26th-Z

I'll be there in the morning, Mike. Clark Stephens is on his way now with his white and red 280Z racer. I think Beck said he was going. I'll be around promoting the Florida Z Association. See you!

Here are a few more of my shots. Rob from the Suncoast Z Car Club took a slew of pictures and is putting a Cd together. A 280Z historic racer from the Central Florida club took a first in class. A lot of guys came out from the local Gainesville club and a couple of guys made the long treck up from the South Florida club and the Spacecoast club. Fastest time of the day was 50.19

Well, we had a good time! I just did something I have never done before. I rented a track, made up the registration, advertised, and with the help of my Florida Z Association friends, put on an autocross. We had 34 cars, no one got hurt, everyone had a blast, and aside from getting rained out in the afternoon and the whole thing turning to chaos at the end, things went pretty well. It hasn't rained in over two months - just my luck! The Florida Z Association is a group of guys from various clubs around Florida and we have organized to hold statewide Z events in the name of the Florida Special Olympics charity. We put on Z-Fest which will be in the fall this year. The driver training course in Gainesville is turning out to be a real nice track for us. This was our second event there. The track is a grouping of lanes and curves, circles and straights that can be configured into a nice half-mile road course and we ran cars for timed runs in two groups with a rolling start for a single lap timed run. I think group A got ten runs in and group B was in the middle of their eigth or nineth run when the clouds let loose. The 350Z Club of Tampa showed up in force as well as an equally large crowd of Z31s and Z32s, but it was the good old 240Z that took fastest time of the day! We hope to do this again soon.

Real nice article, Arne. Thanks.

Ok, ok, I was on my soap box when I saw that "matching numbers" thing. Carl hit the nail on the head. Don't get fooled by the eBay mumbo-jumbo. And as we have seen in past threads, the chassis numbers don't always match either! It does sound like it has some valuable parts, though. A 2400 valve cover is worth at least $100 these days.

What "lower engine cover"? Do you mean oil pan? Satin black with engine blue overspray. Do you mean timing chain cover? Natural aluminum with engine blue overspray.

Do you guys know what "matching numbers" means? Do you guys know what numbers to look for and where? Yea, the number on the dash matches the number on the shock tower. SO WHAT! Does that mean the car is matching numbers? NO! The automobile VIN number shown on the dash plate, shock tower plate, and (in our case American import) driver's door jamb plate, have to match the VIN stamped in the firewall. The engine serial number stamped on the shock tower plate has to match the serial number stamped on the engine block. That is "matching numbers". If you say that the engine is not the original engine, (for whatever reason you say that) then the car is not matching numbers. Whew!

Yes, 919 yellow. May I suggest that now that we know the real name Safari Gold, that we use it instead of mustard? I believe that the records Nissan kept of colors and production numbers have been destroyed. We will never know. Safari Gold is quite common around here. http://zhome.com/History/ZColorGallary/index.html

Hey! Nice thread! Yes, one can get infected with this "collection" disease. Carl pointed it out to me last night, in fact. I agree with him about the first two cars. Very nice early example 240Zs should be going in the $18 to $25 range. Have a look at the difference in photographic quality between the two cars. That's one reason for the wide difference in price. The car you guys are discussing now isn't worth more than $1500 IMO. Provided the rust is under control. The pictures are deceiving - no rear shots - and I would always recommend one looks at a car before purchasing it. (Although I didn't) Depending on what the restoration plan is, a full strip and "stock" rebuild will run in the $30k range for a car that will probably be worth it by the time it is finished. Not my taste in wheels either.

I don't get it. Original what? Bring your car back to stock? Those wheels aren't stock! They're "Slots".

Yea, the S130 wheels are much more "iron cross" than the "Black Pearl" wheels. I have heard them called that also. Whatever they are, they are pretty.

Just a few days remaining until The Florida Z Association – The Rights of Spring Autocross / Solo – April 22nd in Gainesville, Florida. Fifty cars are scheduled to take the track, a .65 mile driver training course – part of the NHRA Gainesville “Gatornationals” Raceway. The event is open to prepared and street machines; competing in four different Z classes for first in class and fastest time of the day. Come race with us! Tune your machine and driving skills with the best Z-cars and Z-drivers Florida has to offer. Registration is still open and you can read all about it as well as register on-line at the FZA website http://www.flza.com/fza/index.jsp I notice we have some non-Z cars registered by some of us whom we might refer to as “Z impaired”. That’s Ok! Mail-in registration is now closed, however the PDF information files (including a map) are still up at the web page of Her Majesty the 26th http://home.earthlink.net/~cwenzel/index.html We made the decision last night to not limit the event. If we get 53 cars or so, we can handle it. In other words, if you wait until the last minute and show up Saturday morning with $50, I won’t turn you away! How’s that!?!!! The gates open at 8:00 am for registration and the driver’s meeting will start around 9ish. Feel free to bring coolers, chairs, canopies, whatever makes you comfortable - sunscreen! Motel rooms around Gainesville are in very short supply, however we plan to gather at Bill Coffey’s Friday evening for a little tech and talk – 3862 NW 37th Street – if you can make it. It looks like some of the new FZA goodies will be available and I understand we will have event t-shirts! Someone asked if he could bring parts to sell / swap and I plan to load up a box myself! Sure! Come join the fun! Don’t want to race, but can’t miss the fun? Join us for the day of Z-car talk and discuss our plans for the upcoming 2006 ZCCA international convention in Dallas and the 2007 ZCCA convention. Hope to see you there! Questions? Write to Rights of Spring cwenzel@earthlink.net. Chris