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Cumberland Sports Cars Races May 17, 1970 Bob Sharp Car 33. New Datsun 240z Unofficial report he placed 2nd in C Production. (Any official results for these races would be appreciated). That is Fitzgerald in the roadster (DNF). Passing Porsche in front of official's area. Scoreboard in photo of Finish Line shows: (44) Bob Tullius (33) Bob Sharp (38) Jim Fitzgerald (4) Brian Fuerstenau Well past Porsche in first corner after Finish Line. Scoreboard in photo now is missing (38). Fitzgerald has dropped out. (4) and (96) move up. Bon Sharpe chasing down (44). Spoiler, cage, straight pipes, no advertising decals, and fender badges. It looks like the GT-6 of (4) Brian Fuerstenau in the background ~ 1/4 lap behind Bob.

I don't know enough yet to agree or disagree. He says he did not have one when he was at the NYC show in a few interviews and it is also stated on the Nissan web site; so unless he is pulling our legs or never corrected a misquote then one has good reason to believe him as seeing a Z for the first time and then acquiring one are both very memorable experiences. For me, the first time I noticed one was Dec. 1979 just before Christmas: A bright yellow one with BSR wide body kit going down the main street in Stephenville, Newfoundland... plowing through snow and rumbling. The first time I purchased one was early July, 2003..... great memories July 2003, J, Blue77, & Me. It was an informal Z lawn party gathering by a 300zx enthusiast with a couple of the new 350z's dropping in from the dealer. A 240z and my 280z were the only early types. We started the Atlantic Z Car Club that day.

They should offer tent camping

I recently put new foam on from one of the kits out there, that and the repro seat bottom (too lazy to do the top, besides it looks fine), anyway the new foam was thicker that the old, and the seat is fine for at least the 150mile trips I have been making. One thing if you get the repro cover you will need to get new foam or at least add to what is there, the seat cover is too big if you use the old stock foam.

These are very nice pictures! Your internet surfing moves are the ballet of a free-rider. However As I said in the "Crusher" thread, there is a record of Sharp finishing second in the CP race at Summit Point, West Virginia on April 12,1970. And I provided the link to the website (which is a fascinating website collection of historic racing photos). Sharp's entries in that archive list SCCA National races. I wonder if Cumberland was a Regional? In these pictures, the car has no front spook - interesting. I'm surprised that there is no SCCA decal. Back then, there wasn't much advertising on cars. Everyone in the SCCA had pretty plain cars. The cars you are looking at from Sharp and Group 44 were cutting edge SCCA racers in car preparation and graphics. What a great photo of the 240Z squat with the inside front wheel up in the air! Lovely suspension mods, Bob. Now compare Sharp's record in his 240Z to John Morton's http://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/archive/John-Morton-USA.html Morton / BRE was racing a Datsun 2000 in C Production registered as a 240Z on April 26, 1970 at VIR. It doesn't appear as though Morton / BRE campaigned their 240Z until September when Morton won in Ontario on the 20th and Phoenix on the 27th. What I get from this is the well worn rag about how Bob Sharp got the "crushed" show car quite early and well before Peter Brock got his. Yea, yea.

That's at the Cumberland Airport in Cumberland, MD. I've done their auto-x there a few times. It doesn't sound like it was the Z's first race - "Sharp, who was already running Datsun's factory-backed race operations on the East Coast, finished this race second in the C Production class.'' Here's a link. https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hsx/2013/09/Skirmish-on-the-National-Road/3729371.html Here's a link to the Cumberland races. There are some really cool photos of vintage racing. Penske and Shelby raced there. http://www.nationalroadrally.com/tradition.html Chuck

Well - it is at the very least - it is different than a Vintage Z. Without seeing/knowing everything about this Z - it is impossible to tell what the market would bear. I would really want to see the documentation/photo history - of the entire restoration process. How good a job any shop can do - depends to a large degree on how much money the owner is willing to put into the project. What it is worth in the end is mostly Condition, Condition then supply/demand - - - it seems that right now something around $45K is the Top End for Concours Quality, with 1970 Models leading the demand. 71’s will usually sell for a bit less as the demand for them is less. (just a ROM estimate - there are no absolutes so far). Most observers expect them to gain market value over this and the next year. I think this Dealer is dreaming.. I can see a Vintage Z bringing $70K today as their number is limited. There are a lot of nicely Restored 240Z’s out there, and others are presently restoring more.

I was thinking of painting the pan the same color as the block just for that reason, to see oil leaks. But I'm not sure it'll look that good the same color. Yep, I have the bench vise and inch torque wrench. I better check with MSA on how tight on the bolts for the comp gasket, not sure but probably the same as the Nissan one. Light breakfast, then beer when done.

If you have one or can borrow one, a 4" bench vise worked great on my dimpled pan. Get an inch/pound torque wrench from a chain parts store's loaner tool program if you can, that's where I messed up. I used my foot/pound set on 5 then 7.5 then 10, leaked like crazy at the front corners where I tightened too tight. After getting the inch/pound wrench I ended at "84 or 7ft./lbs. I used a Nissan gasket though, maybe different on those red ones from MSA? The longer bolts go over the flat metal rails. Good luck, don't eat a big breakfast.

My steering column came with a power cord and FSM documentation. The fuse is inline with the power cord. Documentation specifies a 60 amp fuse. I found an 80 amp fuse installed. Remember the fuse is there to protect the wire, not the device. Select a wire capable of supporting 60 amps.

Look for a 180 - 200TW tire. They are sticky summer tires, yet won't be race-only.

Hi rossiz, I restart my old thread on it tonight. Im planning on fitting the turn signal in the next weeks. To keep it short, hope HaZmatt doesn't mind, I tried the valence from a 240Z. Thought I could modify it, but the frame is just too low. My solution is to use the Xeon Air-dam from MSA and the turn signals from the 240Z. The air-dam replaces the 240Z valence and it is just low enough to cover the frame and it reduces the gap between it and the bumper. Chas

for sound deadening you can do the tap test to hear what vibrates. Another way would be to mount a speaker on a location then use a software tool to do a frequency sweep. You should hear the points were resonance occurs (excitation of the metal). The speaker's magnets and steel car shell make this easy to do but a super magnet may also help couple the speaker to the metal. If you use a magnetic parts bowl to couple the speaker, remove the rubber base as you do not want isolation of the speaker from the body.