v12horse

By the way, how is your car coming along Proxlamus? When will it be out of the shop? It looks as good as new from the pictures that you posted on the headlight cover thread. Ben

Hello, Like everyone has said, it is your choice and your Z. As far as color, I like gunmetal. Like I said, it is completely personal, but in my opinion, the polished wheels look good, as mine are polished. However if you want a less shiney and more Japanese look to your car, gunmetal always looks good, especially with red. Here is a pic of Guus's car with gunmetel iron cross wheels if you had not seen it before. I am sure that if you choose to polish the wheels or paint them gunmetal it will look good either way. I would do without the black accents, but that is just me. It may suit your car since you have more black in various places. http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3890&password=&sort=7&thecat=998 Take care, Ben:classic:

Don't give up Victor, we are all hoping that it comes back to you. But, I can see how you feel with little hope of seeing your baby coming back. Your car and the color of your car is very unique and there are a lot of us who will be looking out for your car even if they did not respond to this forum(all over the globe). So, hopefully it will be spotted or found, but don't give up hope. I don't think many people would steal a Z to take to a chop shop and if they sell the car as is, someone is bound to spot it. I hope I am not giving off false hope, just cheering you on. -Ben

Hello Victor, I wish we were talking about a better note. This is a horrible mess to be in. I will keep my eyes peeled up here and if I see anything I will definately pm you. This is horrible. I just hope that if and when you find it that it was not abused and that the people that stole it just took it for a joyride. Good luck on your search. -Ben

That sounds pretty awesome Alfa. 14 X 9's, that is some wide Wat's. What size are you putting up front? Some one told me tht you have to have the Watanabe lugnuts in order for the wheels to fit. From what you said it sounds true. Is it? Your car is going to look great. I can't wait to see pics. Ben

Those are nice looking bodies. I have seen a lot of the 240zg bodies on ebay, but I forgot how much they went for. When I was younger I had a tamiya 1/10 scale BMW rc car. That was a lot of fun. Ben

Invert the sad face Ben. Your car is nothing but beautiful and the superlites look great too.:classic: Here in the states I have never seen or heard of superlites. Where abouts are they made? Ben

More and more people are getting Watanabe's for their cars. I love it. Hey Alfa, how is your GTR replica coming along? If I remember correctly, you have the Watanabe's for the front, but not the rear. You will have to post pics of her. Nice find kytyler. I hope it works out well for you. Take care everyone, Ben

Hello Alan, My car has the more modern inertia real system, for me it is fine, but when my girlfriend puts the seat all the way forward the shoulder belt restricts her. When I say it restricts her I mean she cannot not move around at all. She would be lucky if she could move her upper body forward a few centimeters(She is quite petiite too). I am almost positive that my seatbelt mechanism is in perfect running order, if that had anything to do with the strap running short. I have nothing to compare to, but considering that the majority of the Americans driving these export Z's are going to be taller than 5'2" it would make sense economically to save on the material and not make a really long shoulder belt for the inertia wheel. On the other hand, many of the people in Japan would benifit from the longer shoulder strap because more people there are shorter. Maybe there was a longer shoulder strap for the inertia wheels there. I am not an expert on this, and as I said I have nothing to compare to either. Did the home market cars even get inertia wheel seat belt mechanisms? If so what year and were the shoulder straps longer than the export straps? What year was the inertia wheel seat belt implemented on the export cars? I hope I am not overwhelming people with these questions, but just something that I have been thinking about. Thanks Alan for the information you provided. It is always a help. Regards, Ben

You gotta love the license plate on the racing stripe Z. How cool is that? WRC(world rally championship), I would think some subaru or lancer guy would take the license plate number up it a heartbeat. -Ben

Thanks for the info Carl. We should get together some time and talk Z's. Your town is only 5 minutes away from me. Anyways, take care. -Ben

Awe shucks. Oh well, if you ever see a set at a decent price, pm me. They are not that high on my priority list, but I think they are cool looking. I don't need the harnesses either, just the lenses(only the amber ones). Cheers, Ben

