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Gotta make a coupla observations based on my experience. I was a Datsun dealer mechanic, no, not a technician or "tech" - a mechanic, from the early summer of 1970 until about 1980. ALL of the new Datsuns sold at the dealers where I was employed until about 1976 or so did not have undercoating from the factory and were, therefore, body color underneath. The paint applied at the factory to the bottom of the 240s, 510s, 1200, 610s, 710s, roadsters and trucks was very inconsistent from one area to another. It might be pretty OK here but thin over there. Lots of orange peel here and a bit of dirt in the paint over there. Whoa, yes, I know the trucks and roadsters had separate frames, painted a rather thin black, but the bottom sheet metal was body color. Sorry to say I undercoated lots and lots of the same cars. I seem to remember getting paid .3/hour labor for every one I did usually as the finale of the PDI (per delivery inspection) which paid additionally depending on the model. Flash forward a number of years to my shop where I've/we've done a number of 240 restorations to ZCCA Gold Medallion standards. I hope to notch my fourth at the convention this summer. In each case I've asked the owner if he wants his restoration to reflect the way it rolled off the truck at the dealership or the contemporary standard. Before he answers me I show him the many detailed pictures I keep on file of original unmodified Zs. Remember, these pictures show details like glue running down from grommets and orange peel in enamel paint. I think you can guess the answer I always get. Carl, you're very close on your estimate of the current cost of such an undertaking. Yes, there are cheaper prices being quoted all over the place but those units will NEVER be in the running for the top prizes or pass inspection from snobs like me who have seen just about every shade of half assed restorations. The big problem I see going forward is parts. The highest level restorations require fast disappearing goodies. Just the elementary stuff like correct spark plug wire sets, exhaust system components, battery cables, wiper blades, etc. can only be had by beating the bushes really really hard and paying a ton of money. Here's one I hear all the time - well, someone should reproduce that, if they do they'll get rich! NO, NO it doesn't happen that way. I know from my very extensive experience that reproduction, after you spend a LOT of time finding a manufacturer willing to make that widget for you, is VERY expensive. One example, for several years I've been shopping around looking for a domestic manufacturer willing and able to manufacture correct battery cables. Finally found one but the fixed costs would be about 40K for 240 positive and negative cables. Another example, 77/78 280 front and rear bumper ends, 10k for the mold and you would need 4. Chris @ S30 World, my hat is off to you and I sincerely hope you live to a healthy very old age! I know you have a TON of $ invested in your very nice tanks. PS, best of luck with your hand brake cables. Yes, his cars are for his personal collection. It's late and I'm getting sleepy.

Folks, with the current gas price seem to keep increase whenever I hit the gas station. This gave me a great motivation to take a look at the whole fuel hoses. I drop the tank and pay more attention to the hoses around the vent tank. I replace all the hoses, again. I have driven and emptied couple of tanks and noticed a nice swoosh sound when open the filler cap when the tank is close to empty. I believe that’s the negative vacuum the fuel pump created as it pump the fuel. I don’t smell a slightest fuel anymore. What confirmed to me is that I’m getting more mileage for a gallon. I used to get about 14-16 mpg and always thought that isn’t right. Just never occurred to me the fuel vapor could contributed to this low mileage. Always thought vacuum leak or running rich and never able to pin point to anything definitive. I was neglected this problem because gas prices was relatively cheap compare to today 😉 well, weather is getting hot everyday. AC is on most of the time and I’m getting 19-20mpg consistently for the last couple of fill ups. I read somewhere people able to get 28mpg. They must have tune the car to tip-top shape or always driving down hills 😉 anyway, I’m happy with the improvement and able to keep the environment a bit greener, especially my wallet is definitely greener. That’s important these days 😉. just thought that I’d share. I’m sure we all DIYers keep out toys tip-top shape cheers

So I finally got the car sanded down as far as I was willing to go. I taped it all up over the last week or so and reset the booth. Then shot some SPI white epoxy over that. It's a little different than what I am familiar with. It will fish eye if you lay the first coat on too heavy. Being white it can be hard to get full hiding coverage. I may stack some high build tomorrow. I've got 7 days to coat. We'll see...

