boyblunda

Unbelievable that Australia should lose a second icon personality in the same week. North Americans might confuse this name with their own contemperaneous motorsport leading character but the Australian Peter Brock was something very very special over here. Called "Peter Perfect" for his driving skills, he was also a truly fantastic ambassador and a household name in Australia. Another leading Australian lost to us when he still had so very much to offer. RIP

Leo If you open up the ebay link on the lime coloured 240Z in my previous post there is another photo that shows the hatch covered in vinyl as well. Whether or not it is a good or bad thing is in the eyes of the beholder. There is no reason for it to affect performance or handling and I have seen vinyl roofs outlast the paint job on the rest of the car. We will be interested to hear your impressions of the roof when you get your car. Regards

They did come out in Oz in the 240Z at least. I have seen them on a couple of 2 seater vehicles but I am not sure about the 260Z. See example of current Ebay listing on http://wazregister.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1020#1020.

Hi Matt and welcome to the site. There is a very active, positive and helpful group of 240k enthusiuasts around this forum with excellent information. It would help if you could tell us where you are located. Post some pics of your car and your aspirations for it in the not too distant future. Regards

He will indeed be missed. No one will doubt the exposure he brought to Australia - poissibly the best since Paul Hogan. When I first saw part of one of his shows I thought he was loopy but I was then persuaded to watch a full show from whoa to go. I have to concede that underlying the initial images was some good information and a genuine passion for the outdoors and those that lived in it. Malcom Douglas (crocodile expert from Broome) was on the ABC this afternoon and partly blamed the pressure of networks to get more and more fantastic shots of possibly unwise situations as one of the reasons that animal handlers might be putting themselves in. Tragic to think that it was a "freak" incident that brought him undone. No one could deny he lived a very full life. Onya Steve.

And just to prove me wrong here we have two previously unlisted 240 Zeds listed on ebay today. http://wazregister.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1020#1020

Hi Mike Good question as I have been pondering this for some time myself. It is really difficult to objectively answer this query given the small turnover of 240Z's in Australia. One of the things I would need to make a valid judgement on your question would be the ability to compare the sale prices of vehicles of similar vintage and condition. From a Western Australian point of view I do not see many 240Z's lasting long in the market place and it seems that few of the better buys even make the general market place. I know two WA owners who recently bought their $10,000+ 2 seaters sight unseen from the east because of the lack of suitable cars in this State. My subjective observation is that people are asking more for their cars and that most of the 240Z's that are sold on ebay require some serious work to be done on them. A thread with recent ebay listings and results can be found at : http://www.wazregister.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=110 There are plenty of 2+2's listed but comparatively few 240Z's. There have been some 240Z's that have sold for what I thought were good buying prices but I have never seen the vehicles so I would not know their real value. The Eastern States have more activity in the advertising, buying and selling of 240Z's and a better opinion on your query will probably come from there. Regards

There have been moments of disappointment I have experienced when communications between members bog down due to dogma, intolerance or just plain lack of communication but these are inevitable given the spectrum of people on the forums and the already commented upon inadequacies of email as the primary means of communication. However, contributors to this thread have already pointed out that we can choose to ignore these moments. What I cannot ignore and what has caused me surprising levels of feeling are those rare periods of time when the site is down. Until these moments occur, I have had no idea that I would miss the constant access as much. No criticism intended here to the administrator and those that assist the cause as I think they do a great job in providing the site and maintaining the standard of communication that we all enjoy. Regards to all.

Good one Will. I noticed that the Zed seems well out of possible harm's way in these early pictures and that is a good thing too! I recently had a similar motivation and experience when I was baby sitting my three year old nephew. Young Mitchell likes doing things with me and I had not cleaned my Zed for a while so I thought we could do the job together. He loved the bubbles that came up in the bucket with the car shampoo and was delighted to work on the low pieces with his bucket and sponge as I started high and did the bits he missed as I followed him around the car. We then got a chamois each and dried the car of with the same responsibilities for area as before. He loved being able to see his face in the reflections of the car as he used the clean rag to wipe of the polish I had applied. It was a good fun bonding experience as we applied ourselves to the common and shared tasks. It took twice as long to do the job due to the extra preparation and positive reinforcement required but at least we got the job done and he was well occupied and supervised. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was particularly important to constantly work alongside the young fellow car anthusiast. The one time we took different tasks out of direct eye contact was when he was hosing the soapy water off the car - another great job for a kid as they get the visual reinforcement of the bubbles washing away and the clean car being unveiled. In the short time he was not under my direct eye, the hose was inserted into the exhaust and the muffler was filled with water. Fortunately, it was an old muffler and there was no great trauma for either of us. However, it is a great way to spend some time with a youngster.

Good clear pic of a great tool kit there Moonpup. I thought Tomohawk had initiated a thread in a similar vein some time ago but I have searched and cannot find it - Tomo, are you out there? From memory we never got to the stage of clarifying the contents of an emergency kit but I though the discussion got to a point where the distances to be travelled, the environment, location, knowledge of the owner etc were all relevant factors. Some carried an Auto Club card and a cell phone while others carried varying amounts of tools and spares. I am very interested to hear what others carry as it is about time I got this right in my own mind.

