daddz

Finally, A meet that I will be able to make! Now that the degree is done I can spend a little time in South Florida before beginning career number three! Too bad I won't be able to drive one of my S30's! I will have to decide which one to take. It's a toss up between one of the S130's , a Z31 hardtop, or the Z33.

I added up the sales figures for the 350Z a couple of weeks ago and the total was about 130,000 since 2003. The Nissan news site no longer lists sales for the 2002 model year so expect that figure to be a bit higher. Is that a good sales record? Given the number of choices in the segment I would say it has been a success for Nissan. Typical of all cars the sales have been trailing off at a predictable rate and they should expect to top about 21,000 units this year. Compare this to 36,728 units in 2003 and this is to be expected. The next generation Z car will have to shed some weight and gain some styling if Nissan wants to keep the Z car dynasty alive.

By S31 I think you meant to say S130=280ZX; the S31 is a model that in Japan refers to the fuel injected L20 six cylinder engine coupled to a 260Z bodyshell (skinny bumpers and 280Z style dashboard). While Porsche owners are generally forgiving lot let us not forget the noise from them concerning Porsche's decision to produce the 928 and the 924/944 series and they did not like the 914 either. Time tends to soften the harsh reactions showered upon those models. Porsche intended the 928 to replace the 911 and they quickly discovered that was not going to be the case. If the marketing focus groups conducted by Nissan in the United States had been populated by similar minded enthusiasts then Nissan might have stuck with the original S30 boyshell and applied continuous improvements in the Porshce idiom. The problem was that these focus groups complained of heavy steering in the 280Z and the lack of "creature comforts" like power windows. Couple that mentality to Nissan's correct prediction that with the currency exchnage rates being what they were in the late 1970's and Nissan designed the S130 to walk through a doorway which led to increased profit per unit. This was something the dealer's were always keen to exploit. We were the victims of our own doing and we got the car we deserved. Don't get me wrong I own an example of each of the generations except the Z32 and I do enjoy driving them all but for different reasons.

Mark, I am still in awe of the silver with red interior for the 240Z although the more I see the white/blue or blue/blue combination the more I like it.

Rich, That is a shame. The Jaguar E-type and the 240Z need to be in the same garage together. Find a cheaper Jaguar mechanic?? There must be something in the air as I have just about sold the Toyota Celica and it should be gone by the end of this month. Finishing the degree and new career beckons and not enough time to devote to all of the cars in my signature line. I suspect that I'll have to move within the next two years as the potential commute (50 miles each way) is going to chew up alot of time.

If I could only have one Z car it would have to be a 240ZG in GP Maroon.

Mark, like you said a few posts back I also like the look of the new BMW Z4 coupe. It is alot closer to what the 240Z looked like in terms of proportions and overall size. Factor in the inline 6 cylinder engine and the spacious interior and BMW has a nice car on there hands. If only they offered it in maroon?

Jeff, The Cobra R was a great example of what Ford can accomplish when given the chance to produce a focused car. While I still love my old S30's I do enjoy driving the old '91 Mustang GT that sits in the garage next to the 350Z in Florida. Even though it is stock it still is alot of fun to drive. I have taken it on three trips from Md. to Florida and at 6'1" it could stand a bit more legroom but the new Mustang seems to have cured that problem.

