WTB: Good 280Z within a day's drive of Southern California

[SoCalJim]

Hi all.  I posted a want ad a while back on the ZCars forum, and I thought I'd post it here as well.

Requirements:

- Clean title, without any branding (salvage, rebuilt, etc.)
- 2-seater coupe
- Manual transmission, unless the price for an automatic trans car is low enough to make doing an auto-to-manual swap a viable option
- L28 with fuel injection intact - must be able to pass CA smog
- A/C (whether or not it’s working) system intact
- No sunroof/moonroof
- Capable of making a road trip home to southern CA

Preferences:

- I'd really like a 1975, but I'll definitely consider a 1976-78
- Not much rust, or body filler
- I'm open to doing an interior renovation, if necessary
- Fairly stock car - If the car has mods like chrome 240z bumpers and Panasport wheels, that would be great.
- Exterior colors: Blues, greens, white, silver, yellow, orange, red, or dark purple metallic preferred.  I'm not a big fan of black, browns (I've already had two of them), burgundy, beige, or gold (unless it's safari gold).  Color changes are OK if they are complete changes, or if the price allows for completing the change.

Ball park price range - $7k to $15k, depends on the condition.  There's always wiggle room on price, but I'm not looking for a show car.

I’m hoping to find a driveable, light to moderate project car.  As I said before, this won't be a show car, or a car only taken out to go to Cars & Coffee.  Instead, it'll just be a nice (non-commuting) driver for a retired guy to tinker on and enjoy every day.

          Email: jimr20165 at yahoo dot com

Thanks!

 

PS:  If you think I need to rethink my requirements / preferences, please feel free to offer feedback.  Thanks again! - Jim

[SoCalJim]

Still looking.  Thanks!

[SoCalJim]

Still looking...

 

[SoCalJim]

Anyone thinking about selling your 280Z?

[SoCalJim]

No longer looking.  I brought this 1975 Z home yesterday.

 

[gwri8]

Love  the color!

 

[Dave WM]

more pix!!

[SoCalJim]

Thanks!  Here’s a couple of additional pics.  When we left the seller’s house and pictures with with the Z in my driveway.  Surface rust on the floorboards is all that I could find.  The fuel system needs attending to.  It also needs a lot of new rubber bits, and the electrical has a few bugs. The interior needs a total redo.  The A/C isn’t working.  This car sat for quite a few years (since 2002) with some effort by the previous owner to fix it up.  It runs fairly well, doesn’t smoke, and the compression is 150-160 lbs. across all cylinders.  Looks like it’s going to be a fun, drivable project.

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by SoCalJim

[SoCalJim]

Greg, your green Z looks fantastic!

[Patcon]

I like the wheels. Very correct for the year, and sort of different.

[rcb280z]

It seems to be in great shape. Is it low miles?

[SoCalJim]

I think so.  The seller claimed that the indicated 80+ kmiles is accurate.  This car was only owned by the original owner and his son (seller).  I have quite a few, but likely not all service records, and, based on it being off the road with lapsed CA registration since 2002, I think the seller's claim could be true.

Edited April 12, 2018 by SoCalJim