Thomas, I am really pleased that you seem to have elected to go the competition harness route as no standard belt will compare to the firmness and resultant safety of a four point harness in autocross. I would even prefer to use them on a normal road car as I am quite a large guy and find that conventional retractable seat belts do not retain the initial firm feel that we would want at the point of any impact - our Zeds do not have pre tensioners like some modern cars. Videos of crash test dummies in vehicle incidents show that they move around more than enough with the belts taking up tension on the body so we hardly need to start with a restraint system that is not firm. I am not recommending that we should all move away from retractable systems as my thoughts come from the perspective of a person with a body shape that it is not compatible with the initial fitting of a seat belt retaining its firmness, and is aimed at the original question from Thomas who is thinking of using his vehicle for autocross. I do not think we have anything less than lap / sash (shoulder) belts in Australian Zeds and I think that all came out with retractable belts. It is interesting to hear the comments on options available to the North American owners.

It could be any one of half a dozen choices but if I have to choose only one the MOST valuable to me is the information - particularly the technical and the historical - that cannot be found in any other one place. The interpersonal communications, encouragement, respect and tolerance are features of this site that appeal to me greatly and now I am thinking that the sense of community that pervades this site is its BEST single feature.

Deleted. Posted twice in error. Sorry.

Found this possibly helpful thread on a seat belt search http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17163&highlight=seat+belts http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16160&page=2&highlight=seat+belts Also found a couple of other threads I thought might be useful with titles that specifically adressed seat belts but you need a bit of time to browse, read and absorb. Personally, I think that time would be well spent given how we all hope that we never need seat belts but really want them to work well when the moment arrives. For road use you can get seat belts that appear to be in good condition from newer or low mileage cars. However, I am currently querying the value of older seat belts in my own cars as I am concerned about the unknown history of the belts in my cars - I do not know if they have been involved in any previous incidents and I am unsure about the integrity of the belts with age. How many of us have a little fuzzy edge on our seat belts? I do some climbing, caving and rope rescue activities in my work and there is a five year limit on any rope, tapes and webbing (similar to seat belts) that we use. Webbing is usually much more prone to damage and is retired earlier. I have no problem with refurbishing some of my equipment with replacement tape and webbing provided that I am happy of the quality of the work provided - the fabric is not the problem as that can be bought anywhere, the quality of the stitching is critical. My personal choices in what your situation would be to either have the belts refurbished by a reputable provider or to buy new belts - I would lean toward the latter if you are going to compete in autocross. The above is a personal perspective only.

I think I can cope with rust and body problems as that is something I accept as a being part of owning a 30+ year old car that is prone to rust as much as we know the Zed can be. However, for the degree of frustration in problems those in the electrical category have no equal for me. My latest was to do with a battery /alternator problem where I had a battery replaced but then found myself again with a flat battery. I took it to a local country auto electrician to be told my flat battery was caused by an alternator problem. Made the appointment to have the alternator reconditioned, returned to town (90 kilometres round trip) to have the work done, drove home to find that I had a flat battery again. Again, 90 kilometres return trip to town, have the alternator checked where they found and repaired a fault in the alternator. Drove around for a while and then again, flat battery. Took it to someone different who this time diagnosed a faulty battery. Who knows what the real sequence of the events was above. I know zilch about auto electrics and do not mind paying good qualified people to do such work. My only grief is the amount of travel and time I spent making repeated trips to town and then waiting in town for the work to be done. I have many more electrical stories to tell but trust me, you do not have the time to hear them. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.

Thanks for that answer on the signatures Carl - Mr K must have been ready for a break by the end of that exercise. Now that we know there are 2300 signed copies of these posters in circulation then the only differences would be between the distinctive features of the two series. Ron, interesting to hear you recently paid $75 for your copy from the larger series. At the beginning of this year I was lucky to win an ebay auction for one of the 300 series and paid a similar amount to yourself although my maximum bid was much higher. Maybe such an item is worth more to someone of my mind set than to others as I was very surprised at the lack of bids offered in the auction I won. I suppose it is logical to think that we would expect the limited series to have a higher price but maybe not significantly so. Regardless, I regard my purchase as good value for an excellent item of Z memorabilia.

Thanks Will and Carl - really appreciate the clarification you bring to my mind in this matter. I searched for, but could not find, any previous posts on the ZCCA posters when I was thinking of buying my own copy so this is information I personally value. I am not at home at the moment so I am unable to check my own copy but I think I remember that purchasers could send in the registration page to the ZCCA and have their ownership of their copy registered by that body. Do you know if Mr Katayama actually personally signed 2300 individual copies of the poster or did he only sign the 300 "AP" copies and have his signature copied on the other 2000 prints? It will be interesting to see how this auction proceeds and whether this listing might see other similar items listed.

