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If a sermon could save even one soul it would be worth preaching. I think you'd find - if you gave it the benefit of the doubt - a smattering of eager listeners in "this crowd" who would appreciate the chance to hear what you have to say. If we don't deserve it, then who does? You might look at the current exchanges on this forum and see members eagerly conversing with what appears to be an Artificial Intelligence 'bot, but over the years some of us have drilled pretty deeply into the story of these cars, the people and circumstances behind them and into their very fabric. I can think of few other open source platforms where this has been made available in the English language. Hopefully (!?) much of that still exists here and is - with effort - searchable for those who are curious and/or passionate enough to know. At the very least, put it out there before you can't. Pro Bono. Thanks.

Built my custom 86 Z31 300zx over 4 years. It took best in show from Pit&Paddock/Meguires at SEMA 2021. The inspiration for my build was the 240z my dad and I restored together. A car that I found as a teemager back in 1993. My dad finally acquired his last dream car, a white on tan 993. Only problem was, he ran out of garage space. He was planning on selling the orange car but just couldn't bring himself to let it go. So he made me a deal I couldn't refuse on the safari gold car. Amazing to have both cars together!! " " " " " " " " " "

You've pretty much answered your own question there. And when it comes down to it, we'd have to judge it as a success in those very marketing terms let alone anything else. The press loved it. The project caught the imagination and support of influential figures in the North American Z 'scene' - including the kind who insisted it was a first for a major manufacturer (it wasn't) and "unique" in the auto manufacturing world (it wasn't). Those same figures still vaunt it today. We've certainly discussed the topic here on classiczcars.com many times over the years and our fellow member @26th-Z wrote what I believe is the definitive essay on the VZ cars. It was - when all is all said and done - a big deal in the story of the Z car's mid-life crisis. But as is often the case, the hype and commentary from offstage created unrealistic expectations. The misleading term 'Factory Restoration' was thrown around a lot and many swallowed it whole, including members of the specialist press. The VZ cars often get judged as though they were intended to be 100% factory correct concours restorations when that was clearly never the case. You can see the same thing happening in the current BaT auction. LOL. Another bunch of answers to your "why are the Vintage Z valued so highly?" question in there. It's the kind of people appearing in that video - and mentioned in it - who are part of the hype. High profile figures in the old Z car world, but often too the Typhoid Mary-like spreaders of bad information. Whilst looking in the engine bay of a VZ car we get the words 'Nickel' and 'Cad' plating thrown around (its mostly Zinc...) and a false story about the commissioning of re-pop braided hoses (Nishi san of Revive Jalopy in Japan was responsible for this and for many other previously unobtainable parts too). We even see a modern fuel filter pointed at as though it is some kind of ancient relic. Some typical 'Mr K Lore' thrown in for good measure when discussing early cars/chassis numbers. Larry Chen asks "why is it that the US got the early cars and how come Japan didn't get the early numbers...?" and Jaffe's answer talks about the '240Z'. Japan did get early cars (they got them earlier than the US too...) but the problem here is the congenital misconception that the 'US 240Z' is something over and above the whole S30-series Z family as conceived, planned, designed, styled, engineered and produced before the end of 1969. To the point that anything else is some kind of afterthought. We get Katayama's "PUSH" related as a one-man quest to get 'his' project made rather than the more realistic scenario of him lobbying for influence on something that was already happening. Apparently Mr Carl Beck ('Z car encyclopaedia') "can tell you how many went to England, Australia and its all very limited...", but there's no mention of Japan in their 'Z car' story. You can look at pretty much any volume - and non-volume - selling sports car of the 60s and 70s period and see the same story; volume sales in the USA. But I've yet to see any Triumph, Austin-Healey, MG or Jaguar being vaunted as 'Made Expressly For The USA'. VW shipped just shy of 400,000 Type 1 Beetles into the USA in 1968 alone, so 'Made For The USA'? Mainland USA was the biggest single potential market for just about any product of the period concerned, but I would like to credit at least some US consumers as being sophisticated enough to see through all the "we made this for YOU" type sales slogans. So, why are the Vintage Z cars valued so highly? It's in large part due to the influence of the kind of people who had eight of them, and sold six of them to somebody who now has eight. Larry Chen will make a video about them! People listen, and look up to, movers and shakers like that. Our old BaT friend Larry Stepp (he's a BIG fan of the classiczcars forum) made a prediction the last time this current BaT auction VZ car was up for sale. He said it would be worth 250k USD in a few years. There's the hype. It's not so much to do with the physical details of the object (which is not too shabby, to say the least), it's the perceived kudos and status within a fairly small cohort of people who are looked up to as sooth-sayers and mystics. Buy "one of the 37" and - hey! - maybe you'll even get the pleasure of putting the hose clamps on 'the right way round'...