I have to do this in date order as I have made long trips in many Z's and ZX's over the years: 2001: The old '77 280Z went from Southern, Md. to Daytona Beach, Fl. for the Rolex 24 and then to Myrtle Beach, S.C. on the way back. 2002: '86 300ZX went from Atlanta, Ga. to Md. and then from Md. to Rolex 24 in Daytona and Myrtle Beach on the way back. 2003: Picked up 350Z on Jan. 3, 2003 and left for Atlanta, Ga. to pick up a set of wheels--1400 miles in the first 24 hours of ownership. 2004: 350Z went from Md. to Daytona for the Rolex 24 and back to Md. 2004: 350Z went from Md. to Pensacola, Fl. by way of Atlanta to visit friend's parents in Gulf Breeze. Achieved 535 miles on one tank of gas on the way down at 8k miles. 2005: The beginning of many multiple roadtrips for the '81 280ZX, and the 350Z moves to Port Saint Lucie, Fl. and is now slumbering in the garage at 25,100 miles. The '81 280ZX makes the 940 mile trip on two tanks of gas and 14.5 hours straight through driving. 2005: The '82 280ZX makes the trip from Huntington Beach, Ca. to Port Saint Lucie, Fl. in three days--2800 miles. 2006: The '86.2 300ZX makes the trip from Sherman Oaks, Ca. to Port Saint Lucie, Fl. in three days. It sits from March until August and then makes the journey to Md. 2006: '86.1 300ZX makes two trips to Florida from Md. --Thanksgiving and Christmas. During the Christmas trip on the way down in South Carolina a 4 day old alternator locks up adding 14 hours to thr trip while a new alternator is installed. 2007: '86.1 has made two trips to Florida so far this year. The '81 280ZX has made one trip from Florida to Md. and will probably be heading back in the next week or so. There have been other road trips in non-Z cars over the years but the Z and ZX are pretty good travel companions. It has been awhile since any of my S30's have made any long trips and it is just about time to get them into the mix again. It would be nice to get the '70 240Z running again and take her on a long road trip.

Cool. Another Z31 owner. I have two '86 hardtops at the moment and they are great for cruising the 940 miles from door to door when I visit family in Florida. The only thing I dislike about the 300ZX is the lack of Nissan interior trim pieces as they have stopped supporting the car at Nissan. I have owned one of mine for a little more than 5 years and I have dealt with alot of the common issues so if you have a question let me know.

Carl, Amen! Unfortunately that is the truth in regards to the media outlets. Apparently they have benchmarked and outsourced and rightsized themselves into a fairly useless industry. Nowadays the news travels very fast but you have read the same story from three outlets to get a complete view of the issue at hand and therefore it takes the same amount of time as in the old days before the Internet. Funny thing is they are a bunch of plagiarizing fools as I have read the same phrase in multiple articles without a proper citation. At my current college (University of Maryland) the plagiarism issue has reached critical mass. In my two years at this college I have been required to complete three plagiarism self tests for various classes at the beginning of the semester as the classes got underway.

I wish I could agree with you on this point but lately every g**damned part in the Nissan catalog is no longer available (NLA= death to the Nissan enthusiast) which is becoming ridiculous. Last summer I had to replace the right rear caliper on my '81 280ZX and Nissan was "NLA" so off to NAPA. At NAPA the supplier in Ca. did not have any cores to rebuild! Off to Carquest. THey had two and one was crap so finally after four days a usable caliper. More recently the water valve for a 280Z with A/C is NLA. The aftermarket does not have them either. I guess Z cars do not require working HVAC systems? Maybe it's time to start restoring old Mustangs? Sorry to be sour and off topic but at one time the Z car owner had a similar reputation. I was at the tail end of that era in the late 1980's and early 1990's when I bought my first used Z car and the abuse from my American muscle owning friends was a pain in the a** at times. If you live long enough history will tend to repeat itself.

I keep reading the posts and the common theme seems to be that everyone starts out by purchasing a "bargain" and then is disappointed to commit to a much larger budget than was originally planned for? I have made this mistake a few times in my past but over the years I have adjusted my expectations and while I try to stay away from rusty pigs when I do buy a less than stellar Z car I know that over time the cheap bargain will end up costing as much as a much more expensive purchase in the long run. Along the way the car becomes not original anymore and most collectors don't like to hear such things. The problem with Z cars is that if you can stomach the visible rust the lack of available sheet metal for the strange areas (i.e. inner rocker panels, toe boards, battery tray etc..) are not available. There comes a time when it is not worth trying to restore such a car regardless of whether it is a Z or not. It is a steep learning curve and hopefully there are newer members to this hobby that will read this thread and think twice before buying that "great deal" before fully understanding what they are getting themselves into. When I was in my early twenties I wouldn't have listened to any of this advice either but maybe there are some who will heed this advice. My solution is to invest in plane tickets to the west coast and at least there is a better chance of finding a fairly rust free car with which to start with.