Interesting Will. I only recently acquired a signed poster with the certificate of authenticity and registration papers and like yourself, was under the impression that there were only 300 copies of the poster signed by Mr Katayama. Mine is also still in a protective container so that I can preserve it until it is properly framed - you are right, too good an item to riske being damaged or contaminated in a garage. However, the item description says that this item is #1995 of the batch and "Originally a limited edition of 2000 framable art print on heavy stock paper and individually signed by Mr. Yutaka Katayama (the father of the Z car), these are a great Datsun Nissan collectable for any true Z car fan." Am I not understanding something here? Regards

I note that this device is also supposed to be effective for kangaroos so maybe a comment from down under might be okay here. I have various brands of passive whistles on three of my vehicles and my very subjective opinion is that they probably do get animals moving sooner. No real proof of this but I thought they were worth the investment given the lack of expense compared to the electronic "Shoo Roo" which sells for seventy times as much. Despite the expense, I have heard station (ranch?) owners who live in serious roo country swear by the electronic devices particularly as they are working at all speeds the car might be travelling at. I have collected three roos so far this year - two during daylight and one at night. All were on the move at the time we collided. I have had many near misses at night, particularly over a crests and around bends, when I have found several animals going in an equal number of directions. My personal thought is that the best money I have spent on roo detection and avoidance has been on a good set of driving lights - a pair of Hella 2000 spotlights looking straight down the road plus a pair of Hella 500 lights underneath angled to each side of the road. Over here, the roos you see are often not the problem animals, it is the other animals leaping about that cause the greatest excitement. However, it is easier to detect something on the move and if my whistles are helping there, then that gives me a better chance at a good start to the rest of my day. If your deer are in plague proportions and represent a serious risk then maybe an effective electronic device and good lights are warranted. Maybe look at it from another viewpoint and think how much money it might have been worth spending in the hindsight of an encounter of the worst kind in a beloved Zed.

Absolutely Correct Zbane. Just to totally hijack the thread ................ The final nailing down of the cure for scurvy by the British navy enabled them to dominate the seas and change the course of history by being able to stay at sea longer, have a larger proportion of their crew remain healthy to man the guns etc. Previous to this discovery (actually a rediscovery as the cure was found and lost several times before it was finally nailed down) ships took on around 30%extra in numbers to cope for the expected losses and disability to scurvy. Some expeditions even abandoned ships altogether to consolidate the minimum number of able bodied seamen required to sail the remaining ships. One reference I have read credits the earliest discovery of a scurvy cure to a Canadian Native American (hope I said that right) tribe.

I have one of each in my two cars and prefer an auto for town / city driving but the maunal for real driving on real roads where the driver needs to read the road rather than the gearbox read the driver - hope that makes sense.

To those at Sports Z Magazine who put so much into establishing something I thought was valuable, motivating, and collectable, thankyou for your past efforts and commitment and sincere best wishes for the future. I value the collection of back issues I currently own and look forward to seeing what comes out in the new format. I am certain that the new collective of owners are as committed as the previous owners. This situation reminds me of a somewhat similar situation that I think confronted the legendary? Yvon Chouinard of Utah based Chouinard Equipment who specialised in climbing and mountaineering equipment - the workers formed a cooperative now called Black Diamond and have become quite prominent in their field. I hope that the new cooperative receives the industry and community support it needs to continue to a new strength. The contributions of Sports Z Magazine to the Z community is something that all should value. The one thing that sticks in my mind from previous postings is that the Magazine would be more likely to still be running if more in the Zed community had subscribed. The current situation should not be looked upon as a failure, but rather an excellent foundation to be developed by the next generation of owners. I promise that I will my next subscription when it next falls due and urge others to consider doing the same.

No bids, no sale at AU$6900 (approx US$5200). I thought that it might have gone at that price. There was one offer at AU$6000 (Approx US$4500) but the seller declined. Hope it eventually finds an appreciative buyer.

I think it is back again with a buy it now of $6900 http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NISSAN-DATSUN-SKYLINE-240K-C110-1973-GT-1-OWNER-AS-NEW_W0QQitemZ4647129493QQcategoryZ102306QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hi Curtis Sounds like you are happy to commit to a full project restoration if you have gone to point of sandblasting your 2+2. If there are possible problems with the shell of your 2+2 then this is a good moment to pause and reconsider your direction given the fact that you also have a 2 seater. A lot of people like their 2+2's for the room, the ability to carry passengers in the rear, their comfort on long tours where I think they really come into their own, and for the fact that they are pretty well "sorted" and have some good additional features. However, I can hear 2 seater fans saying that it is the "original" Zed, they hold their value better, perform and handle better, and give the driver the "feel" of driving as their butt sits closer to the rear wheels. I have two 2+2's on the road and genuinely love them both. However, I have recently purchased a two seater and am very excited about the prospect of getting it restored and performing. Without having seen your photos, my first inclination at reading of the stage you are at, is to think that the time and money spent on a full restoration would be better spent on the two seater. Some more information, particularly with regard to VIN and production dates and engine #'s. and pictures of both the 240Z(#213?) and the 260Z 2+2 will help members give their best considered response. BTW - where are you located? Some local members could offer a lot of good advice. Regards