No sir, that's America's favorite Dad, Sheriff Andy Taylor played by Andy Griffith. You should stop what you're doing right now and start watching episode 1. 😁

280ZX Brake MC is ready to go! I tore this apart several years ago thinking it would be a short project, but the rebuild kit I had turned out to be for the one made by Tokico (large perforated disc residual valves) and this one is made by Nabco (small rubber duckbill residual valves, see below). I had messed around with trying to rejuvenate the reservoirs. I had read you could cover it in a solution of oxy clean and hydrogen peroxide gel under UV light for 24 hours and it would take the yellow out. It lightened it up, but they’re still clearly yellow. Super clean, though. I also did some chemistry on some of the hardware. The bleeders and reducers for this thing are not common sizes (the reducers are m16x1.0 to m10x1.0) and after two weeks of searching for replacements I gave up and decided to try chemically coating them. I didn’t want to do the hardcore hot bluing or zinc methods because of the chemicals, so I used the rust bluing method. Basically, you soak them in white vinegar to strip off the rust, zinc, and anything else on them. Then you paint them with a paracetic acid / salt solution (8 parts hydrogen peroxide:1 part white vinegar + as much salt as it will dissolve). Dry it with a heat gun and throw it into a double boiler. You’ll see the rust turn black, which is when it turns into iron oxide. Buff it with steel wool and repeat until satisfied, then soak for 24 hours in motor oil. They came out okay. I was hoping they would look more like the pistons, but this is what they look like after four rounds of the process, so it’s going to have to be good enough. Fingers crossed that they don’t just immediately corrode. You could also do the phosphoric acid version (cold bluing), but this makes a harder coating of iron oxide. Then I just had to hone the cylinder, flush it with 91% alcohol, wipe it out, and reassemble. I kept the Tokico 240Z reservoir caps since I didn’t wire the car for ZX caps (PN: 46020-U6701) with the fluid level sensors and don’t have the metal (PN: 46020-K2401) or plastic (PN: 46020-N6000) Nabco caps. Maybe later if I can find a set for less than €53.40. It looks pretty good after test fitting it. I’m waiting for a dust cover and O-ring in the mail, then I can install it and bleed the brakes.

And another step further down the rabbit hole......

Yep…..Had to make a space for my new toy…..I always thought the 1995 911 was the most beautiful Porsche of all times. IMG_8935.mov

Wargames. 41 is old.

No, no no. Ferris Beuller was in Weird Science. Have you been drinking? I have. 😁

SpeedRoo - If you're interested in more on this subject, like the 3 iterations, I'll be glad to talk on the phone or through email however this crowd clearly is fixated on that distant shiny object as opposed to facts on this greasy, dirty planet. I'll leave it at that. For those 2 chaps that responded to my question about the application of the replated parts. They will be going on what is probably my last restoration - 1972 Datsun 510 Wagon.

Challenging responses and punctuation at the end of every sentence. I especially liked the "Don't you have a mother?" comment. Now what?

A person could ask why any of the old 240Z's sell for high price. Or why people pay high prices for Bob Sharp cars. Or why first edition comic books sell for high prices. Collectors have their own values. Here's an article about the program. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/nissans-z-store-restored-240zs-might-not-have-made-the-company-any-profits-but-they-did-help-save-the-z/ Old pieces of colored paper sell for six million dollars! https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/05/style/superman-comic-record-6-million-intl-scli#:

Oh, and the last time I did an oil pan, I did things a little different. First the same: I bought a cork/rubber combo gasket like Datsun used originally and I used permatex gray (a very tiny bead) on both sides of the gasket. That tiny bead hopefully will not make it very difficult to get the oil pan off again if I ever need to. Hope I never need to, but hoping it won't be a battle if I ever do. After applying the tiny bead, I I torqued the pan into place and let the sealant cure. That much of the process is pretty much what I had done in the past. Then I did something different... After giving the sealant a couple days or so to cure, I went back, and ONE BY ONE, I removed the bolts, put some blue thread lock on them, and torqued them in again. My thinking on this is twofold: First, the gasket had time to compress and take a set. This was confirmed as I was taking the bolts out because some of them were looser than they were when I put them in couple days before. And second... The torque spec on those oil pan bolts is so small that It barely even compresses the lock washer. I'm thinking that maybe not even enough to prevent the bolts from loosening over time. So my theory, which is mine, is that the blue threadlock will keep the bolts torqued (even at such a low amount) while giving the gasket a day to take a compression set before final torque will keep the gasket under pressure. Won't know for a while how successful that whole thing was, but I'm hopeful!

Not so much trained but he does what he wants and gets what he wants I guess by just paying attention. He's the reason I get out of bed, his name is Rolex. I know what he wants and he knows what I'm about to do and runs and hides under the bed. Hates baths and toenail trims, cleaning his big ears are a weekly fight too. But I can't imagine my life without a good dog. So yeah I guess he is trained but I didn't do it, he did.

And I thought it was some hot asian chick who drove a Porsche... O_O

Yet another body blow to Nissan USA: ABC NewsNissan recalls over 480,000 vehicles in the US and Canada...Nissan is recalling more than 480,000 of its vehicles across the U.S. and Canada due to potential manufacturing defects that could cause engine failure