boyblunda

I have heard strong statements in this and other threads that one key should fit all locks in Zeds but I have had several P510 Datsun 1600's, P610 Datsun 180B's and now four Zeds - all built 1969 to 1977 - and from memory all have had a separate key for the ignition and one other key for all other locks (doors, boot, hatch and fuel lid). Several of these cars have been purchased new but most have been used. This might be just an Australian thing.

This has to be worth a look. Queensland deceased estate, one owner, fairly original car ........... http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4612607836&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1 Too far away for me but it does look impressive from the photos.

After the last post from a person who had the temerity to actually want to view the vehicle, I am now reconsidering my previous thoughts. Sorry all.

I have been keeping abreast of this thread and the ongoing ebay questions and have to ask whether some of the questions and opinions are a little over the top - maybe from both sides. Regardless of what we think of the position taken by the seller, he does not seem to be trying to conceal anything and seems open enough to posting any negative questions he receives. Many sellers simply do not post negative questions even when it has been pointed out to them that are blatantly misrepresenting the item. Surely one of the key points here is that the seller can ask anything they want and that the bidder offers what they think it is worth. As in any ebay auction, it is up to the seller to ensure that they know what they are buying while the seller should honestly represent what it is that is being sold. The matter of a dealer special versus a limited edition cannot be ignored but I think that by listing the question and the response, the seller has allowed any prospective bidder to be made aware of that issue.

http://wazregister.com/forumframe.php This site has all of the ebay listings for Zed cars for the past 6 months - go into the For Sale section and view Ongoing : Zeds On Ebay. This might provide some indication of what comes up and how much people are getting for their vehicles.

MRIZ, I cannot believe you would even joke about selling that obviously magnificent, noble, faithful and adoring animal you have on your avatar regardless of the financial reward that might be at hand. I will bet that this animal has complemented your every emotion and mood and been there 100% for you at every turn in its life. I am certain that this thought of yours was a temporary aberration brought about by the lure of several thousand dollars of easy money. You should take this loyal hound on an extra lap of the block as penance for your wayward thoughts. Shame on you :classic: That is a great shot in your avatar - love it. From another in this world who has been well trained by his labrador.

Looks like a good looking body to start a project. The interior looks really clean and original. Great to be able to concentrate your resources on wheels, motor and body. Enigma, I think the comment about most being from the southern hemisphere might have been made specifically to the 240K forum to which the thread was posted - I had to do a second read to work it out myself. Look forward to hearing more from you Will as your project progresses. Like your vision with those sweet wheels and the motor improvements. Do you have any plans to match the performance potential with a commensurate suspension and brake upgrade? Regards Dave

Thanks for that very interesting aside Bryan. My grandmother explained to me that it was from a partly similar reasoning -to avoid fouling the drawing of a sword - that women were always on the right hand side of a male when promenading, dancing etc.

Fantastic job and an inspiration to others doing a similar level of restoration on their own vehicles. It looks immaculate. Congratulations. You must / should have been super proud as you drove it down the road for the first time.

Pleased to hear that you escaped relatively unscathed and the car is not too badly damaged. A pretty cheap lesson it seems. Your front spoiler looks as though it could use a little attention but other than that ..... I have not heard anyone repairing a spoiler other than with fibreglass but on canoeing expeditions we carried a Selleys? product called Kneadit or similar sounding name. It worked really well and I mean really worked. If you are glassing the rear of the spoiler to repair it the Kneadit could go well on the front surface and can then be ground back. I am about to try this on my own spoiler in the near future. FWIW Ari Vaatanen once said that to learn to drive fast he kept on driving around the same corner until he came unstuck ......... and then he learned to judge how to drive 0.1% slower than that critical speed - or words to that effect (you had to hear the accent to appreciate the comment). Regards

Good link Gary. I have also heard it described as "running on" due to some of the same reasons in the link you posted. I sometimes experience a similar event in my Zed when I am forced to use standard unleaded 91 octane fuel. However, if I use higher octane fuel and an additive such as Valvemaster it never happens.

If your intention is to do them up so that they present well and appeal to a number of prospective bidders, then it could be best to consider a color that does not clash with other colors. The thought of black on the recessed areas and a silver on the raised sections would go with most cars.

