Z cars at the Concours

[hiyabrad]

11 hours ago, motorman7 said:

I should update the title of this thread to 'Z cars at the Concours and Museums'.

My '70 is now on display at the San Diego Auto Museum.  They have an exhibit that started Feb 2, 2019 called "Icons, Cars that Drove our Imagination" : https://sdautomuseum.org/exhibit/icons

The Roadster is at the Petersen Museum: https://www.petersen.org/1969-datsun-1600-roadster/

Love that free storage!

Rich, Can you tell us a bit about your ‘70?

[motorman7]

11 hours ago, hiyabrad said:

Rich, Can you tell us a bit about your ‘70?

My 1970 Z has been in the family for nearly 49 years (4/70 build date).  I was 9 years old when my dad brought the car home brand new and I distinctly remember the day.  It was purchased in Florida (I have the original receipt), where dad worked on occasion, but driven to California where we lived for a number of years.  My dad owned it and took excellent care of the car for about 38 years.  He passed the car onto me several years before he passed away.

 

The car is very original and mostly unrestored (I did clean up the engine bay).  The paint is the original 49 year old factory paint job.  The interior is pretty much untouched and still has the original uncracked dash, slightly worn seats, radio, carpet etc.  Undercarriage, glass, chrome, and weather stripping are also all original and have never been removed.  I don’t really do anything to the car other than drive it several times a year just to stretch it’s legs and keep things moving.  It has pretty much been garaged it's entire life.  The car still runs very smoothly and is a nice driver. It has a little over 98K miles on it.

Edited February 5, 2019 by motorman7

[Patcon]

5 hours ago, motorman7 said:

My 1970 Z has been in the family for nearly 49 years (4/70 build date).  I was 9 years old when my dad brought the car home brand new and I distinctly remember the day.  It was purchased in Florida (I have the original receipt), where dad worked on occasion, but driven to California where we lived for a number of years.  My dad owned it and took excellent care of the car for about 38 years.  He passed the car onto me several years before he passed away.

 

The car is very original and mostly unrestored (I did clean up the engine bay).  The paint is the original 49 year old factory paint job.  The interior is pretty much untouched and still has the original uncracked dash, slightly worn seats, radio, carpet etc.  Undercarriage, glass, chrome, and weather stripping are also all original and have never been removed.  I don’t really do anything to the car other than drive it several times a year just to stretch it’s legs and keep things moving.  It has pretty much been garaged it's entire life.  The car still runs very smoothly and is a nice driver. It has a little over 98K miles on it.

A time capsule!!! Too cool...

[hiyabrad]

On 2/5/2019 at 9:42 AM, motorman7 said:

My 1970 Z has been in the family for nearly 49 years (4/70 build date).  I was 9 years old when my dad brought the car home brand new and I distinctly remember the day.  It was purchased in Florida (I have the original receipt), where dad worked on occasion, but driven to California where we lived for a number of years.  My dad owned it and took excellent care of the car for about 38 years.  He passed the car onto me several years before he passed away.

 

The car is very original and mostly unrestored (I did clean up the engine bay).  The paint is the original 49 year old factory paint job.  The interior is pretty much untouched and still has the original uncracked dash, slightly worn seats, radio, carpet etc.  Undercarriage, glass, chrome, and weather stripping are also all original and have never been removed.  I don’t really do anything to the car other than drive it several times a year just to stretch it’s legs and keep things moving.  It has pretty much been garaged it's entire life.  The car still runs very smoothly and is a nice driver. It has a little over 98K miles on it.

Wow, Rich. A great story and what a beautiful car!!  I will be down in Santee in the next few weeks and will go by and take a look at her. I have a '71 Trans Am that would have fit great in the exhibit.

Edited February 7, 2019 by hiyabrad

[motorman7]

Another shameless plug

https://www.kusi.com/dave-stall-50th-anniversary-of-the-z-sports-car/

 

[Mike]

On 4/11/2018 at 9:19 AM, motorman7 said:

Congratulations!  I see you have your eyes fixated on that trophy... 

[jfa.series1]

Nothing shameless about showing the flag.  Well done as always!

[jayhawk]

Just saw this thread, thanks to Motorman7's recent post.  My car was just restored by Motorman7 and we took it to ZCON in Branson (which has a Stock judging category) and also to JCCS last Saturday.  It was no surprise that my '73, which barely missed 1st place at ZCON in the Stock category, did not get a sniff at JCCS.  And the car Motorman7 restored just before mine, did not get anything at the new northern California Golden Week Kyusha Festival held May 4th in Richmond, CA. That car has also been to a couple of Concours events this summer, and found that the judges (from the SCCA SF Bay area region) do not have any experience with classic Japanese cars. 

