26th-Z

That Countach belonged to a freind of mine at the time. He actually finished a real Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash the year that Rick Cline and Jack May set the record at 35 hours 53 minutes. He drove a Lotus Esprit which suffered an engine fire in Arizona. Terry met a guy in LA named Detlof Claudius who was putting Buick small block aluminum V8s in the Esprit. He left the car out there and I flew out several months later to drive the car home. True story. I remember picking up a newspaper in Texas to see that the Skyway Bridge had collapsed. Terry is in the movie standing around at the pre-race driver's meeting. The Cannonball Run movie is somewhat documentary. With liberal Hollywood interpretation, many of the events in the movie actually occured. Actors were substituted to protect the guilty! Brock Yates wrote a book about the Cannonball. It was quite the event and full of controversy at the time. The first "Cannonball" was Yates and Dan Gurney in a Kirk White Ferrari 365GTB. As I recall, there was a Camero with gas tanks filling the back seat with the strategy of driving straight through on one tank of gas. The ambulance actually happened. The car in the swimming pool actually happened. In the opening scenes, Burt Reynolds drives up to John Paul's shop in Georgia. I contend "Cannonball Run" is part of motor racing history. If you like the movie, get Yate's book.

I'm blaming the whole thing on Carl Beck. Honest. He told me to do it ! ! ! I like the response "It fits me like my favorite clothes". Right on. One restores any car because they like it and they like to work on cars. As simple as that. I like to work on cars. Her Majesty fell into my lap many years ago and I like her. She's interesting, easy to work on, and a unique example of a famous car. I'm very proud of her. Princess 27th fell into my lap on eBay last year. The electrons must have been in alignment and my monitor directed me to a unique opportunity in Delaware. I just followed the fates. I don't know...you do one car...you do two cars...la-de-da. Matt, please extend my greetings to your dad for doing what he is with you. You will treasure these moments. Enjoy the ride. A couple of other comments: the stock L24 is not slow. Everyone knows that. The 240Z is a Japanese import sports car, not American. At the time, it competed in the American sports car market with cars from Jaguar, Porsche, Triumph, Fiat and Opel. Someone said something about crashing one and fixing up another. You may not survive the crash. S30 body shells are NOT safe by today's standards. Keep that in mind when you are out hot rodding around. Furthermore, crashing is a violation of rule # 1 and immediately puts you in the poor driver category and subjects you to public ridicule! :knockedou Hanging out with you freaks has actually been a fun part of my restoration experience. When I started, I didn't realize how big a deal this is and how many people are restoring Zs. This Z thing has been fun. 26th is scheduled to return home next week. All the welding work is done and she is getting her final de-rust dip this week. A huge hurdle is passed and I'm well on my way to $35,000. She's going to look much better.

We have sports car rental places here in Sarasota. I could go down the street and rent a Ferrari by the hour. There is a place renting Harleys by the hour. Good idea, but I think I should exert some prudence and play one of my "cheapskate" cards. I did sign up for the historic Watkins Glen track tour. Perhaps I'll go down to the Nissan dealer in Syracuse and ask for a test drive.

Do any of you guys up there in NY know where I can rent a 350Z for the week? I would like to do the track day.

Terry, Most rotisseries are built to hold a car much heavier than a Z. We have discussed this several times. Do a rotisserie search. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5039&highlight=rotisserie I can lift the front end easily. The back is a little hard to find a place to grab and lift, but I would say two guys - perhaps three - can easily lift an S30 shell.

Three point seat belts with shoulder straps were standard on all models from day one. The early early belts had black buckles and the top was a lift release like ariline buckles. The later series one belt buckles were push button release with a Z logo in the middle. The chrome hardware for the two varieties differs in shape and size as well. In both cases, the shoulder strap clips on to the lap belt as Mike indicated. Can't seem to find a picture of the early belts. Here are the later style non-retracting belts.

I don't have a clue, Dan.

Rounded chrome piece? Look like this? Original coat hook.

Oh, cool! Show and tell. This is one of my all time favorites. Get this if you ever see it. The whole thing is Z car.