The body is on hold waiting for some replacement metal, so I decided to tackle the heater box and other small stuff.. It was in rough shape. I think it was go to party place for the mice. I had to remake one of the flaps, create a new spring, and get rid of a lot of rust. I got lucky and had some products left over from past restorations that I could use. Hood insulation from a BMW worked great for the foam around the heater core and headliner material from an FJ40 for the flaps. The older I get the less trips to the store I have to make.

And let's not forget that it's listed on "anything goes" CraigsList where for the $5 listing fee you could call it a custom bodied Corvette since there's no title.

Jackpot! I knew there was a zcar antenna around somewhere. I went out to the shop and gave a look around. I thought I had previously gone through all the boxes. For some reason, I missed it. In the bottom of a box was this electric antenna wrapped in a bag. I am pretty certain it came out of my Dads 77 280 right after he bought it. He was into CB radios and bought an antenna that would work with a radio and a CB. The original antenna went into storage. About 30 years ago my mom said I am throwing out all this old car stuff, so come get what you want. I did. The 280 antenna looks to be very similar to the 240. The tip unscrews and the mounting hardware is mint. I fell like I won the lottery. The switch to the right looks to be an early 240. The switch that was attached to the antenna looks to be factory, but I just dont know the 280's very well.

The finished parts shelves are slowly filling up. Note the electric antenna with the pointy tip! That was a bitch to get back working. The plastic cable had come loose from the mast. I heated up the mast and was able to join them back. Not to mention all the crud and corrosion inside. The next to top section has a bend, so at full up it looks like a commercial for Peyronies disease! But it does go up and down, very smoothly. I need to source some new exterior hardware for the antenna. Wish I could find a new mast. I guess I could buy a NOS one on ebay for 4k! Crazy.

Yellow and black = Fuel sending unit. Green = fuel pump power.

We ended up cleaning the terminals on the dropping resistor and now the car idles really well. After the fact, we measured all of the injectors through the ECU connector and they all ready ~10.5v. I checked the dropping resistor power wires, the main power wire was battery voltage and the one on the top left was around 10.5v (same as the injectors). Not sure if that's how its supposed to be, but now it's idling well.

I took the 240Z out for Caffeine and Chrome this morning. The original plan was to drive the 260Z, but it was having an issue this morning that seems to be fuel related. I almost got rear-ended by a woman who didn't believe in proper following distances, but that was the end of the drama for a while. The great thing is that the heat took a break this morning. After a while, I had a nice chat with a gentleman who recently purchased a 70 from BaT. I provided him quite a bit of Z Car info.

To illustrate zspert's points, here are a couple of photos of VIN 19769 (01/71), taken from the nicely-documented BaT listing when the car was up for sale in 2016. Both paint and lack of paint are in evidence, depending on the location on the underside.

Making progress!

You love to see it... (I promise the rest of the tach lighting is on—just didn't come through in the pic—as are the 3 dash-top gauge lights) So plugged in the 4 side markers one at a time and checked the circuit after each. As near as I can tell, I plugged in the front left side marker wires backward. The engine bay was blacked out at some point in the car's past (it's not any more) and the wiring harness—and its wire colors—painted over, including the wires to the side markers. I just hadn't done a good enough job of matching black to black and green to green the first time around. So that's done. Still no brake lights though, and while the turn signals work on the right side, only the front left works. I've checked and re-checked the wiring; will keep at it tomorrow. Just wanted to share progress and a couple of pics.

It does have louvers in the hood and battery and M/C lids sort of in the style of a true Scarab. But, no sign of ever having a rear spoiler or Scarab emblems.

I think Carl is intending "expected value" rather than an intention of sale value. I also think Carl premised fairly well as that would be around my "expected value" of my cars. Chris is showing us really nice workmanship. "The restoration work on the one that sold for $70K+ would take a year or two of the owners work, and an addition $60K to $80K to duplicate, on top of the purchase price of the car to start with. $70K for 240Z in that condition was a bargain today." $80 - $100K in my opinion. Plus the original cost of the car.

I think the only thing this Z has in common with a Scarab is a V8 motor. No Scarab emblems or other identifying markings.