OK, the geniuses @ the Nissan US marketing Dept. came up with a brilliant plan to keep the motoring public's mind on the new Z car still in the incubation stage; we'll restore a bunch of old Z cars and sell them for cheap. They spend a ton on advertising but not too much so there's still a bit of mystery/speculation to the operation. They buy, at great expense, more than they originally thought it would cost, 200ish old Zs. Next they send one of their minions - now the company president - down to the parts dept to get the ball rolling. The guy behind the counter listens to the plan with growing amusement before telling Mr. Minion that there just isn't enough quantity to make his bosses plan work for 10 Zs let alone 200! Minion now worries about how he'll break the news to his boss and still keep his job.

Of course an automobile manufacturer can't/won't resume production or ask one of their closely held - forgot the Japanese word - suppliers to resume production for a quantity below 0k say 5000 units of anything.

At the time I found it interesting that they wanted me to reproduce and supply parts A-D but weren't interested in already available reproduced parts E-H. Note the nasty-looking washer bottles on the Z Store cars. I learned later that Nissan US had broken the restoration process down to individual operations and had decided that each operation/step of the process would have a max dollar amount assigned to each operation.

Don't know if this is old ground but there was NO effort, none, to keep engines and transmissions with the cars from which they came. They had my reproduction ID plates so any # could be stamped.

On 7/21/2025 at 5:34 PM, zspert said:

Route66 et all,

Want to clear up a couple of things about the Z Store program. 1 - Those are 280 front fenders that Nissan superseded the 240/260 numbers to in about 1995ish

Ok thank you and good to know. Mine is an early 260, will be interesting to see what I have to do in the inspection lid area. Last year I sold the original fenders, rusted out down in the fold, to a guy who drove a few hundred miles to pick them up. I guess fenders are scarce these days, are the repros that bad?

Where are you located?

Complete the profile. I didn’t see any information on my end.

Edited Wednesday at 12:08 AM2 days by Yarb

12 hours ago, Route66 said:

Ok thank you and good to know. Mine is an early 260, will be interesting to see what I have to do in the inspection lid area. Last year I sold the original fenders, rusted out down in the fold, to a guy who drove a few hundred miles to pick them up. I guess fenders are scarce these days, are the repros that

@Route66 They aren’t repos, they are awesome fenders, just 280 fenders. Very modest modification needed for perfect fit. You’ll need a body guy with a welder to move the little clip for the inspection panel to snap in……an easy job, and once you bolt it up, a slight mod to get the seams perfect……all zero sweat.

@zspert is the expert to comment on the mods…..you can see the perfect result on my 71.

Edited Wednesday at 12:30 PM2 days by Diseazd
Add pic

When I said repros, I meant whatever is being offered on the aftermarket today. I sold my rusted originals for a pretty healthy price. I always figured the ones I bought were genuine.

BTW yours came out great, that's the goal for mine. Very tastefully done.

Edited yesterday at 08:08 PM1 day by Route66

No reserve 10/70 1971 240Z project in Texas.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-datsun-240z-359/

11 hours ago, Zed Head said:

No reserve 10/70 1971 240Z project in Texas.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-datsun-240z-359/

Fun to see how the person who did the floor 'repairs' neglected to remove the original set of rubber floor mats before getting busy with the welder ('Hey! What's that smell?')

The photo of the dog leg area, taken from the rear wheel housing looking forward, is a sad comment on the lack of effectiveness of the Ziebart rustproofing in this critical area.

The seller's photo essay is missing any pictures of the front frame rails.

I suspect that this Z is going to need a lot more than just installing a replacement dash!

Not bad for 1976 280Z survivor. Still has the splash shield and exhaust pipe heat shields.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1976-datsun-280z-106/