Gav240z

To quote a friend of mine "As you know photos can hide a lot of $^!#". Yes the car looks to align in the photos provided, however it's all relative to the angle of the shot, quality of the photo etc.. I agree it all depends on what the OP wants out of the vehicle, however if the car is to be daily driven and does have serious frame rust issues how safe will it be in a crash? 240z's are not very safe to start with, let alone a 40 year + rotten frame in an accident. In my opinion if you sand blast those frame rails it will be a 'heart stopping moment'. You either have solid metal or lots of holes. The problem with buying such a vehicle is that once you start taking it apart to fix something like that, it becomes a slippery slope to full restoration. I'm the last person to deter someone from restoring an S30z especially an Early S30z which are hands down my favorites. I just want them to know what they are possibly getting themselves into. Spending $60K on a full restored 240z may start to look cheap in comparison... Given the location of the OP there is still plenty of cars to choose from, if this car were in Australia at that price - well I'd jump on it regardless, but the OP may be better off waiting and spending a little more on say a car in the 15-25k range which would better suit their needs and be a better starting point. I agree 100% though, find a reputable restoration shop to inspect it before committing 100% to it. If in doubt. You can always put a deposit down pending outcome of the inspection. Out of curiosity what is the chassis # on this car? If you want to play low vin bingo - well that's another kettle of fish. Good luck.

I can't believe everyone is telling you to just buy it. Yes it's rare, yes values are going up, but I'd only buy it with the expectation of replacing both front rails (which is worst case scenario) also the front radiator support not being early type indicates it's had a front end smash (in my opinion). I very nearly bought a Safari Gold 71 240z that was on eBay in Florida a couple of weeks back, but it looked like it had a hard smash at the front and I decided to pull out of dealing with the seller (who was a dishonest crook as far as I was concerned anyway - god damn real estate agents). There is a few placed that make replacement frame rails, in Australia we have a guy in South Australia that makes them on and off. I'm sure someone on your end of the world does similar. Here is a good restoration shop in Oz. (He's currently restoring HS30 00019 which was far from good). https://www.facebook.com/CustomAndClassicCars/photos_stream As you can see from this photo...Anything can be repaired. (HS30 00039) below. The real question is, do you want to go that far on this car? Yes $6k seems cheap, but you may find another early car in better shape for around $15-$20k and that car will cost far less in the long run than something that needs the front frame rails repaired. It seems to me that everyone is telling you to buy with your heart not your head. I know that's sometimes the fun of it, but you don't want to buy a bent banana. I actually think this car is a good buy. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5104136289.html Even if it has rust in the common spots, white and blue combo is super rare.....Make no mistake it will need full rust work but it's complete from the look of it. I would approach both cars as if they need full restoration... Good luck. PS: 905 Red is a great colour. But we all know 920 is the best hahahahahaahah.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-Datsun-Z-Series-/161450420245 HLS300182 and it sold for US $11,100.00

, yeah I recall coming out of pubs and having friends want a ride home (I wasn't drunk) and a couple of girls trying to squeeze into the 1 passenger seat. Always made me nervous someone was going to snap the choke knob or break the center console by sitting on it. Non car people just don't understand. "Sure you can give me a lift I'm only up the road c'mon"..

I always laugh at "California Car" used as a selling point. Here in Australia we don't salt our roads and have plenty of sun, yet most of our S30z's are pretty rotten after 40+ years. The ones still around have all had some kind of repair work done in terms of rust at some point. It still rains in California and when it does quite heavily....At least the times I've been it has been torrential flooding...

They are not that bad surely? Especially if working on it yourself. They are quite reliable as far as I've heard. A friend recently got 1 (non turbo) and I can't see it being anymore expensive than my Mazda RX-7 (FD) which some say stands for 'financial destruction'.

HLS30 00187 or something like that sold around 10K in a similar state. Definitely worth restoring as in a few years early S30z's will be red hot in terms of value, I predict.

Likely it was imported and used many years ago and then someone lost interest and let it sit there. Not uncommon to see cars sitting outside in Japan like this.

You can only hope they are relatively rot free... Somehow I doubt it though.

Agree it's a shame, but that car will go toward saving many early S30z's in Japan. Early S30z's in Japan are very very rare now. I see a lot more later S31's (often back-dated to look earlier). Cars with the vents in the hatch are extremely rare and look to be very sought after. These parts will likely find a home in a car being restored. The only real positive outcome. If it makes you feel any better HS30-00982 was recently found in original(ish) shape and is in good hands now. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,16103.msg170257 It's extremely rare for the AU market to have white exterior / blue interior combo. So take the good with the bad...

Sent you a PM with my mobile. I'm busy tonight but I'll see if anyone else is able to meet up.

Definitely being parted out now.. http://page18.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w121221222

Just made a post for you on the local forum. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,16096.0.html What date do you arrive? (Since timezones change when flying ). I see you were in Fiji so perhaps you're already accustomed to our timezone. By the way where are you going? Stop over in Sydney?

I don't suppose you got a peek at the chassis number? Wonder if it was HS30 prefix? Should be with steering wheel on that side. I wonder if it was originally an AU / NZ car. Don't think they sold S30z's in Fiji new. *Edit* Actually at a guess that's an RS30 or later S31 chassis car (looking at rear shock towers).

I imagine that these cars are pretty badly rusted, on a small Island like Fiji. If anything I'd say Fiji owners would probably want parts from Australia to help with restoration. Those Kingswood's are getting rare now, but not nearly valuable enough to ship from Fiji in that state. You must be on a World Tour.

Might be a bit late for some people, but feel free to post on Viczcar.com. Where in Sydney are you going to be staying, near the AirPort?

Yep that's me, I had seen a rally clock go for that much without oscillator before so I was surprised it went that cheap. However I hope you can find an oscillator because they are basically a paper weight without it. I've got 2 Rally Clocks but they cost me a fortune to refurbish. Luckily the auctions I won both had oscillators attached. I wouldn't say it's all the people in Oz, just me who's obsessed. haha.

Thanks that's helpful. On my OEM trim pieces someone has added something to the tip of the center pin as can be seen in these photos. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what it is? The white stuff?

I don't think it's being parted out, it's listed at $15K AUD for the complete car. As we now early cars have appeal and I doubt it's going to get broken up. *edit link to auction. http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u78513713

Shhhh don't tell them their S30z's are cheap.... Or you'll ruin it for the rest of us!

Thanks Randy, Can you confirm the center stalk is long enough to get the retainer / push ring onto? I agree the outer 2 should be enough to attach the trim to the lens, what is probably the bigger issue is that the longer center pin is used to help hold the lens and housing together, in the event that the glue fails (for whatever reason that might be). If it's not long enough I'll need to come up with another solution, perhaps some kind of plastic glue or adhesive would be suitable to extend the middle pin?

Hi bartsscooterservice, Did you have any issues with the center post as mentioned by Dr.240z earlier? Was it the correct length?

@Randalla - can you advise if this issue with the center post length has been changed since Dr.240z purchased his units? If I'm going to organise a group buy I want to make sure they are exactly what they say on the tin.

I'm going to put this link here so others know what you're talking about in future. http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/48126-240z-tail-light-refurbishment/

In the beginning I tried really hard to preserve the patina on my car (HS30 00150) but I found it was too difficult to do that if I was to repair it properly... I've already started polishing the tail lights up, so it makes sense to go with new chrome trims also. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,16057.0.html