I had Motorman7 restore my Z to stock, not because I was looking for trophies, but for a (Highly Successful!) attempt to recapture my youth.  But, thanks to Motorman, I do want to show the world what a wonderful car the original Z was.  and so I am taking it to both Japanese classic car shows and local Concours events.  And having too much fun doing that. (just ask my wife...)

The last Concours of the season in N. California is in Sacramento (Neillo Concours Serano at El Dorado Hills), and the only traditional Concours I can get to this year.    I plan on having fun there too, and may bringing a little more visibility for classic Japanese car to that stuffy old crowd.  I will report.

1973, two weeks after I bought it. Near Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Washington

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Driver 1973 to 1988. 

1983, Irvine, CA: Loved by the whole family...

1990ish to 2007: Being Preserved for Restoration (yeah, that's what I'm calling t!) N. California

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2007 to 2018: a better "preservation" location

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At ZCON, 2019: Motorman7's work being judged. 287 points!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2019 at JCCS, no awards, but LOTS of interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back home!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still loved by the whole family

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by jayhawk

[jayhawk]

OK, tried my hand at my first Concours (not counting ZCON).  Entered the Neillo Concours at the Serano country club in El Dorado Hills, CA this last Sunday.  Drove my '73 240Z (restored my Motorman7) up from my home in the East Bay suburbs of San Francisco, about 100 miles one way, mostly on Interstate 80.

I was in the Foreign Sports Cars, 1963 to 1979, Under $5,000 class. There were only 2 cars in the category, mine and a Volvo 1800.  No MGs or Triumphs, which surprised me. All the Concours in N. California are judges by the SCCA San Francisco Region, which does not provide judging sheets ever.  So other than what feedback you can get from the judges when they are at your car, you never get any information of how or why they scored your car. 

I do know that they subtracted points for one of my headlights (original Koitos) that did not have a working low beam, probably took off points for a pinhole leak they noticed on the radiator, and a loose Datsun emblem on the hood.  So I came in 2nd to a '66 Volvo 1800 from a fellow who had survived the Paradise CA fire last year, and had photos showing the Volvo on a trailer being towed through clouds of orange smoke. (His very nice wife told us of the 5 hour traffic jam trying to get out of Paradise with the fire on their heels!)  He also had photos of his burned out house and his 5 other destroyed classic cars there.  Sort of hard to beat that for tie breaker points...  I'm guessing the judges did not know anymore about Volvos than Datsuns, and can only judge on paint quality, cleanliness, obvious problems, the light and safety checks. Originality is likely hard to know for judges not familiar with a brand or model.   So I got 2nd place.

Out of 200 cars (heavy with Bentleys, Porches, antique Rolls Royces etc) mine was the only Japanese car there.  When getting my 2nd place trophy at the reviewing stand (on foot, only first place winners got to drive past) they said something about hoping for more Japanese "Domestic" cars at their events.  There were some cheers from the audience in the reviewing stands when they announced a Datsun getting a trophy. So there is that.  (no cheers for the Volvo...:-)  Made me wish they had a Peoples Choice award!

This was the last Concours of the year in N. California, so I think I'll keep trying for a while.  And I'm thinking of volunteering to be a SCCA judge and see if we can get more involvement with the Japanese car community.  "If you can't beat em, join 'em"

Edited October 9, 2019 by jayhawk

[siteunseen]

Do you think the dealer installed aluminum 5 slots show better than the OE scallop hubcaps? Just curious how the judges work that in.

Great looking car! Both sets look fantastic to me.

[motorman7]

Looks like a real nice show.  It's always good exposure to have the Z cars at the Concours events.  Thanks for representing!

When you mentioned that he was towing out the Volvo and 5 other cars burned, I am guessing that the Volvo was pretty special since he selected it over the other 5 vehicles.  Given that choice, I would definitely take my most valuable or irreplaceable vehicle.

Also, for what it's worth, you can add the 2nd place in a Concours event to your show resume  ? .  They usually ask that kind of stuff on the applications.  No need to tel them that there were only two cars in the event.  That's what I would do anyway, LOL.

[S30Driver]

Car looks great on the lawn!  Out of interest, what was the entry fee at Neillo Concours which I assume was a charity event?

Coming in 2nd to Simon Templar's car is an accomplishment by its self.....

Thanks for representing the marque so well.