Cost to Restore a Zcar

[Fun_in_my_z]

I saved myself a little off a 280. I got the windsheild and the gas tank.

Had the straps to but some liitle crack head stole em.

The hood Went on to with some minor finingling.

Oh and a radiator.

But mostly i sold it to help fund my 240 project.

[Alfadog]

That's pretty low inflation for 14k to turn into 15k in 10 years, let alone the appreciation of the ever-dwindling parts...

[Carl Beck]

Bill Reagan of the Z Club of Texas restored a 240 10 years ago. (It was supposedly the model for Franklin Mint miniature Z.) He did the major amount of work himself, including stripping, rustproofing and painting the body, and though did not replace everything, he put a lot of new stuff in the car. He wrote a book about it that is still available from Z Club of Texas (http://www.zcluboftexas.org/) and it is a really helpful guide to anyone contemplating a restoration. Anyway, he estimated $12K for the rebuild and ended up spending I think $14K, which is what he sold it for. That's 1994 remember, so I reckon you'd need $15K or slightly more for the exact same job today.

Hi Zhorse:

I hope you mean "an additional $15K" over and above the $14K Bill spent in 1994.

First I believe you would have a very hard time finding a low VIN, mostly rust free, complete and stock Series I 240-Z today for anything less than $4,500.00. In 94 Bill bought the car for $100.00 {even though a tree fell on the car}.

As I you mention Bill did his own paint and body work... something most of us wouldn't attempt, so he avoided about $6K in costs we would otherwise incur. He replaced the entire rear tail light/threshold panel.. if you could find one.. that's about $1,500.00 now for parts and labor.

There are a lot of other items that Bill did himself, that most of us would farm out, and many items that would have been done on a full restoration project, that Bill did not do. {he didn't rebuild the engine, just refreshed it.. etc}.

In 1994 you could buy a new rear bumper.. all three sections, the rubber and the uprights (guards) for about $275.00. Today, if you could locate the parts.. it will add up to over $800.00. Re-chrome a good solid bumper around here ...$220.00 center section, $125.00 each side.. and the guards are $75.00 each.. add the rubber strips (if you can find them all)... and your pushing $700.00. In 1994 a new front bumper was $120.00... today it's closer to $295.00 and I've seen them sold for $325.00. {not counting the uprights and the rubber trim}

In 1994 a new set of tail lights from Nissan were about $110.00 a pair and today they are $400.00+. On and on it goes... lots of parts are No Longer Available from Nissan and the one's that are have doubled, tripled or quadrupled in price.

The bottom line is the $10K Nissan Parts order Bill put in back in 1994 would cost you about $30K today.

The car Bill did was indeed the model for the Franklin Mint.. if you use a magnifying glass you can read the VIN on the Model and compare it to Bill's book. {HLS30 02545}.

Another interesting side note - I am given to understand that the person that bought the car from Bill, spend an additional $20K+ putting it in #1 condition. There was a write up in Sport Z Magazine about it..

Oh.. I agree with Chris... if you took a good solid 240-Z to a high end restoration specialist and opened your check book... they most likely wouldn't even start on the car for less than $75K today.

If you took it to a smaller shop that specialized in doing first generation Z's ... you might get it done for $50K. In addition to the lower hourly labor and shop rates.. the Z specialists wouldn't spend 10% of the time a regular Restoration Shop would spend tracking down all the needed new parts, the Z Shop would already have sources of supply for almost everything and they would know exactly what to order etc. The quality of the finished product might be a bit lower as well.

FWIW,

Carl

Carl Beck

Clearwater,FL USA

http://ZHome.com

[satans hammer]

I Have Just Finished Restoring My 1971 240z To A High Standard And To Date It Has Cost About £14,000($25,000) In Parts,including The Price Of The Car Which Cost £3,500 For LHD USA Nearly Rust Free Car.all Nuts And Bolts Were Re-plated In Zinc And The Runing Gear Was Powder Coated In Blue.all The Body Work And Paint Was Done By Myself Including The Strip Down And Rebuild,the Welding Was Done By A Friend Who Worked For A Mercedes Garage.many Parts Were Replaced With New Or Reconditioned To Give It That Brand New Look.no Work Has Been Done On The Engine Apart From A Good Clean And New Paint Because I Am Not Mechanic.one Thing I Have Learned Is That You Have To Be Careful Who Does The Work, If You Are Not Doing It Yourself,because Of This I Had To Replace The Bonnet (hood) With New After A Company Said They Could Blast It For Me But It Ended Up Damaged Beyond Repair, All It Was Some Very Light Surface Rust On Underside Where The Heat From The Engine Over The Years Had Made The Paint Fall Off,i Had It Done After They Showed Me A Film Of A Empty Coke Can Being Blasted To Remove The Lettering Off It Without Any Distortion On The Side Of The Can.so After That Cost Me £300 To Replace I Decided To Do All The Work Myself And Only Let Very Trusted People Do Anything I Could Not.being A Car Painter By Occupation I Have Had An Advantage Over Other People So Proberly Saved About £5000($9000) In That Area And Did It At My Leisure,it Was At My Place Work For About 3 Years As I Completed A Bare Metal Respray,inside ,underneath And Outside Of The Vehicle And Still Using All The Original Panels Apart From The Bonnet.

[Zolbar]

With the boom in aftermarket parts for Zs the refresh price has gone down considerably. 

[grannyknot]

Really?  All I see are those prices going up.  Where are you shopping for Z parts?

[SoCalJim]

I think refreshing my 1975 Z will end up in the $25k-$30k price range, including the price of the car.

[wheee!]

I’m halfway done at about $23,000 Cdn

[hazmat257]

Hi Guys,  I have a 72' 240Z that I want to restore.  I have a question regarding a bigger brake upgrade. I have seen some assembly that doesn't use caliper line transfer. can I just put a longer flexible brake instead? without using the S shape transfer line? Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thank you