Carl Beck

Is this some kind of secret?? I'm always interested in observations related to collectibe cars for sale. Carl B.

It sounds like you need to "network" in the old fashion way - get out in the physical world and meet some fellow car nuts... Go to as many local car shows or meets as possible in your area. Walk around and talk to the guys there with car - street rods, customs all the better. As them for recommendations for a shop that will paint your car, and one that has an owner that is good to work with... Take a note pad and write things down - - chances are you'll see one or two names pop up as "recommended shops".. be sure to get the names of the people giving the recommendations. The visit a couple of the recommended shops - and tell them who sent you. This does two important things. First it lets the shop owner know he has happy customers out there sending him more work: and second it reminds him that the quality of his work and his ability to work with his customers - is what is important to him... He's bound to keep that in mind when dealing with you too... BTW - My body shop used PPG DBU on my White 72 m with a couple coats of high quality clear- It was painted several years ago - and I've been very happy with the results.. I also agree that it is far better to stick with higher quality materials that your body shop likes to use.. "Higher Quality" does not mean insane retail prices either. When selecting the materials - it's important to let the body shop know how the car will be cared for in the future. One paint system might be far better than another if the car is going to be parked outside. Likewise other options might be selected if the car is going to be strictly a week-end pleasure driver and kept most of it's future life in the garage.. One important aspect of "Quality" has to to do with how well the product meets your needs. Paying for features or benefits that you won't need or use, is simply a waste. On the other hand, failing to to address your "real" needs is negligence you'll pay for again and again... FWIW, Carl B.

Stock is 15mm or 0.59 inch... FWIW Carl B.

Hi Dan: Would that happen to be an L20A, L24 Series Engine Manual? Carl B.

Better still - Post the engine serial number. It's on the side of the block, just below the #5/6 spark plugs... There are two pads cast in the block - and the engine serial number will be stamped into them...

Personally - I wouldn't trust any fracture in a cast iron part... far easier to replace it now... FWIW, Carl B.

I had outlined white letters on my metallic blue Z since the mid 70's. Goodyear GT's... I replaced them with blackwalls a couple of years ago - and the car hasn't looked right to me since. To my tastes the solid white letters are toooo much... to each his own, Carl B.

That is really funny.... I'd think that "painting" over them is the red neck part.... Carl B.

Hi E. My personal experience would differ from yours it seems. Perhaps it depends on who is painting the car and what materials they are using and of course their experience. I had a 1970 SS396 El Camino painted a metallic silver (original color).. The body man I used has had too many National Show Wining Cars to count -- and he panel painted the car. I owned it for 10 years and it looked as perfect at year 10 as it did on day 1. You can see it featured in several books about Chevell's and Chevy Trucks. It was painted with Diamount (sp?) I do agree that you let the body man do what he wants - - but on the other hand it is possible to pick a body man that knows how to panel paint a car; and that can orient the parts in the paint booth properly. Personally - I think the overall answer to the original question averages out to be around $5K for work that is at least OEM quality, done to a schedule that one can live with. (keeping in mind that the 240-Z's were not "perfect" to begin with). FWIW, Carl B.

Don't be fooled into thinking that just because an electric arc welder will run on "110" volts... that you can plug it in anywhere you have 110. That's not the case, you need 110 on a 30 Amp circuit, or you'll be blowing the circuit breakers... Most household outlets are on 15 or 20 Amp circuits... and it takes heavier wire and heavier outlets for 30 Amp service. IMHO the 220 volt set up's from Miller or Lincoln are the only way to go - and you can plan $600.00 to $800.00 by the time it's all said and done, when buying a new one. You need a really good helmet, gas supply and and other small tools... Make perfect sense to buy used - it saves sales taxes and shipping in addition to depreciation on the equipment. Just be sure you buy really good used equipment. Personally - I'd recommend buying a small portable gas welding set up FIRST. Far more useful to the average home mechanic, and they are only $200.00 to $250.00 when on sale.. Unless you are planning to do a lot of thin sheet metal welding - the arc welders aren't much good for anything else. FWIW, Carl B.