I am a big time collector of roughly anything Ztoy. Here is a pic of some of my models. I have not put them together yet. Eventually I will, but for now the boxes look pretty in my cabnet. You guys have some nice collections and good modeling skills. P.S. Some of these models are not that hard to find. Every now and then I see them on ebay and they go for reasonable prices too. Regards, Ben

As far as the judging goes, it really depends on the competition(if this is at a Z show, or any show) and who the judges are(spectators or judges). As mentioned before, they are looking for originality mostly. My car is not in perfect shape or even great shape by any means, but because it is almost 100% original I won at that show. Another factor was that there was not that many 260z's, but there were a few comparable to mine. I have seen some Z's restored to original condition, but they had some not as original looking reproduction parts. Those can be a no no. I try to find really good reproduced parts or originals. I think it would be so hard to do a concours car because the paint and protecting coats all have to be original. I don't know where you would find that stuff, but I haven't looked either. Good luck on the resto's mdbrandy. Bambikiller, you said that no 240's came with factory ac. Do you know if this is true for the 260? I have heard that the 260 was the first year with factory ac, but I am not certain. Thanks, Ben

I am very curious about this myself because my center console is in near perfect shape, but the previous owner(my dad) installed an aftermarket stereo, and I would like to put the orginal back in. Unfortunately, ther is a small hole where the antenna switch is. If I do the swap, the hole must be filled. Yes, please. Any thoughts on this subject would be great. C'mon, for sake of Djacey and I; i am pouting over here. Someone must have done this before. If not, where can I get a cheap and perfect center console for a 260z with manual trans. P.S. The old Hitachi is begging to be reunited once again. It is sitted in an unwelcoming Alpine box in my garage as we speak. P.P.S. Forgive me for the dust that plagues the nooks and crannies. Thanks, Ben

That's correct. -Cheers

This is and was quite a popular thread. I finished reading it yesterday. Quite a bit of info on this one. Great stuff though. Real quick on the hand break(known as the emergency break here). I have never driven a RHD(would love to drive and own one though) so I don't have anything to compare, but the hand brake has never got in my way. You already knew that one. This is off topic, but is an item about interior ergonomics that I have been wondering about for quite some time, but never brought it up. My girlfriend is 5'2" and she doesn't have a problem as much with the seat moving forward enough, but it is the seatbelt that gets here. She is quite small, probably similiar to the build of an average Japanese women. When she puts the drivers seat all the way forward she has a really hard time turning her body around to look behind her because the seatbelt is straining her from moving. Are the seatbelts longer on other import Z's or on the home market Z's or is something just funny about my seatbelt? Take care, Ben

I know what you guys mean about the whole anti-old Z thingie with other people. Many of my friends just don't understand what I see in the old Z's. They say,"well, the old Z is cool, but you like the new one better, right Ben?." I give them the very serious, "uhhh, no." They just don't get it. They think that I am in love with this aweful looking woman, yet I think they are the ones that are wrong because she is the sexiest of them all. Why are cars always referred to as one of the opposite sex??? Oh well. Anyways, the point at hand is that one of my friends dad's who is a major car buff was ecstatic when he found out that I got the Z. I let him drive it, and in that moment it seemed as if it was 1974 again because he had the Z going 85 mph in third and the mile wide smerk on his face was priceless. Not something I have done, but it is one of the highlights I have had with the car. The car buff said that in 1974 he wanted to get a Z, but they were a little out of his price range at the time, so he bought a bright green X1-9. He loved that car. I know how you guys feel about the whole thing with old Z's and the criticism it gets from "car enthusiasts." Those people should realize that the Z paved the road for sports cars to come, especially for all the Japanese sports cars now because without the influence of the Z, being the first affordable GT sports car for the country, the newer cars may not have existed. This could start many new topics, like, people should know their history? Oh well, keep up the great posts. Regards, Ben

The functioning for the US spec Z lights are the same way. At least for my 260z. Regards, Ben