Hey Ken, your hanger isn't angled back properly according to the manual! I love this conversation. Everyone is right-on correct to the best of my knowledge. The screw that holds the seat belt hanger is chrome and about the same size as Dan described previously. Is there a big demand for the washers? I have a few laying around and they could be made without too much trouble. Just so everyones knows, my cars are not this way at all. I don't have the washer or the screw, my coat hooks are chrome knobs and the belt hook screws to my seats. When the seats came with retract mechanisms, the belt hooks were moved to the side of the car.

I have the third one and you are right Alfa, I'm gonna go broke! Yes, they are written in Japanese, Gav. I need to figure out how to just get a subscription.

Mike, Is that the tab on the window frame you have? That's the tab for the screw. There are frames without those tabs and no screw or clear washer either. The interior trim warps and doesn't fit well without the screw and I believe the feature was added to the cars early on. My cars don't have clear washers. The other picture is the seat mounted hook. It is very small. The link is to Kat's site

http://www.geocities.jp/datsunz903/washer.html The seat belt "clip" hanger comes in two varities. The one mounted on the lower hole, Mike, is 1-1/2" long and solid black plastic. The clips also screwed to the side of the seat and they are half the size and plastic covered metal. I need three of them. (revised) correctomundo! If your quarter window frames have the little tab and there is a hole in the interior panel, then you need the clear washer and the screw.

I call it anthracite. The grey / gray color of the hubcaps, rear valance, and front grill. It is a lacquer paint and has a dull finish. Anthracite is the color of my license plate light. It is painted over black plastic. Now...you didn't ask me about no stink'n gasket. I'll have to go back and check.

I have one new in the box, Joseph. I'll go out to the shop and report back.

I didn't realize 952nd had been listed before. You say it went unsold at $20,000? Cool!!! The blue one looks real sweet too. Just thought I would sit back and watch the show and see what these babes sell for.

A couple of interesting cars to watch on eBay this week: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4561759778&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT and http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4561683958&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

Its looking real good Zsaint! The blue babe will look real pretty.

Thanks Kats! Good to hear from you!

Its questions like these that always throw me for a loop. I go scrambling off to my shop to have a look. But the shop is a good twenty minutes away. Looking through some of my literature though, page 70 of Brian Long's "Fairlady to 280Z" shows a pair of hooks on the rear. In addition, the pictures in "Fairlady - vol.1", Neko Publishing, show two rear hooks on the 1969 S30S, 1971 S30, 1971 HS30 and HS30S, and the 1971 HS30H. Unfortunately, none of the pictures are clear enough to see the hook in the right front. All the pictures of the rear hooks show them facing inward. Finally, my disclaimer, none of these pictures are HLS30 American export cars. So for what its worth....

Hey there CDavid !

Hi Mike! The ring on the left front frame rail is the towing ring for the car. The hooks, and it escapes me presently which one goes where, were shipping tie-downs - semigloss black with plated bolts. My chassis manual, page GI-11, Figure GI-11 says the tow ring has an "admittable load of less than 2,205 lbs. (1,000 kg)". I guess that means if it weighs more, don't admit it. It also says to avoid shock loads to it. I think the tie-down hooks go on the right front and left rear, but I am pretty sure there is only one on the back.

I don't know what they use, Dave. My experience so far has been a little retarded and I have been too busy to set up a rig like yours. I'm going to, though. What happened, was that between the time I took my car to the place and they dipped it, the business was sold and the new owners had trouble with the tanks. Evidently, the old owners ran the business into the ground which is why I waited more than six months to get the car dipped. The heaters for the stripping / cleaning tank broke down and 26th didn't come as clean as it should have. They had trouble with the electrolytic tank as well. Dale was asking me if I knew anything about rheostats and I'm guessing that they are having electrical issues. The car came clean enough to weld on and I elected to cut and patch while the guys get the tanks back in order. Then 26th gets dipped again after all the metal work is done. My recollection is that the surface dries to a white powdery finish and somewhat tacky. It protects the metal for about ten days. I'll ask more questions the next time I see those guys.

I think his asking prices are high.