Jonathon Anthony

This video was great. It truly captures the essence of restoring classic cars and the meaning of "the car is the canvas." It also showed both sides of wanting to keep the originality of the car vs. upgrading cars using modern components. This is a good video to show your non-car enthusiast friends the meaning of restoring a classic car.

Hi guys, I know there have been questions about a Wisconsin Z car Club. I created a website page to get one started if anyone is interested. Check it out at: Badger State Z --- Wisconsin Z car owners club

Datsun 1972 240Z - $4000 (Florence, CO ) 1972 Datsun 240 Z. Original color was lime yellow, has been painted green. Runs strong. Is daily driver. Carpet has been replaced. Has original 240Z seats from doner vehicle. Less than 2,000 miles on tires approx 2 yrs old. Struts have been replaced. Minor engine work, new timing chain, new water pump, new fuel pump, points plugs, and new battery. Some rust typical to Z cars, floor and rear wheels. Please contact me at 7one9-2one4-389nine. Due to scamers I will not respond to emails. I do not need help selling the car. Check this one out. Owner seems honest in post and it doesn't seem too bad. Datsun 1972 240Z

Thanks for the info LeonV. It turns out they are original aluminum Minilites of the 1970's era. I did some research and discovered they also made them in Magnesium. The problem with the Magnesium rims is that they increasingly become brittle over time. They are also susceptible to lighting on fire due to heat. I am glad mine are the aluminum rims.

The Story of my 1st Z car Two years ago I bought a car that would cause me trouble. It is a 1972/73 datsun 240z. I say 1972/73 because it seems to be a compilation of two cars. The engine is a 73, the body a 72; it has early SU carbs, and a front right fender from a 260z (courtesy of my mom but I’ll get to that). As soon as my dad and I got it back home and put on jack stands, we realized that there was a weld line across the entire rear of the car just behind the seat area. There is rust flaking off the floor pan. If I tap on the floor, there is a shower of rust under the car. Step 1 We needed to get the car to run properly. There was absolutely no power. It turns out the SU’s were in need of a rebuild. After rebuilding the carbs, tuning them, adding new spark plugs, and buying a new battery the engine ran outstanding. Step 2 The rear suspension was so soft that when accelerating quickly, the car would squat tires would rub against the wheel well. We installed new rear struts. Step 3 The water and oil pumps were replaced. Step 4 The car shook while accelerating. We discovered the driveshaft was very bent. It was repaired. Step 5 There was no rear hatch glass. The car was sent in to install the glass from another hatch that we got for free with the car. I drove for about a month in my beater Z car Then… My mom backed into it with our conversion van. Datsun + 1982 van = Van Wins (with no dents) After that the Z car had a new issue. The front right fender was shot. Luckily, my dad had a friend with a 260z. He gave us the Z but we had to haul it out of the weeds. This is where the true story begins. Recovering the 260z The 260z had been sitting for 16 years out in the weather (awful Wisconsin weather on the peninsula in Door County). It was far from gone. It would be easier to make your own Z car from scratch, metal work and everything, than restore this car. Once the brake drums were broke loose, we hooked a long chain up to our truck and pulled it out. Well 2 of the wheels broke loose. Therefore, it was more like dragging a sorry looking car out of the weeds and leaving behind a deep tire groove through the wet grass. Now the interesting part: We didn’t have a winch on the trailer. We decided to use a little engineering skill. We jackknifed the van (hooked up to the car trailer) at a 90 degree angle to the trailer behind it. Then we pulled the chain past the trailer and hooked it up to the truck (it was a very long chain). I hopped in the Z. My dad pulled the Z car with the truck. What proceeded after this was probably the scariest thing I ever did. I was steering the Z car as it crept up the ramp. The issue was that it is hard to steer a car up a ramp when 2 drums are locked up. As the car reached the top of the ramp and started to continue onto the trailer we realized there was not enough clearance. I told my dad to keep going. The floor was so soft that when the car was pulled over the rear lip of the trailer, my seat lurched up like I was passing over a wave on a surfboard. I saw the whole floor ripple as the car was being pulled onto the trailer. Then I noticed there were no brakes. The trailer was at an incline and the car was sliding forward toward the van. My dad jumped out of the truck and I hopped out of the Z car. Together we stopped the Z car before it hit the van. The panels on the 260z were about all that was salvageable. We used the front fender to replace the damaged one on my 240z. That process was a headache. Repainting and fitting was a nightmare. My 240z is now repaired and drivable. It will be out later this year. Oh I forgot to mention: my 240z has a stupid sunroof. Whoever installed it committed a crime. I’m strictly a hardtop guy.

He might not remember, it was painted in 06.

I am not sure. It is just a silver paint job. He put three coats on and admitted when I bought the car that it was an alright, but not professional, paint job. I do have his phone number and email, so I can ask him about it if you want the brand and color of paint.

The last photo is the floor pan on the driver side, just to show the level of rust. I did not take a picture of the patch behind the seat. The car does have some undercoating, so hopefully it is not hiding anything underneath (one thing to be wary about). When I bought the car, I spent about an hour and a half banging on the entire floor pan to verify it was solid.

Hi Michael, and thanks for the message on the radio. I will keep you in mind. The car is far from perfect and still needs some work. The driveshaft vibrates above 70 mph and the SU carbs need to be refurbished. I will drop the driveshaft and send it in to be repaired. The car does seem solid though and I will enjoy it.

I have no idea. I have not had time to check through all the numbers on my car. I was not even able to drive it home. I used a college weekend to go to Fond Du Lac WI to purchase it. Once I really go through the car, I will update the details of my car (including vin number ~ HLS30 036xx).

Glad to hear about your car. I'd like to see the progress when you start on the restoration process.

Hi everyone. I purchased this 240z about a month ago. It will be a daily driver until I take the time to restore it in the distant future. It is not a numbers matching car (engine head is a e88), but it runs and is solid all around. Everything on the car works. It has had some rust repair (fiberglass patch) behind the seat and replaced front fenders. I can't wait to get back from college and start work restoring the rims. You may notice that it does not have the hatch louvers on it. That is because the previous owner put a 1972 hatch on instead of the original when he repainted the car. I still have the original. Here are some pics of my car: By the way, I am missing the year correct radio. If anyone has a contact that I could reach for a radio, please let me know.

Sorry for butting in on your thread. I am getting used to using the forum and accidentally replied to your thread instead of posting a new one. By the way you got a heck of a deal for a great car and I wish you best of luck for your restoration process.

post deleted and moved to new thread.

This is a pic of the rims on my 1970 240z. I think they might have been dealer add on's but I have seen pics of 3 other datsun 240z's online with the same rims. They are all aluminum rims. pictures below: This one is mine: