This '73 is up for auction and at the time of this posting was at over $10k with 28 bids & 7 days remaining:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4630692049&fromMakeTrack=true

Hi Steve:

Car originally from Canada..Too bad he had it painted the wrong color green - the car could have brought $25K+ if it had been left in truly "original" condition. Making a color change, without changing the color of the engine compartment is another large mistake as well. He has most likely paid several thousand dollars, to reduce the value of the car by 25% to 50%.

Any way you look at it - this car really needs a lot of work to be brought back into the condition that would be expected of a 28K mile car. Does anyone really want to be the person that's going to remove the undercoating from the places it shouldn't have been sprayed in the first place?

Nonetheless, if it checks out OK underneath... should bring bids in the $15K to $18K range. Maybe higher given some of the other cars we've seen on e-bay lately.

Mileage is important, but above 5K miles, mileage is only one thing of many to consider.

FWIW,

Carl B.

Carl Beck

Clearwater,FL USA

http://ZHome.com

Hi Steve:

Car originally from Canada..Too bad he had it painted the wrong color green - the car could have brought $25K+ if it had been left in truly "original" condition. Making a color change, without changing the color of the engine compartment is another large mistake as well. He has most likely paid several thousand dollars, to reduce the value of the car by 25% to 50%.

Hi Carl, I'm curious about original colours and the value of Zed cars. My car was originally silver I can see when I check the areas under the carpet inside the car. The rest of the car however was painted red later in it's life. This includes engine bay inside the door area and the tail gate etc..

I have been considering painting the car it's original colour however if I was to go with a color say 910 Red would you say it would devalue my cars value to the right buyer? As oppose to painting it in the original silver it left the factory. We are talking a RHD HS30 Zed from Australia.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

The "wrong green" Z also has (shudder) Mud Flaps installed front and rear. :sick:

Hi Gavin:

First let's make it clear that in this specific case we are talking about "Collector Level" examples, not modified nor custom cars, nor daily drivers etc.

A pure stock, 240-Z with only 28K miles - would fall into the category of "Collector Level" as long as it was of very high quality etc. Pure stock examples with less than 20K miles are now selling for above $25K if they have been maintained in, or restored to "as new" condition.

As long as the color change is complete, the paint job and body work professionally done to high quality standards - you can change the color of almost any 240-Z, to any color offered that model year, in your country, without any loss of value. There is no permanent record on the car which would indicate what its original color was.

The rare exception to that - might be the car that comes with complete documentation, pictures taken on deliver at the Dealership, and over it's lifetime... All of which would add desirability to the ownership by a Collector - and therefore additional value to keeping it its original color.

A complete color change, would leave none of the original color showing anywhere. So the entire body would be repainted... inside and out.

The problem with the car under discussion is that he picked a color that was NOT available for the model year of his car. The Seller attributed the current color selection to; "research done at the time indicated that Dark Green was available in 73".... it's a shame that whoever did the research - did a poor job for him.

That "wrong" color in this case would knock the car out of the Collector Market... unless it can be priced low enough to justify disassembly and restoring it to it's original color (or any correct color), but most "Collectors" don't want projects.. they want finished examples.

So as long as 110 Red and/or Silver were available for the model and year of your car - Red or Silver would assure it retained its appeal to the Classic or Collector car market..... if all other things were kept stock and of high quality.

There may well be a buyer out there somewhere - that loves this color (even if it isn't correct for the model and year) - that will pay top dollar today for a solid, good running 240-Z without regard to the "correctness" of the car.... but he would be the extreme exception. Collector or not - most people know that incorrect refreshes/restores sell for far less.... so even if one was willing to pay more - there won't be many people bidding.. and driving the price up anyway. (this is not good news for the seller).

I always say that one never knows what is going to happen in the future - people may "plan' to keep their 240-Z's forever - and really don't care about resale value at that point - but you never know what is going to happen in the future.... and to me it only makes good sense to cover as many of your bases as possible... pick a correct stock color and you can't lose (at least you won't lose as much).

FWIW,

Carl B.

Hi Carl,

Yes, I agree with you, it's a shame this gentleman received bad advise on painting his very low mileage '73 with the early #907 Racing Green instead of the correct #113 Green Metallic. It appears that this person must have had his own desire or hidden agenda to make this gentleman's Z look like an early one with the 907 paint and the "D" hub caps. But unfortunatley, it was at the owner's expense.