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I also contacted him for an out of stock piece and he was able to get it to me quickly. I don't know what the process was he just said the he would refresh the site and let me place my order. The order was filled quickly. jlp

Upon starting college (1977, Wlikes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pa) my twin brother and I begged our parents for a "vehicle allowance" because he would be going to school 3 hours away in New Jersey and this would be our first "separation". We never thought it would work but it did! After a very long conversation to make sure we understood the value and importance of his gift, our amazingly generous Dad gave me a check for $15,000 to be split between my brother and I in the purchase of 2 new vehicles. This was just one more episode in which Dad showed his love and sacrificed his own perks to benefit one of us kids (and we're 5 boys!). We understood the message and never let him down. I had dreamed of owning a Z for about 3 years and knew that they were very close to 8 grand by 1977, which was more than the $7,500 allotted to me. I kept my desire for a Z secret and started a campaign to convince my brother that the best car for us was a Pontiac Trans Am. He would buy a white one, I would buy one in black. We visited dealers and worked out a deal for $6,700 each, fully loaded, out the door. We would have about $1,000 for "extras" . He fell for it (I still laugh at him for that) and I backed out at the last minute (as planned) and rushed to Fred Schuler's Datsun on King Street in Wilkes-Barre and bought my amazing yellow 280Zap for exactly $8,000 plus $500 for a technologically advanced AM/FM/cassette/CB radio by Clarion that would switch seamlessly between functions during those numerous 3 hour rides from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and back almost every weekend listening to Billy Joel's "The Stranger" and the soundtrack to "Star Wars". Never before or since have I enjoyed or loved a car more. I traded it for a 1980 280ZX once I started medical school but dreamed of driving a Z again for the last 20 years. Literally, I had a recurrent dream of driving my '77 yellow Z around town only to wake up when it would break down and nobody had the knowledge to work on them anymore ! A friggin' nightmare. I decided to hunt down a 1977 280Zap 4 years ago and read every forum I could find (thank you so much). I opted for a final year of S30 production May of '78 280Z in amazing condition and have immensely enjoyed driving and working on it with my 14 year old son who loves it and will eventually inherit it, closing the circle and paying it forward.

Oh man... you evil man. May all your children be born naked.

What are Dads for?.............Can you say BONDING?

That's a neat story Phillip. Elvis wanted to be like James Dean and drive a Spyder. My Grandad went to Germany and all he got was a P-38.

Happier times...

At last, both rear panels welded in. Bout time! Did the passenger side this weekend. Pretty much the same process as I did the Drive side, except this time I used a shrinking disc on the Passenger side in some areas to lower the high spots, still has some wavy in it but not as bad as the driver side. I took a crap load of pictures from all angles for you guys to see based on the lighting. Some far and some close shots. The really close shots, you will see how uneven and wavy the welding zone is. I probably can get some more waves out with the shrinking disc and hammer and dolly the welds in some areas, but on a car like this, I am satisfied, not excited, but pleased enough to move on. Just take what I did and learn from it for the next project. I still need to work on my welding, as in laying the weld bead. Still trying to get the welding part figured out. Having gaps in the fitment doesnt help, so getting the fitment right may help me out more. Also I think I am still laying to much filler in the weld, though with good Butt Fitment, I wouldnt need much filler, which goes back to having good fitment from the start. Also on my list to buy are Body Filers to shave down the welds, like block sanding bondo. Starting to think now the angle sanding grinder I have is a no no if I want to achieve the invisible weld/smooth transitions, hehe. Another thing is the base metal seems to cave in on its self at the toe/edge of the weld. I am gonna have to work on how to eliminate that aswell. Its not under cut if thats what your thinking. I may have to play around with the pulser feature on my welder, could be I am spending too much time in the act of welding which means too much heat that is not needed. Also I wish I had done a better job on the profile of the crease. The dies I used were to sharp, needed a little bit of a radius to better match the original crease profile. Enjoy! Well Now its time to get the rear side markers shaved and the gas door shaved. Then get the flares mounted, panels trimmed and inner fender well made. Just never ends... Stay Tuned!

Bought my car from a customer of mine in Atlanta. He was the original owner and the car sat in his warehouse under a cover undriven for about the last 10 years. It had 77k miles and was completely original. I have made some mods and cleaned it up a lot. I made sure to keep all the original parts in case I want to return it to stock.

The dog days of restoration. Hours at the wheel prepping parts for plating. It will be all worth while when we start putting this all back together. Separating yellow zinc from clear zinc. A few motor additions. Attention to the small details are what makes it all come together nicely.

Used the above method of sockets and bench vise to remove the existing u joint. New spicer joint to arrive on Tuesday thanks to Amazon who has the greasable version for a 240Z.

My very first car I ever owned is my 1971 240z, which I have owned for 32 years now. Started my restoration back in 2011 and still working on it today. Helping other 240z owners with rubber parts leaves me very little time to work and finish my car. Like this weekend I am making a batch of rubber and metal parts for owners in need. link to some pictures of my car. http://www.240zrubberparts.com/apps/photos

2011 was the end of my starter marriage. Time for a new toy! [I also bought a 2008 Z51 C6] I searched craigslist for a Z within a 300 mile radius of Augusta, GA for months. I finally found one, 1973, decent looking in the photos, for $4000. It was a 2.5 hour drive up to Greenville, SC. The PO bought the car from a Datsun dealer in 1976. He said it was the longest relationship of his life. Daily driven in the 70s and 80s, locked in storage for the following two decades. He said, "I tried to sell her once before, and the guy showed up, but I had to send him away." He handed me the keys and told me to take her for a spin. The rings were sticking from sitting so long so she was blowing plumes of smoke. We took it to a nearby shop for a compression check; steady across the board. I was ready to hand him $4k on the spot. He decided to offer a $500 military discount AND delivered the Z 2.5 hours south back to Georgia. Every so often I think about selling her, but I've owned her for 6 years and have only logged a little over 2,000 miles. I still have some bugs to work out but I want to drive this Z for a long time. The paint job is a 10-footer. I intend to keep it that way. More of a driver's car.

Datsuns have gotten a lot of attention on Bring a Trailer lately (maybe "appreciation" is a better term?). Add to the list their salute to Nissan's cult classic film from the 2.5 Trans Am 510 era: http://bringatrailer.com/2017/04/29/bat-inspirational-video-against-all-odds-the-datsun-510-wins-the-2-5-trans-am-series/