When I was about 10 my Dad put his hand on my shoulder and had me read a plaque he had mounted above the lounge room fire place which read : "Women's faults are many, men have but two, everything they say and everything they do." He told me that the sooner I came to understand the truth of this statement, the less turmoil I would encounter in life. During a later backyard sporting competition he offered : "Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill" Finally, one of his best (he was a High School Principal) : "Never put anything in writing you would not read out to the school assembly".

Great post Ron and very big of you to share information that might even cost you business (not my business - I will be coming to you). Just a note for those of us "down under", I think methylated spirits is the Oz equivalent to denatured alcohol. Love your avatar Ron - that is one geat dog. Looking forward to the next articles.

I hope that posting in this old thread is okay - I am not really clear about the protocols surrounding dated threads. 1978 was my novice year when I began car rallying in a Datsun P510. My very first event was a full on 1500+ kilometre Australian Rally Championship event where we won our class due more to knowledge of the rules and late time limits than driving skill. In fact I drove that event on less than 24 hours notice after substituting my original entry as a co driver which was withdrawn due to the brand new car being totalled the day before the event (please do not ask for this long story). The sponsor of the original car was mildly impressed with what looked like a promising start to my rally career and was considering transferring his sponsorship from the totalled car to my car. As a sweetener I offered to drive him while he navigated for me in a clubman (introductory) event. We had a few lessons about navigation events etc and we started the event as car #1 – numbers having been drawn from a hat. I could not believe my luck when the route took us up to an area that I knew extremely well. We drove through stages that bordered my uncles’ farms, down realignments I had known about since I was a kid, down roads that I practiced on etc. I knew these roads so well that the navigator only had to work out where we had to go and I could drive the stage while he worked out the next stage on the map. Not only that, but I knew the roads so well that I could drive blind on the bends, through puddles and in a general at a pace that my normal level of bravery and skill did not allow for. My navigator and possible future sponsor was awesome and was totally on the ball. We were creaming the event and at the start of the last competitive stage we had not incurred a single time penalty and were ten minutes ahead of our nearest rival in a field of about 40 cars. Part way into the last stage we popped a fan belt but we elected to continue as a calculated risk thinking we had to protect our lead in the short distance to go, The short story is that we finished without penalty driving on a flashlight but cooked the motor but that was all worth it due to the fact that we thought we had won. Regrettably, in all the excitement I had made an error on booking in earlier in the event and incurred a penalty for early arrival which cost us the lead and relegated us to third place. In the space of a single clerical error I had gone from Boy Wonder to BOY BLUNDA. Fortunately my sponsor was sufficiently impressed to continue his sponsorship for 9 years. Boy Blunda was the moniker painted on my door by the sponsor and for the rest of my rallying I continued to amuse the Western Australian rallying fraternity with my disasters eg. not finishing an event for two seasons without an electrical problem, completely rewiring the car and replacing all of the gauges only to have an electrical short start a minor fire on the very first event after the rewire, navigating for other people who then had electrical problems and so the list goes on.

Guus - have sent you a PM. Steve, good on you for this post. Saw the article and really liked the shots. Do you know the owner and do you think he might post some stuff on this site?

My mother was attending a Conference and staying at a hotel in New Orleans until 0400 hours on Sunday morning and it took her some time and effort to be able to organise their own evacuation. In the preceding 24 hours no hire cars or commercial transport was available until she was lucky enough to combine with a few others and hire a taxi that took them to Baton Rouge. Traffic was bumper to bumper. The group then hired a car to drive to Dallas where they were able to make plane connections and, thankfully, get safely home. She was part of a well resourced group with no ties in New Orleans who were fortunate enough to be able to afford any option that was available. They also had some very capable and well organised people working to assist the attendees of the Conference to aid in securing their evacuation. I would imagine that there were many many people who did not have that assistance, focus and resources. An ex military person with some meteorological training, who runs a bed and breakfast in New Orleans, was interviewed on Australian national radio on Monday morning and he and his wife were going to sit out the storm in their own home thinking that they would be okay. They sounded as though they were preparing themselves well and I certainly hope that they are in fact okay. However, there must be a huge number of people who did not have the means or the facility to escape the city and they are the ones requiring most assistance and support at this point in time. There will be support from both within the USA and from their allies. The problem will be in identifying the need and developing the best strategies to deal with the problems. Many well intentioned aid efforts leapt in prematurely or inapropriately into the Tsunami relief and were ineffective. The response is getting quite some coverage in Australia and there is a lot of sympathy and feeling here for what the southern coastal areas of the USA is dealing with at the moment. Support will follow once the needs and best avenues are identified.

