Carl Beck

Arne and I are thinking alike - I'd like to have higher resolution copies of the pictures. That may be a 20K mile car... See if it still has it's date stamped spark plug wires on it.. They should say 1972 on them. At any rate - in Canada, in terms of US Dollars - - it's a major project car... and we'd have to know what spares and/or NOS parts come with it - to really pin down a value. Given that you can't pay too little when you buy a pig in a poke - if the floorboards and front frame rails are solid...$1,500.00 to $2,500.00 wouldn't be out of the question for a good body in disassembled state... If you have done a couple 240-Z's it is no problem putting one back together out of boxes of parts - on the other hand if you haven't - putting one back together can be a real challenge. Another thing to consider is the unknown condition of the original engine. You wouldn't want to put serious refresh/restoration money into a non-matching number car. The bumper are another item to check - they are expensive to replace or re-chrome today. The Direct URL for the Common Rust Area's is: http://zhome.com/Classic/CommonZRust/RustPrevention240Z.htm FWIW, Carl B.

I'd vote - NO Non-running, with that much rust and damage to begin with (bent front fender and left door etc) - I wouldn't touch it. Personally, I'd want to start with a far cleaner, good running car. I'd spend the extra $5K right up front. FWIW, Carl B.

I used the A/C compressor mount and the OEM compressor from the 280Z. It was the simplest solution, but not the least expensive. The Hitachi Compressors, even rebuilt, are relatively expensive. A rebuilt Hitachi runs about $175.00 around here, while you can buy new Sanden/Sanyo compressors for slightly less. The aftermarket compressor manufacturers used to sell brackets that fit their compressor to your L6. A few of them can still be found in junk yards... but I don't know of any that are still sold by the aftermarket suppliers. FWIW, Carl B.

If I told Mally02 how much money was spent on that paint job - he'd just die.:tapemouth It is however a thing of beauty and has been a joy for Ken I'm sure. Ken -you still owe me a set of washers. You can bring them to the convention in Cleveland. hope to see you there, kind regards, Carl B.

An additional note about 901. The original paint was mixed using a very fine silver metal flake. Most paint shops today do not carry that in stock. The silver metal flake in common use today is larger and mixed with some red or blue and sometimes both. It goes by different brand names like "fire mist"...If you want your 901 Silver to come as close to original as possible - be certain that the very fine silver metal flake is used. BTW - that is also true of the Metallic Silver on 1970 SS El Camino's FWIW, Carl B.

Some time ago - Jon Mortensen posted a link to Paul Richer's solution to the differential mount/nose strap. I copied Paul's instruction sheet - but deleted the old URL he had as it is no longer any good. I think this is a very elegant solution - easy to fabricate at home and it does the trick. I would think that Paul's approach would be fine for most L6 powered Classic Z's. I should think that for a Z running less than 225HP - one could use even thinner steel stock to work with. Good thing the image of the information sheet was captured, rather than just the original URL.. FWIW, Carl B.

I put the Super Cooler II in , without removing the dash. You do have to remove the center finisher, with the old heater/vent control panel. No modifications needed to the car - just build a couple brackets to bolt to the existing nuts in the firewall. The entire process is far easier than installing the old dealer installed units.. FWIW, Carl B.

HI Mike: Maybe not - given the number of DATSUN dealers in Alabama at the time, and the total number in the US... if Nissan sent one Z to each of their Dealers it would have taken at least a thousand cars.. and I'm certain that the West Cost got many many more Z's than one per dealer in the first few months.. So take a thousand cars and mix them up without regard to VIN.. and yes it would be easy for 999 being the first one to arrive in Alabama... But then every Dealer could have thought that they got the first one into their States. The first 240-Z into Valley Datsun in Spokane was 1777, and that was the first one I ever saw.. FWIW, Carl B.

Order one of their mockup's and see... I have the Vintage Air Super Cooler in my Z - it's smaller than the original heater/AC set up.. FWIW, Carl B.

901 was a Metallic Silver right from the begining on the top surface of the cars. The paint used inside the car, and under the hood did not contain the metal flake and it was not clear coated. When metal flakes were added to the acrylic enamels in 70-73, they had to be clear coated to cover any metal flakes sticking up above the surface or skim coat of the enamel.. FWIW, Carl B.

Interesting - As I recall - Brian reported to John Ursel, that he sold the company in 1980 and the subsequent owns went chapter 11 in 81. That is why he had kept no company records personally - they were all left in the company files when he left. Is that all BS by Brian? Do you suppose Royce Bateman might have an insight? FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Craig: Good to see you here. I for one do not believe I yelled FAKE {although I might have warned against buying a FAKE}. I appreciate the fact that you have spent a great amount of time tracking down authentic Scarab's built by Brian. I am sure you are a storehouse of detailed knowledge about this subject. I am also sure you know far more about the Scarab's than me. On-the-other-hand - I'm no babe in the woods on the subject of buying/selling Collector or Collectible cars. I've lost far more money than most paying my dues... I have also tried to at least follow the various reports of Scarabs, and published publicly whatever information was contributed (mostly by Bruce Bladon} on the Z Car Home Page and in many discussions on the old Z Car List. I have to say that there seems to be a lot of conflicting information, an all but total lack of standards followed by Scarab and very little documented facts. It seems that for the right price Brian would build whatever the customer was willing to pay for, on whatever platform they had. All of which makes it very hard to state definitively exactly what a Scarab is or was. If there is an issue here, I believe it works both ways; that is to say we shouldn't yell FAKE too soon, nor should we say a car has been "authenticated" when it's only our personal conclusion or opinion. I understand how you arrived at your conclusion that Brian put the same Scarab Build number on two cars. I also believe that any prospective buyer should give due weight to your researched and opinions. However I do not believe they should be lead to believe that the car has been "authenticated", and therefore will not be constantly questioned in the future. {especially when it has been so extensively modified and bears the same build number as a documented example} Nor do I believe that we have any obligation to the present owner - to help him sell the car at the highest price he can get. The seller bought the car without documentation, then highly modified it and now he wants to get top dollar for a "Scarab"? I don't blame him, but I don't have to support his quest. It's the potential buyers that come here for advice. I do believe that the best advice that can be given in situations like this to potential buyers, is to buy a car that is as original as possible to it's "as modified by Brian condition", and which is supported by a very good document trail. Lacking that, the value of any Collector or Collectible vehicle would be greatly reduced and far harder to resell in the Classic, Collectible and Special Interest market. I want to make it perfectly clear that I have no intention to cast any doubt on your research, nor your honest efforts to report the facts as you see them. I am simply doing the same from my perspective and experiences. Looking forward - do you plan on publishing your research related to these cars? I for one would be very interested to read it, and I'm sure it would be of great benefit to any potential future owners. FWIW, Carl B.