OK you guys - fill us all in please. I remember seeing that Z - was it on E-bay? or offered locally when someone else was looking?.... Give us the when, where, why, who, and how... I happen to like the white 240-Z's... Carl B.

Quote from Business Week, April 7, 1973: - Begin Quote - Puffing continuously on Kent cigarettes, a tast he acquired on a visit to the U.S. ten years ago, he describes himself as "just an element in the management of the company". But subordinates do not take such a casual view. Secretaries bow almost to the floor in his presence, uniformed showroom employees accord him a snappy salute, and even some Nissan directors cringe in his imposing, black suited presence. "Our President is like Henry Ford, a very strong man", says a Nissan employee. Kawamata delights in picking English names for Nissan's cars and takes credit for the Violet, Cedric, Bluebird and Fairlady models. The last one occurred to Kawamata after he had seen the Broadway musical, My Fair Lady. The Violet, he says, was picked because of its "esthetic character". He asks; "When you hear the name Violet, doesn't this create an image of loveliness?" Naming autos represents "my sentimental side", says a chucking Kawamata. But the names change when the cars go into the export market. Nissan's marketing experts fear that such effeminate names would never make it abroad. In the U.S. for example the Fairlady becomes the Datsun 240Z and the Bluebird becomes the Datsun 610. - end quote - FWIW, Carl B.

Your 74 260 has an R180 rear-end Your Parts car has an R200 rear-end The R200 is larger and has larger mounting bolts, so the holes in the mustache bar are larger. You order new rubbers for your 74 if you want to keep the R180.

What is surprising - is that a speciality company can't deal with old samples - an correct as necessary. Sounds like you need to find another supplier or two to check with. These parts are just too simple... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Art: My copy arrived today in Clearwater, FL 33764-6669 regards, Carl B. Carl Beck Clearwater, FL http://ZHome.com

Vin ?????

I have a lot of country music loaded on my iPod... it makes the highway miles fly by...."if you know what I mean"... Will - Can't Get No "SATISFACTION" - was written in Clearwater, FL ...although at the Fort Harrison Hotel....but a Holliday Inn Express is close... FWIW, Carl B.

Bidding ended at $50,100.00 Reserve not meet.. Should have been left in its original Camel Colors... FWIW, Carl B.

