Johnny Danger

If I get a chance to check it out and the rust is surface or only through on small non structural spots (fender, door, hatch) what would you say a fair offer would be?

Good call. It looks like the picture just after it shows the other side and it's just getting totally washed out with the light. It's an hour away from me, but my weekend is kind of shot. If I go see it and rust is minimal, I might have to have it.

This one looks like fun, all of the same problems as the previous car, but probably more rust. But at least it's an S30. https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/d/1975-datsun-280z/6695505530.html

Thank you for that. I will do some digging. They have gone crazy in price. I remember seeing a Z on the road maybe 2 years ago. Looked on CL and what looked like decent examples were going to maybe 5k then. Suddenly they are all 10K plus cars. There are a couple of rough ones near me for 5K but I would have to buy knowing that a full teardown/rust repair/repaint was in the future for me. I could take my time in my garage, but still.

For some reason, that one went totally under the radar for me. Not in love with the color, but don't hate it. The problem I'm finding is that CL pictures are not high definition. You see about a million more wrong things as soon as you see something in person. Houston is not far. Would be a cheap flight if it could drive back.

Well, that was a bust. The car ran well enough and drove well enough. Manual steering was a bitch with the wider tires, but still. The bodywork issues were all stuff you could basically rip off by hand. Just fiberglass with a foam filler. No metal cut from the fenders. The factory air dam was actually underneath that fiberglass bumper on the front. However, they did a hell of a job welding over the holes for the original tail lights. I could see from the back where they left the stock tabs. So it would be possible to cut it back out, but definitely not fun. But the definite "nope" factor was the terrible, terrible paint job. It was originally red and you could see it peaking out of every seam. I could do a better paint job with a six pack in me. If it had been black rattle can on top of factory black, that would have been better. Or maybe on a more valuable car (like a 280z) I might have looked past it. Also, the master cylinder was definitely leaking at the brake booster, which probably means into the brake booster, which means you'll most likely have to replace both. Not the end of the world but definitely not helping the car's case. Overall, it was a solid enough car. No real rust issues I could see. I found just a touch of water in the back and it's been raining off and on like all month here, so it must be sitting outside. So this brings me to my next point. I was initially looking at the ZX cars because they seem to be cheaper than the S30 cars out there, but now I wonder if it wouldn't be better to look at "runner" S30 cars. The quick dig I did for parts on the ZX kind of showed me that I could get just about anything and everything for a Z car, but not so much the ZX. Would it be possible to find something like a 280Z without rust in running condition for $5K or is that just insanity? I've got time. I could keep my eyes open and maybe early next year fly out and drive one back to Texas.

Yes. The '83 in really rough shape I look at was sitting outside and it has been raining a lot lately. I lifted the mat and immediately saw water sitting in the floor and in that spot. No bueno.

Again, I do appreciate everyone's input. And again, you don't get a name like this by making good decisions. But on a serious note, when I go to check this thing out, where should I look extra hard for hidden rust issues. I know the floorboards and frame rails are the big ones, but you mentioned the spare tire area. Am I mainly looking underneath the rear mat/carpet or am I also looking for rust underneath in that area? Thanks!

I definitely agree that the silver car is the smart choice here. But it also does not excite me at all. Like I almost dislike it. If it were black or red or blue, I could get excited. The black car has some things I need to get a closer look at, but it honestly speaks to me more. As long as the fenders aren't flying off I can drive it as is. I have a contact for body work that can match paint really well. The cost of fixing that would probably be as much as or a little more than just the a/c work done on the black Z. Yeah, the tail lights sten't sexy, but I can deal with that and I also have freedom to try other things. I guess I'm on track to get banished to the HybridZ forum? EDIT: This is all presuming I don't find rust damage on the black car.

This is the other car he's selling: https://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/cto/d/datsun-280z-1977/6690732269.html Just a touch outside of my budget. Seems like a nice enough guy in the correspondence we've had. He obviously digs cars.

While I meant the questioning of his trustworthiness in jest, you make a good point. His ranking actually outranks the combined ranking of the three no votes. ?

First off, I really appreciate everyone's input. It's good to have experienced eyes on this stuff, even if I go on to make my own foolish decisions. Ok, so far in this thread, it's a 3 to 1 vote against the modded 1980. I guess siteunseen is not to be trusted? Or maybe his user name is how he buys his cars and he has a more cavalier attitude? I'm at least going to go check it out at this point. Take a good hard look at the fenders. Also, yes the clean silver car looks clean, but there is not much in the way of interior shots, the dash is probably cracked, one of the seats has a cover, no good shot of the driver seat. And when I asked for mileage and whether or not any recent work had been done, all I got was a mileage number and "It runs and drives." I kind of wonder if the guy actually wants to sell the car. So while the paint and body seem spot on, almost everything else is an unknown. That and I really don't necessarily want T-tops. The black car is majorly sketchy on body work, but that may actually matter less to me at this point than the recent mechanical work and knowing the major things are already taken care of. New A/C components and refrigerant conversion is a huge chunk of money I know I wouldn't have to spend. But what might be the nail in the coffin on that deal is that early on the seller said the brakes needed to be bled. I asked him if there was a specific point that he remembers the brakes having issues. And he says that he "let the brake fluid get too low" which caused air to get in the lines. But man, that sure as hell sounds like a brake fluid leak to me. I would also need to get a really good look at all of the calipers and the master cylinder to inspect for leaks. At that point, he'd have to come down more on the price. He actually started at $6K going back to old FB marketplace posts. Further to my conversation with JSM yesterday, I kind of wonder how the market in Florida is compared to here. If you can find me a clean 82 or 83 for $4k in Florida, I'll fly out and pick one up. I've got plenty of airline points.

