Mike B

Kerrigan, How do you know that Bridgestones were original equipment on your Fairlady Z? -Mike

Yeah, I'm familiar with the snipping tool and I use it, but I don't see a way up upload the photo. I tried the "My Media" button but that just has photos I previously uploaded and I don't see how to add new photos. I was able to link to the PDF with the auction results instead. Anyway, back to the subject of the thread... Its funny how people are able to flip a car from one auction to another so quickly. This car sold for $17K at the Seattle Mecum auction in June, then apparently sold by the buyers at their Austin store in August for $25K, and then sold again at this Austin auction in Nov for almost $42K.

This car sold for $40,700 (plus fees I assume) at auction on Nov 1 in Austin, TX. I wish I could figure out how to attach a photo with this new system "upgrade", but I give up. Here is a link to the auction page and the results are in the second link below http://www.motostalgia.com/car-detail/?vin=HLS3006116 http://www.motostalgia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Motostalgia-AGP14-Official-Results-SOLD.pdf -Mike

I googled the VIN (HLS30-06157) and there is a collectocarrpricetracker page that shows this car was sold on ebay in January 2010 for $11,100. There are several pictures and a PDF of the original ebay ad. http://collectorcarpricetracker.com/auctions/detail/320471266487/ It looks like a little work was done on the car after 2010, but not much. Some of the engine bay items were replated. The 2010 ebay ad mentions dash cracks and has a cover on top. The current ad shows a dash from a 1972, so I assume the dash was replaced. The front bumper looks like it was also replaced with one that has the AMCO bumper bar. Not a bad return over 4 years.

I just watched the whole episode. The current owners apparently bought the car in Oregon and drove it back to the Chicago area and parked it (fortunately inside a garage) a few years ago. The car looked to be pretty much stock and in good shape. It had the original chrome Z emblems on the quarters and hatch. It looked like it had the original early gas door knob. Fortunately, this show doesn't appear to do much, if any, body work, so they only pick projects that are more of an engine tune up and interior work. Most everything they did is easily reversible. They added a carbon fiber hood, integrated front valance/spoiler and rear bumper, but kept the originals. They also added a carbon fiber rear spoiler and drilled mounting holes for that, but that could be fixed pretty easily. It already had what looked like dealer optional sport mirrors on the doors and rear louvers, so they left those. They replaced the door panels with new replacements and recovered the seats with stock looking replacement covers. It looks like it was missing some of the heater control panel/maplight/stock radio parts and the just left that as is. They just buffed out the existing (original?) faded paint. They replaced the aftermarket exhaust with an aftermarket Magnaflow exhaust. They replaced the points with a pertronix ignition and replaced the spark plug wires, but made a point to keep what they said were the originals, which I think were actually later Nissan replacements, as they had the red plug ends. They replaced the vintage Appliance basket wheels with some modern black mags. They removed an aftermarket A/C condenser, so I think the dealer added A/C was non-functional. There was the typical mis-information; including an on screen comment that said the plug wires are only compatible with their model year (I think they mean they are date coded), and they said the first 100 cars were "dealer only cars sent pretty much to the west coast and trying to sell the 240 to America". They said they had to go with a 1 inch smaller wheel because the pre-100 car specs don't match up with the production car specs, which is BS.

Thanks Kats. It's good to hear from you again too. My FM pack is the Hitachi wideband. I'm attaching some photos. Yes, I can imagine the salt air for several weeks at sea is not good for corrosion. We are all very fortunate that you are willing to ship your Z432 so we can see it in person. -Mike

Hi Kats. I have a NOS "export" version that I plan to use in my Fairlady ZL someday. I notice the Japanese market version has a smaller frequency range of 76 to 90 MHz, compared to the export version which has a range of 88 to 108 MHZ, so you may be able to catch a couple of stations in the US, but not many. I could bring my FM pack if you want to test it out on your car. I am excited to see your Z432 in San Diego. I was considering bringing my blue #32 car, but I won't have time to trailer it down from WA and I don't really want to have it shipped there and back. -Mike

Here are some of the photos from the auction. -Mike

I was wondering where this car was going to pop up. It was sold at the Mecum auction in Seattle on June 13th for $17,000 plus the 8% buyers commission. 1970 Datsun 240Z | Mecum Auctions You have to log in to see the sales price. I was at the auction and I looked the car over pretty good and talked to the owner for a minute just before it went across the block. It was bid up to $19K and they announced the reserve was over $20K before they closed the bid and it went to the "bid goes on" area. That night it showed on the website as sold for $17K and I confirmed that the next morning at the auction. I believe the last real bid they had during the auction was the $17K bid, and the auctioneer was bidding as a shill bidder to try to get the bid up to the reserve (apparently they can do that). The seller must have decided to take the $17K after the bidding ended. The seller used to own the Nissan dealership in Everett, WA and took the car in on trade for a new 350Z several years ago. He kept it in the showroom for a couple of years and then sold the dealership a few years ago and kept it in a warehouse with some other cars. He was wanting to get rid of the cars and the warehouse, so he was a motivated seller. After I heard the story I realized I has seen the car a few years ago when I went to a car show at the dealership. His dealership used to sponsor the Seattle area Z club, until he sold it. The seller also owned the first 350Z made (VIN#000001) that he bought in an ebay auction from Nissan. I saw that that car has been bought and sold several times at Barrett Jackson auctions over the last couple of years. I recall the Nissan dealer paid over $100K for it originally and it was selling for about $20K the last few times it sold. The 240Z was in good shape, but there were some defects in the paint. The biggest issue I noticed was the top of the roof just above the windshield seal, where there was a small unpainted gap along the entire top of the seal. It kind of looked like that part of the car was taped off and masked when it was painted, but the other areas around the seals didn't appear to be masked, so I'm not sure what caused it. The areas around the bottom corners of the windshield were a little rough too. There were quite a few scratches and a few small dings (chip missing from the left headlight bucket) probably from people checking it out in the showroom for several years. The windshield is an aftermarket replacement with a shaded strip at the top. The interior was nice. I only noticed a later shift boot and choke knob. I took some photos with my cell phone, but I can't seem to upload them right now. They may be too big, so I'll try again later. I also have a video of it going across the block, but not sure how to upload that. -Mike