Yes - Kroil penetrating oil - Aero-Kroil in the spray can - would be the best. The problem is you have to order it on-line, then wait three of four days to get it. In my opinion - everyone that is working on 30+ year old cars - should order a couple cans of <a href=http://www.kanolabs.com/ TARGET=NEW> Aero-Kroil</a> before starting to work on the car. -yes, it is that good-. Use often, it saves a huge amount of time, that would otherwise be spent on drilling and taping broken bolts/striped nuts etc. PB-Blaster can be purchased at just about any auto parts store... It's a stop gap measure while waiting on the Kroil to arrive. OK: Put the longest box end wrench you have on the oil drain nut - hold the wrench firmly in place and hit the other end with a swift and firm smack from your heavy brass hammer. If it doesn't break loose on the first hit - you didn't hit it hard enough. Hit it again and this time like you mean it. The sudden application of dynamic torque is far less likely to strip the threads, than trying to use a more progressive application of static torque applied by a breaker bar. What's that you say? - you don't have large brass hammer either! Go To: <a href=http://www.mcmaster.com/ TARGET=NEW> McMaster-Carr</a> Enter Item Number: 5978A16 in the search box to the left. You should see: 3lb Brass Hammer with wooden handle $36.84 Now with these two essential tools in your garage, you are ready to work on old Z's. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Bob: When he was working on finalizing his book; Mr. Evanow went to the Nissan Storage Facility to see what Vintage Z's were still there. Because when he left Nissan's employ, he knew some of them had been retained by Nissan. There in the dimly lit environment, the dust and dirt covered cars were crammed in side by side. Four stock looking 240-Z's were setting together, so Mr. Evanow took the VIN's off them, believing them to all be Vintage Z's. As it turned out one of them was not. I know this because we were more or less constant communication during that period. The picture below was taken "after" the storage facility had been opened up and most of the stored vehicles had been rolled out of the way, but you can see the thick dust on a couple of the 240-Z's still sitting there. Look at the thick dust on the white Z! As mentioned, when Nissan was moving their H.Q. they decided to sell off many of the cars they had warehoused, so they opened the storage facility and as they cleared the cars and boxes etc out - blew the dust and dirt off the cars - they found that the car DougN has, was not a VZ. Just prior to that, even the people working at Nissan thought they had 4 VZ's that they were going to sell. Recall the initial note put out to the Z Car community via Paul G of the ZCCA? Anyway - that put the number down from 38 to 37. I had reported in error a friends VZ VIN... of course it did not show up on Mr. Evanows list. The car had the VZ Plaque, window decal and it looked the part in every physical sense. So Mr. Evanow may have thought the number was back at 38. In effect one taken off the list and one added. Oops.. my mistake! Upon verification it turned out the car I had reported, once the correct VIN was obtained - was in fact on Mr. Evanows list. So the number is back at 37. Toward the end of the Program - Nissan Press Releases and some of the Nissan employees interviewed by the media were saying that "about" or "something like" 40 cars had been completed. It is my present belief that they were simply rounding the number up - not really knowing what the final number would be and the number 40 stuck in everyone's mind. It just strikes me as odd that to-date, not one VZ has shown up - that isn't on Mr. Evanows list. Not that we haven't been trying to find more... FWIW, Carl B. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Chris: It may be years before we have a "final word". I really don't see an honest mistake, recognized and corrected as indicative of the entire list being less creditable. So no - I don't see a "double standard" of belief or disbelief being applied. Simply a matter of working to verify the cars on the only list that we have. At this point, at least 28 of the 37 remaining on the list, after DougN's Z was taken off - have been found to be correct. No VZ's have been found to date that are not on Mr. Evanow's list. Could one or two show up later? Sure... but until it does, 37 is the best number as far as I'm concerned and Mr. Evanow's list is the only one we have to work with and so far it's proven to be pretty accurate. If not perfect it is the best available evidence at this point. Is it the final word? Right now its the only word, from anyone directly involved, who made a serious effort to account for them all and publish the VIN's. Far more than 37 240-Z's were purchased by Nissan for the Program - but many of them were simply parted out, some were beyond reasonable repair, and some were left unfinished when the program came to an end. Mark at Datsun Alley purchased all remaining parts cars, body shells that were in several of the body shops used, as well as huge quantities of new parts accumulated for the program. A friend of mine just sold one of the bodies he had used for a race car, that he purchased from Datsun Alley, after the VZ Program came to an end. Mark said he thought he had about a dozen or more body shells / parts-cars, that he purchased from Nissan at the end of the VZ Program. Another friend of ours used one of the shells to restore one of his cars, then another was sold some years ago on E-Bay along with the spare parts needed to put a car together.. Perhaps some of the VIN's you have recorded were from some of the donor cars or body shells not used. You might want to publish them so we can all start looking for them as well. FWIW, Carl B.

Not as I recall. You start disassembly with the panel that has the overhead light, then do the quarter window panels, then the rear side panels, then take the rear finisher out. They do overlap.... if you look at them you can see what is on top of what... but without running out to the garage... I'm pretty sure you start at the front... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Randy: The Dark Green A/T is the only VZ we've found so far in that color. Carl B.

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None that I know of right now. I have one VZ owner that is "thinking about" selling his.... but so far no firm decision, nor a firm price. On the buyer side I have a list of four people waiting. Several have been either sold on E-Bay - or generated enough free advertising that they were pulled from the site and sold - or sold after the auctions ended... Watch E-Bay and Hemmings... FWIW, Carl B.