Yep. No go on that offer for the silver. Said I'd be in touch if it was available later. I'll probably go check this black '80 out and see about the fenders. The condition of those and the presence of the aftermarket seats are the only two negatives that really stick out to me at the moment. Well, the fuzzy dash as well, but that's not hard/expensive to rectify. I can work/deal/live with the tail lights. Really digging it not having t tops and having the updated a/c along with the other new parts. Clean stock body is apparently not high on my list. Who knew?

Yeah, I just want to make sure I'm not missing a good deal. Plus, I kind of dig it. https://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/cto/d/zx/6675657745.html This is the silver car I was talking about. Established contact to ask if the price was negotiable. Said I had 4k if he was interested. Then silence. He's either mulling it over or he just gave the real middle finger to the phone and decided to skip the virtual equivalent.

Hey, you don't get a name like this by making good decisions.

For sure, I'm kind of hoping they're bolt on style flares that someone thought it would be a great idea to bondo over. That would be easier to rectify, but I'm actually digging the lines of the fender flares. I also kind of like the non T-top as several less potential leak points. You've inspired me, though. I found a clean silver '83 for 5300. I'm going to text a $4k offer and see how many middle finger emojis I get back.

Ok, I don't think 1500 is a fair price at all given the (presumed) mechanical soundness. From what I can tell people are basically selling parts cars for that much money. Every really clean stocker I have seen is basically 6k minimum. Do you think I should just ring them up and see if they'll take 4k? I could always give it a shot, but I don't think it would go over well. At this point, the tail lights are the only thing holding me back. I didn't realize how expensive stock tail lights were. I could probably roll with round lights for now, but might look into going to halogen lights.

Yeah, the tail lights stick out for sure. I'm more worried that they are some expensive LED kit. I'm really a halogen kind of guy. I will have to look and see how easy it would be to convert back to stock. It also has HID's up front. I could take or leave those. They'd be converted right back to stock as soon as one of them had an issue. I guess I have to weigh the deal vs. paying what seems to be 6k+ for a clean stock version. Also, the upgraded A/C is kind of a huge point in it's favor. This is Texas.

Yeah, the wiki page says power recirculating ball or manual R&P. 1981 Turbos got Power R&P and then it went standard for all 82-83 models. Honestly, it might not matter. If it were power recirculating ball, I'd probably just rock it for a while and then toy with a manual R&P conversion.

New here, so this may be a total faux pas if the owner happens to be a member here. Apologies in advance. So there is this '80 on CL. For the most part, it looks like it's been taken care of mechanically, but I'm thinking the bodywork might be hurting the value. Looks to be a kit that would be fairly involved to remove and go back to stock. I might not care. It might just stay that way. I'm not looking for a show car. Aftermarket seats would be easy to replace, but not necessary. The only other thing I could think of is that year had either manual R&B or power recirculating ball steering. Again, this might not be a massive point. Just looking for a fun driver to use and reduce miles on my expensive-ish new-ish family car. https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/d/datsun-280zx/6687929817.html Also, it looks like the owner replaced a few parts, but the fuel pump, ignition, starter, alternator, etc. kind of makes me wonder if they were chasing a problem and whether or not they totally got it sorted.

He, yes, I did just look at that ad! It is 1) a bit of a ways away and 2) a bit more than I want to spend. I guess I should specify what I mean by clean. Really just looking for a complete, good runner with fair interior and a straight body with no rust damage. Paint doesn't have to be perfect. I've got a little bit set aside, but will probably have about 5K to spend in a month or two.

I've been around cars and motorcycles since I was 16-ish (Geez, making that about 20 years now). Had an old mustang in HS. Learned a lot on that. Discovered Japanese motorcycles and ditched the mustang. Did motorcycles only for about a decade. Later on I picked up a BMW X3 as a family man. Loved the car, didn't love the day I found out it would need the head replaced. Got a nice Mazda CX-5 which is dead reliable, but pretty meek overall.So now here I am looking for a fun car for not too much money that can keep me from piling on the miles on the Mazda. I bounced around a couple of ideas and thought I was headed in one direction. But then I remembered Z cars. I know the 280ZX is the "dog" of the early series, but I love it anyway and they seem to be a great deal because they aren't as sought after.I was kind of on the fence and then I went and looked at one. Man, it was trashed. Missing lots of interior bits, what was there was scuffed or cracked, rust through the rear floorboard (this was a 2+2), couple of rust holes in the hood, power steering wasn't up to par, didn't even bother to test the a/c, but MAN was it fun the whole 2 minutes I drove it at slow speed around the neighborhood. Kind of have to have one now.I was born in '82 (b-day is in a couple of days actually) so it would be cool to find a nice 82. But otherwise, just putting aside some cash and trying to find something clean 5 speed in the DFW area. Not quite daily driver, but driver status with the occasional downtime to fix issues.How prone are these to rust damage? They seem almost as bad or worse as the 60's and 70's American cars I looked at. Are the turbos problematic? Any other known issues to watch out for?