I would say that with your current batting average that elusive 280ZX is around there somewhere and maybe you just have not been looking hard enough :classic: Alternatively, if you are looking for it you will probably see one shortly after you give up and begin to think that it cannot possibly happen.

I think I have now exhausted all of the Google listings in the search for a record of John Smiskol's involvement in rallying and I may have turned up a few more details of interest. Firstly it appears that after a brief flirt at the end of the 70's with a modified TR7, Smiskol returned to competing in a Z and it seems he may still be competing in a Zed to this very day - more than 30 years since his first WRC result in 1973. The Google search revealed the following continued involvement : 1973 Sno Drift 6th Listed as being from Lombard Illinois 1974 June 3rd in Empire Hill Climb in a 240Z 1974 Rideau Lakes Rally WRC? 8th in 260Z 1975 Press On Regardless Nov 8 & 9 DNF Listed as being from Glen Ellyn Illinois 1979 June 9&10 Finished fourth in Susquehannock Pro Rally in TR7 Listed as residing in Crystal Lake Illinois 1979 Sunrise Rally 12th in TR7 From Crystal Lake Illinois. Co driver Walt Kraft 2001 SCCAA Road Rally National Championship 12th in Class L 2004 SCAA CENDIV Road Rally Championship 9th out of 34 drivers in Class L From Milwaulkee 2005? Valvoline Cup Time Trials Driver Roster Listed as Driver registered # 26175 From Western Springs Illinois Can anybody tell me what Class L might be - maybe historic cars? It seems to me that this driver might be of interest to the members on this site due to both his long term involvement in rallying and he fact that he spent most of his time in a Zed. Will post further info if it comes to hand.

Good man Mr C I am definitely interested in getting another tank. This will allow me to keep driving the car while the other tank is being treated. Will PM you with regard to price and pickup. Thanks Dave

Some Australian additions / versions from the 70's that come to my mind include : P510 Datsun 1600 was the most popular car in Australian rallying in the 70's and early 80's. P610 180B came out with different motors elsewhere in world but with L18 in both 4 door sedan and SSS Coupe in Australia. Stanza with 1600cc motor in both a standard and SSS version although from memory the only difference was in the gearbox, rims, and some minor interior and external decoration features. 200B with L20 motor in four door and SSS coupe 240K in both 4 door and coupe versions The Datsun Violet P710? was also rallied by the Datsun works team in Australia but was not generally available for sale. The above additions do not include reference to station wagon variants. Good luck with summarising and publishing your list.

Craig Really sorry to hear about your car but relieved that you think it is able to be repaired. Dr Rich was in a similar situation in recent times and posted a thread http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17562&highlight=Insurance I thought there were some excellent responses that came from members that might be of value to you here. All the best with your negotiations. Dave

A timely post for me and some excellent responses. I am having identical symptoms with one of my own cars and was about to post the very same problem and ask for help. My interim solution has been to replace the fuel filter ($4.50) but there is obviously a bigger problem.. Am now looking for a fuel tank that I can have "treated" so that I can minimise the time I have the car off the road. I would appreciate you keeping us posted on how you go with your next step. Thanks

Found a little more as I used Google - why did I not think of that before. The driver mentioned above is named John Smiskol so they are the one and same. The reference book I first read obviously made an error in using two different first names and is an example of not everything we see in print being able to be assumed as correct. To make a correction to my previous post, other USA drivers scored top ten places in the 1973 Press On Regardless Rally including John Buffum who is referred to in other posts. Buffum is also recorded as finishing 3rd in the 1988 WRC Olympus Rally. Smiskol remained in USA rallying for at least several years as I found another reference to him driving a TR8? in the late seventies and Z point records his 1977 second place and 1979 third place in the Press On Regardless rallies of those years (both in 260Z's). This site http://www.datsunhistory.com/rallyhistory1.html had some brief but interesting information and some good pics of Z cars including a BRE Baja Z. It also stated that Z cars won the SCAA Rally Championships in 1975, 1976 and 1977. At the risk of boring others to tears. I will add more information as I find it. I must say that I am surprised at the inconsistency of information that I am discovering between references in this limited search.