lonetreesteve

Kurt, Wow, that's remarkable! When you get around to restoring it, the original 918 Orange will look great!

I think a lot of us would like to find the first Z they ever owned. My first Z was a '72 240 that I bought between my freshman and sophomore years of college. I always wondered what happened to it. I looked through some of my old paperwork and tried to find the VIN, but had no luck. Unlike my very first car that I bought when I was a senior in high school - a '67 Pontiac GTO. I found its VIN and did a search on Google and to my surprise found it on "The Ultimate GTO" website. The new owner evidently bought it here in Denver in 1992, transported it back to his home in Indiana and restored the car. I only paid $1,000.00 for the car 30 years ago, who knows what it's worth now?

Baby Boom Generation- Born 1946 through 1964; Generation X- Born 1965 through 1982.

For those prices, why not buy both cars? You could take the 5-speed out of the 280 and put it into the 240, then sell or part-out the 280.

Your cars look great, Randy! I had the '72 out of the garage and on the driveway a little earlier this afternoon to let her run for a while (no license plates, so she's not street legal yet). It's 51 degrees and sunny here in the south metro Denver area, but there's a chance of snow in the forecast for tomorrow.

Oops, looks like I missed that, sorry.

Welcome and congratulations on buying a '69 production 240Z! Sounds like you have already read a couple of the threads about your car. Check out the #2 post by Zbane in the thread below that has a link to some pics of your car: http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28077&highlight=387

I think this is the third time in less than a year that this car has been up for auction on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-240z-first-year-first-500_W0QQitemZ260207748678QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260207748678

Looks pretty solid from the looks of the pictures. The seller is right- 240Zs, particularly on the East Coast, are hard to find in this virtually rust-free condition (and at a bargain basement price). Someone on the East Coast can buy this California Z for the price of shipping it from California!

One of our members that live in the NE should contact the seller and see what the minimum amount he would take to buy the car. Right now, this guy has to be desperate since the car needs to be out of there by Tuesday the 5th.

Looks like the seller re-listed them for a $450.00 starting price: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=002&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=120217118951&rd=1

#299 is in worse shape and it doesn't have a title (and I'm not sure if this one has one either). I'll be interested to see what the actual VIN is, because you're right Mike, it couldn't be #305.

Greg, Of all people, you're one of the last I would expect a comment like that from! I would think the owner of #379 would know the value and appreciate the historical significance of a 1969 production Z no matter what the condition of the car is. #299 can be restored and titles aren't a big deal in most states. I'm sure that with some effort someone could get this car titled. Yeah, by the time you pay for transportation, it's probably not worth the $1k the seller is looking for, but it surely is worth more than $152.00.

What a difference between the before & after pictures! Very nice job! The 240Z wood steering wheel is a very nice touch!

I watched both the General Lee ('70s TV show) and the Batmobile ('60s TV show) sold at the Barrett-Jackson Auction a couple weeks ago. However, I understand that the Batmobile was a very nicely done 1974 replica and the General Lee was one of the many actually used on the show.

For a second time the auction ended without making the reserve. Whoever bid on the car this time obviously wasn't very serious with 4 bids at a measly $152.00. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1969-Datsun-Nissan-240z-HLS30-00299_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6763QQihZ019QQitemZ290200697547QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

No, it's this:

Check out this California '70 with only 43k miles, she looks real solid: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-Datsun-240Z-RARE-MINT-1st-YEAR-Z_W0QQitemZ180209960038QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item180209960038

Looks like the seller is providing a little more info this time around as far as the title (or lack of) is concerned. The first time it was listed I asked him if there were any liens and he never responded. It also looks like once it's sold, it needs to be picked up pretty quickly: Q: Couple of questions..do you know if there are any liens against this vehicle? When was the last time this vehicle was registered? You mention that you will be losing the storage for this vehicle. If I were the successful bidder how long would I have to pick up the vehicle as I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Jan-25-08 A: No liens that I know of. The car was registered 1995 I think. I never got it on the road. So I'm not sure. Time is not on my side. Needs to be out by 2/6/08. Q: Do you have the title for the car. Jan-23-08 A: No I don't.

Hi Carl, After looking through the 300+ pictures again, I after to agree with you, $100,00.00 was too low of an estimate for this car. I would say $500,000.00, but do you really think it was is the $1,000,000.00 ballpark?

Since #299 is one of the rare '69 production Zs and has a lot of potential to be a truly historical sports car, perhaps this company, located in Finland (who restored the Toyota Celica rally car discussed in Reply #'s 61-63 in this thread) should be contacted. Maybe there's a remote chance they would be interested in buying and restoring #299. Here's a link to their site: http://www.mat.fi/n_index.php?nav=company

It looks like this restorer, MAKELA AUTO TUNING is based in Finland. They sure do some fine work with some incredible cars. If anyone ever gets an opportunity to go there, they should check this place out and let us all know about it (and be sure to take plenty of pics!) http://www.mat.fi/n_index.php http://www.mat.fi/n_index.php?nav=company

I'd buy it if it wasn't so far away. Some of our members located in the NE should really consider saving her!

Hey, #299 can be restored. I would hate to see her sold as a parts car. If you take a look at this restoration, you will see that anything is possible: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=29314

I agree with Andy, if you like orange, the original 918 Orange is a great color. I used to have a '71 918 Orange that I sold last May to a Frenchman who was living in NY at the time. He recently moved back to France and transported the car to his home in the south west of France. I have attached a pic of the car on my driveway shortly before I sold it plus a couple pics that the new owner sent me (a great guy, by the way) right after it arrived in France.