They did.....three years ago. BRE: SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION All Driver Autographs! 40th Anniversary: Z Sweeps ARRC Podium poster 24"x34"

Why not include the three original mounting posts on the back? Without them these can only be glued in place, which is not EOM and could be a problem over time.

I think you mean 903 blue. Paint code 904 is white. -Mike

In addition to the clutch line bracket that Zkars mentioned, there is also a bracket with a rubber stop underneath the clutch pedal. I think those were only installed on manual transmission cars, so if it is missing, it was originally an automatic. Here is a photo I found during a quick internet search. -Mike

I thought I remembered seeing a decent looking 260Z/280Z set on ebay recently. Looks like someone got a deal on them two days ago... $15.50 plus $10 shipping: Datsun 260z 280z Chrome Tail Light Trims Look NR | eBay. I don't recall ever seeing anyone selling just the 240Z trim cores separately. -Mike

No, I never dealt with Rodger at Z Barn. I read that he was retiring, but hadn't heard he was liquidating his remaining parts. Maybe someone closer would know what the status is. -Mike

Mike, are you referring to the chromed plastic 240Z taillight trim pieces that are part of the taillight assembly? Taillight finishers/surrounds for a 240Z are the three piece metal panels that are mounted around the lights. If you're referring to the plastic taillight trim pieces I'm not surprised you can't find people looking to sell them separately, since you'd have to break up a set of taillights just for the trim pieces. That's why I suggested they would make a good part for you to consider making reproductions of. -Mike

I see. I didn't catch that. Good luck with your search then.

I think you have it backwards. The 70-72 had three holes in the guards and studs in the rubber strips. The 1973 had four. Here is a set of the rubber strips with the three studs you said you were looking for: Datsun 240Z Front Bumper Overrider Guard Rubber Strip Set 1970 72 New | eBay -Mike

Thanks to Takeuchi san for sharing his photos and to Alan for starting this thread and posting the details of the unique 432-R items and the homologation information. I'm interested in seeing more photos of the unique pieces and some of the interior, if possible. -Mike

I also had Mike do some plating for me and I was very happy with the quality for the price. I have used a few different places in the US to plate plastic and pot metal items in the past and they can be pretty expensive. Mike's prices are very reasonable. The heater control panel that Mike posted a picture of above is mine. I'm attaching a before and close up after picture for comparison. As you can see, the texture on the piece was still maintained, which was a concern of mine. It's from a 1969 production car, which are slightly different from those on later cars, so it was important for me to restore this one rather replace it with a new or reproduction part. I also had Mike do a set of taillight trim strips and a 240Z rear deck emblem. For $80 and a little time to disassemble, polish the lenses, and reassemble, you can restore most taillights to like new condition. Much better than spending $1200 for a NOS set, and since the early lenses are slightly different on the early cars like mine, this is a much better option if you originality is important to you. I liked the first 'test' pieces I had done so much I am sending some more pieces to him. I removed the bases from a couple of shift knobs so I am interested to see how those turn out. I have also suggested to Mike that reproducing the shift knob bases and trim strips may be popular items for people that have originals that are too damaged to re-use as cores for plating. I'm also planning on testing out some more pot metal items. One of the problems with pot metal though is if you have any pits you will need to drill and fill them first if you want a perfect looking piece. I am testing out a new product I found for this, so I may have more on that later. -Mike

This has been brought up a few times before. Here are a couple of old related threads: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread30076.html http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread36686.html -Mike

Are you sure those are 240Z seatbelts? I seem to recall that either roadsters or 510's had similar buckles, but they were chrome, instead of black (as Dan and Chris described). Can you post a photo of the seatbelt tags? They should say which vehicle they were made for. Edit: Here is an old thread that seems to show the same type of belt you bought: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread33135.html The tags says "rear" on it, so I'm not sure what Datsun it is from, but it is not a 240Z. -Mike

Jerry, the photo I posted is what the original decals on a 5/72 car look like. I guess you can decide how '"flat gold or reflective gold chrome" they look to you. None of the reproduction under hood decals I have seen, either gold or silver, (including those from Banzai) look exactly like the originals. I'm not sure if the original materials are no longer available or if people just haven't found the right source to make good reproductions. -Mike

The original under hood decals on my 5/72 are a gold foil. Here is a picture. -Mike

It sounds to me like you referring to the welds that attach the rear panel to the rear cross member. If that is the case, nothing goes there. If you are referring to other holes, they are not stock. -Mike