Sailor - you've left us hanging... how about some pictures of the things you were not happy about on this car - so far it looks like a great car... What shipping damage etc, or what were you disappointed about... We'd all like to know what specific things should have been pointed out by the seller.. thanks, Carl B.

Hi Ljbryan: It is too bad you didn't use the search function before you purchased a car, or at least read the information in the "E-bay" forum. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16183&page=2 You can read the Posts in that thread.. especally starting with the second page.. around Post #35 or so.. We'll hope that everything works out for you - FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Will: Your actions and comments along with several others here, were exactly what I would have expected from any person with an ounce of personal integrity and the nerve to stand up and protest the insulting behavior exhibited by surfsnake. I'm proud of you guys... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Mike: I'm dumbfounded... and because of that it is possible that I am driven to be irrational in this matter. The suggestion to ban surfsnake was a good one and in my only post to this thread at the time - I seconded that suggestion. IMHO you have deleted these two positive suggestions along with whatever you considered to be flames. I read the entire thread - and believe that we really don't need the company of people like surfsnake. His behavior is deplorable, it is only his intellect and vocabulary that prevent him from being "Bert2" If you want to keep him here for entertainment value - then you'll be constantly deleting references to his personal behavior, it is just to obnoxious for most of us to let pass without comment. FWIW, Carl B.

Oh... yes... da.. I forgot about that.. There is a Silver Stage II in "Import Automotive Parts and Accessory Magazine" as of Nov. 1978 as well. FWIW, Carl B.

Glliw - is that your 69 Cougar or your neighbor's? Has the Eliminator rear wing - is it an Eliminator? just wondering... Carl B.

Hi Carig: Good to see you join the group. I've been meaning to drop you, Larry, David and Trevor a note.. but just too many other things keep grabbing my time lately. Did you get #155 from Jorge Vera? He had it For Sale around 96. Did you ever get in touch with John Ursel? He reported finding Brian and talking to him around 1998, but I haven't heard from either one for quite some time. {the older e-mail address don't work any longer} How much information do you have on the STAGE II Scarab's?... were they the cars built after Brian sold the company and before it went Chapter 11? FWIW, Carl B.

This is what Jim Cooke did...

Yes - but you would never have lived as well. Carl

Because: That is one of the Toyota 2000GT's that Shelby America prepared and raced with Toyota Sponsorship. Peter Brock and BRE had a signed contract with Toyota for the competition development of the Toyota 2000GT in the USA. Toyota was supposed to ship cars, spare parts and money to BRE for competition in the US. When Mr. Shelby heard about it - He flew to Japan, meet with some officials at Toyota and told them that Peter Brock worked for him before - and since Shelby was a Toyota Distributor at the time - the cars should come to him. Of course at the time Shelby had the Cobra success fame going for his name as well. Shelby got the cars and BRE was left without a client.... Mr. Brock called a friend at Hino Motors in Japan, for whom BRE was designing and campaigning a race car in the US already. Mr Brock explained the Toyota situation to his friend - who happened to have gone to college with the President of Nissan Motors Ltd. One friend called another - and Nissan Motors Ltd. sent BRE some roadsters to campaign, along with the contracts and money. When BRE successfully campaigned the roadsters - beating all comers.. Mr. Brock was finally allowed to meet Mr. K. (having been blocked by the people in the Competition Dept. at Nissan Motors in USA prior to that). Mr. K then put BRE under contract to campaign the Datsun's for Nissan Motors USA's West Coast Division and the BRE DATSUN's were born... So if Shelby hadn't taken the Toyota contract away from BRE - we might all be driving Toyota's today. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Rif: Looks like a really nice Z. Because of the additional down force that the rear spoiler puts on car (75lbs of down force vs the stock 20 lbs of lift) - I'd recommend that you add the front BRE Spook to it. The nose of the 240-Z begins to lift at about 40mph - and by 70mph it has about 140 lbs of lift in front. Adding only the rear spoiler - pushes the rear down more - and thus forces the front even farther up (in effect adding more lift at the front were you don't need it ). The front Spook will generate 105 lbs of down force (115 lbs with no air ducts), which almost cancels the 140lbs of lift at 70mph. So with both the front and rear spoilers added - the Z is really much more stable at highway speeds. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Derek: Thanks for posting the info. It's interesting to know that the seams were actually leaking. FWIW, Carl B.

I don't know about Hot Rod Air - but Vintage Air offers several different types of vents. Your main problem is finding one that is the exact dimensions you need. Unless you are willing to make a custom center finisher.. FWIW, Carl B.