwinter: I know we have discussed this before but my 240Z is an 08/70 with VIN 8323. It is interesting that yours is 108 units ahead of mine yet was badged as a 10/70.

Chris, If this keeps up the early S30's will probably end up being talked about in terms of their chassis numbers much like the Ferrari crowd speaks of their cars :classic: I just want to see good pictures from those lads when they return from their trip to Japan. Although a post card would have been nice also.

The gentleman who owns the 240Z also stated that his car (safari gold) or should I say 'shell' also sat outside partially stripped and exposed to the elements for better than six months. The remarkable thing is that his paint and bodywork only took two and a half weeks to finish and that is because the quarter panel had to be removed and repositioned 1/8in. before paint could begin. The extra attention to detail is shown in how good the shut lines appear from front to rear. Another friend who is currently in Japan on vacation mentioned that a friend of his bought a Z store car and had it shipped to Japan whereupon the car was stripped and restored a second time!

Bryan, I think that maybe if the editor had not placed the comments of John Morton in the forward and maybe put them in an epilogue it might not have set the stage for the way that you went in to the book. I have also read other pieces of work where the initial comments did not set the right frame of mind for entering the work and through comments such as ours maybe a subsequent edition will provide the suggested results (doubtful). I think your comments have started yet another very handy thread that most of us can learn a thing or two about these cars. Having said that I do like this book if for nothing else than the competition coverage beyond 1983 and the very good photographs that come along and help move the story. On a slightly different note, I just recently came back from a weekend in Huntington Beach, Ca. and was able to visit Nissan North America HQ in Gardena, Ca. with a Nissan employee and my visit came just a day after the announcement of the move to Tennessee and it really is a shame to see Nissan time and again throwing their history away in the name of pure economics. As I thought about this trip on the plane ride home from Ca. it prompted me to begin reading a book that was published years ago by John B. Rae entitled "Nissan/Datsun: A History of Nissan Motor Corporation in the U.S.A. 1960-1980" and there is some very good information in that book that should not be missed by any Datsun enthusiast. On a lighter note I did meet up with a fellow Z enthusiast who happened to purchase one of the ex-Z Store Program cars from Datsun Alley and beyond the Nissan documentation the car has been taken in a different direction with the addition of an RB25 engine blending Nissan's old and recent history together. It was in my opinion a fitting gesture and I was happy to have seen it. (pictures to follow) [26th Z if you like I can pass on the contact info. if you're interested]

Alan T, I am still not giving up hope that maybe someone like Shin Yoshikawa will tackle this subject similar to the way his book covered the Toyota 2000GT. Chris, I would agree that Brian Long has done it about as well as anyone at this point although some of his picture captions are also incorrect. His book on the Toyota Celica was done a little bit better than his books on the Z series. There was more detailed information with regard to VIN#'s and such. Maybe Toyota kept better records? BPilati, "I'm not going to defend Carl, he can do that, however this statement are really those kinda "throw something against the wall and see if it sticks" statements. No one is going to got through a bunch of threads. I think you could do better than this. You either say it, or you don't at all I think." That's funny because your comments towards Morton's remarks were much like that (read inflammatory). Out in the general public half to three quarters of the populace wouldn't know who John Morton is or what he contributed to a car that most of us care deeply about; if your remarks had been tempered or toned down just a bit you wouldn't currently have the notion of wanting this thread to disappear. It is good that this book be discussed in this way because as you said awhile ago that once committed to paper it is there for all time. If this were a new product like a headlight made specifically for a Z wouldn't you want opinions from both sides of the fence?

bump......

Chris, Your comments as usual were spot on with regard to the book. I too am just about two thirds of the way through this book and the only disturbing aspect for the money spent involves some of the editing. There are a few picture captions for example on page 54 the photo depicts a blue and silver 2+2 with t-tops (available for the 2+2 beginning in 1981) and states that "this is the 1979 280ZX 2+2 version." Another photo on page 123 needs better clarification. The caption explains the low production numbers for both the Fairlday 432 and 432-R yet, the red car in the picture has later 260Z/280Z taillights, later style sail panel "Z" badges, rear repeater lenses and such. I know I will be flamed for this but, Carl Beck is sighted as being a provider for the most accurate information with regard to Z cars? Just look through some of the threads on this website and ask yourself that question. Getting back to the John Morton commentary, on page 37 Morton states that the "240Z was in the top three in terms of most fun to drive"; having said that I still trust most anything he would have to say with regard to Nissan products past and present.

One of my favorites which is from an anonymous source: "blow it out your arse..." "A smart man knows what he knows not" (one that I have been quoting for years from a forgotten source)