David, I can make a few suggestions based upon cost and the size of the wheels. If they are 14x7 then I would go with a 225/60/14 tire and the Yokohama ES100 is a really decent tire for not a lot of money. If they are 15x7 then the 225/50/15 would be a great size. Don't worry as I have a 245/45/16 on the back of my 16x8 Epsilons on the '82 280ZX (previously they were on the gray '81 280ZX and even with a one inch drop from the Tokico springs there was never any rubbing whatsoever) and again the ES100 is a good deal. On the Epsilons I went with Bridgestone Potenza tires which were a bit more but they are really very nice.

David, When are the gold mesh wheels going on your S130?

Ron, I have used that same package (Tokico springs and struts) and in every case my ride height was even from front to rear. The only exception is when I installed the Tokico HP struts and Tokico springs on my '86 300ZX the ride height was slightly lower in the front but aparently this is common for the Z31when using the Tokico combo.

That poor Z has been listed on ebay so many times I have lost track. If it was me I would at least try to take some new photos of the poor car.

Mark, Congratulations on the upcoming addition to the Z family. I personally am not a fan of the rear diffuser but taken as a package the Z community needs to support this first effort so that there will be an incentive for Nissan to add more editions of future Z cars. Now if only they offered it in GP Maroon?

Miles and kats, I can only imagine the astute car enthusiast with means in 1970 being able to purchase both a Toyota 2000GT and a Z432. To have actually driven both cars such as Alan is truly a remarkable feat without having been a journalist from that era. As always thanks again for the great photos.

To contradict what Vintage stated there were only 1000 "SS" models built. The correct title is actually "1988 Nissan 300ZX Turbo SE" as pritned on the window sticker from Nissan. They were only built from January 1988 through March 1988 and there were no specific VIN# sequence; rather they were randomly selected chassis numbers. The rarity of these cars is only to increase over time and our member '240ztt' used to own a very nice one. At one point another friend had two Shiro's (another name for this car) and sold them both before being PCS'd to Germany. Now back to the thread and by the way Dean that is one great looking 240Z and the driveway shot is very impressive witht he Cobra replica sitting in front of the Z.

This is outside of your parameters but I would have to vote for one of two variations of C3 if it were my choice: 1978 Indy Pace Car Edition 1982 Collector's Edition I always preferred either the skinny '68 to '72 or the "extended" nose of the '82 Collector's Edition. The next wave of Corvette collectors is already starting to hone in on the C3's so you might want to jump soon. If you're thinking C4 I would have to vote for the '97 Grand Sport. If you want a daily driver one of my Z car friends bought a '94 6 speed and that eventually led him to the '97 GS model. Funny thing was he ended up selling his restored '72 240Z and replaced it with a '67 coupe and that was before the prices went to the moon. Nothing like driving an old car that continues to increase in value like the mid-year Corvettes?

You would be surprised how much of those long needle pine trees you find here in the Mid Atlantic region. Well done on the 240Z acquisition. I kept staring at the ad and I could not justify another Z car. I do appreciate the color combination as it is the same as my 08/70. I was expecting to find more rust than I did when I started cleaning my 240Z especially after knowing its history from the original owner. It was outside from '82 to '84 under a tarp which is probably worse than without the tarp. It then sat again outside from late '02 to the fall of 2005. It really appreciates sitting in the semi-climate controlled garage alot more than being left outside. The '72 Celica is trying to pry its way into the garage as well. You will be very happy with the sheetmetal from Charlie Osborn. His floors and floor supports worked very well on my old '78 280Z.

Go Fred! Let's get those low VIN club members out front. We need soem more pictures of these survivors. Mike, Good job on deciding to rescue/save this car. After looking at your pictures I would agree that the rust issue has to be dealt with quickly and thoroughly. If not there won't be a #237 to talk about. BTW, is this the car that was advertised on Hemmings located in New Jersey?

The story is a bit muddy with this topic. I have seen a couple of '84 hardtop Turbo's with the four lug hub. The standard is a five lug hub for Turbo's beginning in '84. The N/A in '84 and '85 had four lug hubs but the wheel design was similar to the Turbo. In '86 (one year only bodystyle--flared fenders and rocker panel extensions) the N/A came with five lug hubs as did the Turbo's. The wheel size was different with the N/A 15" wheels and the Turbo's had 16" wheels. This would stay the same until 1989. In Australia I don't believe you guys got the '86 bodystyle pictured above. Did you ever get the '87 to '89 body that came to the U.S.?