Is HLS30-00331 worth saving?

[Mike B]

I wound up buying HLS30-00331 last fall from a local guy that had it for several years. The owner before him bought the car through eBay in 2000 and had it shipped from Alabama to the Seattle area. He intended to use it to build a SOVREN vintage racer since it was built pre-70. However he subsequently found out that it wouldn't be allowed since the 240Z wasn't homologated for racing prior to 1970. It sat untouched (as received from AL), and stored inside over the past 8 years. Before that it obviously lead a hard life and lived outside for quite a while.

The car has a clear Washington title (but not a current registration since it is inoperable). It has the numbers matching block, but has a E-88 head that looks like it was rebuilt by someone named Ron Blades on 11-3-79. I have a spare E-31 head from a parts car that I intended to use on it.

I recently had time to start digging into it a bit. I removed the old junk AC system and took out the remnants of the interior, including the dash to get a better look at the car. It has lots of rust issues and bondo from poor prior body work. There are large holes and rust in the battery tray/passenger firewall area and in the floors. I'm not sure if the rust in the battery tray/firewall area was caused by battery acid or leaking AC drains or a combination of both. There is rust and a couple of small holes in the front of the rear deck, probably from a leaking rear hatch. Lots of rust on the rear hatch ledge and taillight area. There is bondo from poor repairs of the left rear quarter panel and dog leg, rear hatch, and hood. Maybe more in other areas. I haven't tried to take a magnet to the car. The underside of the car looks pretty rough. The passenger side rear frame rail looks damaged.

The car was originally #907 green with a tan interior. It was painted gold at one point and now has a bad black paint job on it. The interior was spray painted black (also a bad job), but most of it was too damaged to save anyway. I have some tan interior pieces and seats from HLS30-00882 (a 1/70 parts car that came with this car). The seats would need to be reupholstered, but the frames and hardware could be reused. I have some sheet metal from various parts cars that may be usable for some of the needed repairs - right and left quarters, a marginal battery tray section, a rear wheel well, rear hatch ledges, and a rear hatch.

When I bought the car I thought I might be able to repair it, but I wound up buying HLS30-00032 this spring and I also have two other Z's so I need to get rid of this car soon. It would definately be a lot of work to repair, but it is a 11/69 production car and it does have the matching block and a clean title. I will put a listing in the classified section here if anyone is interested in it they can contact me. If I can't find anyone interested in it in the next month or so I will part out the salvageable parts and probably scrap it, so if anyone thinks they have the skills or the funds to save it get in touch with me soon. The car is located in Sammamish, WA (near Seattle).

Here are links to all the pictures I took this weekend.

http://s467.photobucket.com/albums/rr38/Datsun240Z_Pics/HLS30-00331_vol1/

http://s467.photobucket.com/albums/rr38/Datsun240Z_Pics/HLS30-00331_vol2/

http://s467.photobucket.com/albums/rr38/Datsun240Z_Pics/HLS30-00331_vol3/

-Mike