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Thanks for the advice, guys. I had the dealer put it on a lift and send me detailed pix of the underbody, wheel wells, door openings and rocker panels so I could check for rust. No issues there. In fact, everything looked almost brand new, which is what I expected from a car with only 18,000 on the odometer. Car had been used by an older woman in Springfield, MO its entire life so exposure to salt was likely minimal. Had the sales guy send me a video of his driving around and then doing quick starts in a big parking lot. Car performed as expected too. I got back at 11 p.m. EST last night from Jefferson City, MO with the "new" xD in tow. No real problems doing that other than moderate all across Indiana after dark, so headlight glare and semi spray made for an interesting time. Fortunately, there was no wind so I didn't have to worry about a wandering trailer. I haven't yet posted pix of the wrecked car so here are some of those just to show you how well it held up in a violent crash - which is one reason that I wanted to get the same model of car. That last photo shows one of the headlight cases stuck in a tree over the creek from when I was flipping end-over-end. If you look below it at about 6 o'clock you'll see a red rectangle there in the tree as well. I think that's a backing frame for the right taillight. Very happy to have walked away from that with just a broken rib from the shoulder belt.

At some point (it may have already passed...) it will become necessary to define what market sub-variant is being referred to. Production date will also be a factor with regard to detail changes. For example: I have a no-hole 'splash pan' hanging up on the wall of one of my garages. Obviously the splash pans were part of the original design for the L-Series engined cars across the board (because the fixing points are there on each car and we see them in the early factory literature) so the question then becomes whether they were being fitted consistently across all markets and models. USA/Canada may have been an outlier here considering the other examples of de-contenting in those markets. I can't imagine why dealers would go to the trouble of removing them from new cars? Here in the UK the splash pans had a reputation for not being re-fitted after servicing (especially after an oil change) but that was typically laziness rather than any kind of policy. I remember we had several conversations on here about the splash pans in the past. The finish question (as far as I remember) concluded that the photos in the service manuals may have used unpainted (Zinc plated?) pans to allow them to be seen more clearly, but there were anecdotes of silver (?) pans being sighted on production cars too. My experience is that all of the 'early' style (no holes) pans I have come across were painted black and I have certainly seen black painted pans supplied as replacement parts, complete with Nissan parts sticker. So - in reference to this "eZperts" thread - I don't think it will be possible to make a definitive conclusion as to whether a particular car would have had a splash pan or not, apart from pointing out that it was part of the original design...

@kats I think I have worked out the date codes for the glass. If you look carefully the small dots "." are placed differently for the date. On "01606", a Jan 1970 that was on BAT there are three dots, one after Temperlite, just in front of ASAHI, under the "I" in ASAHI. They signify Dec 1969. On the 1973 Green 240Z currently on BAT you can see the dots are in a different position to "01606"

I did a Google about BAT and found some interesting info. Kind of answers my wonderment question. https://www.autoweek.com/news/industry-news/a32712976/hearst-autos-acquires-bring-a-trailer/

You better. Because pics or it didn't happen!

One of our members was just asking me about splash pans. My cars don't have them. This was my reply. "I have a collection of images from the first service manuals (ala 1970) showing the splash pan. I think I got these from Kats some time ago. Notice how the pan doesn't have any holes in it. And, despite the color loss from the photograph, the pan is silver."

@ckurtz2 I applied the JB Weld and screen material just to the areas around the cracks or voids. I went so far as to also reinforce the rivet areas as well. Any excess epoxy or screen was removed with an xacto knife and light sanding with my dremel tool.

I have achieved good result using JB Weld Plastic Bonder and reinforcing the back of the panels with sections of window screen to strengthen the area and provide a good base to fill any voids.

Hi Kats. You were my inspiration in my car’s restoration, so happy to be able to return the favor in some small way. Dan

I had to laugh, probably because I was expecting the result from the title of the thread. I think we have all had the opportunity to say, "Well that was stupid!" while we were working on our cars. You just have video evidence.

"ZCCA judges can tell it at one glance." Kats, you give them too much credit. Most ZCCA judges are Z owners just like you and me and are occasionally incorrect in their assessment. I am sure a number of the ZCON participants here can point out quite a number of ZCCA judge errors. Unfortunately, you usually don't find out until 4 months later when you get your official judging sheet.

Arnie, A 'GS31' prefix indicates a '2/2' variant Fairlady Z, Fairlady Z-L or Fairlady Z-T model made after the big update to Japanese safety and emissions standards in 1976. The 'S31' prefix indicated the compliance to the new standards, but it was still technically part of the S30 series. Body serial number 010623 on a GS31 prefix would imply 1977 build year, and likely June to August build months ( you can cross-reference parts on the car for a more accurate build date ). Engine would have been an L20 six with Nissan EGI injection, and NAPS ( Nissan Anto Pollution System ). Transmissions on these would have been either 4-speed manual, 5-speed manual or Auto, depending on model and/or chosen options. Lots of interesting little doo-dads on these cars: Higher-specced models had electric windows, remote-adjust mirrors and 'eyeball' interior lamps etc. If you plan the part out the car, you might get some interest from the HybridZ crowd as a parts donor for LHD to RHD conversion? Oh, and I think the handbrake / emergency brake needs adjustment...! Here are some S31 sales catalogue scans that you might find of interest: Cheers, Alan T.