Bonzi Lon

I find this an interesting thread also as I now own HLS30-00110, one of the first ones made, and HLS30-168500 (7-73) "the best model", one of the last ones made. The best of both worlds. Bonzi Lon

BRE-240Z: It should go back to the original blue. Look at the bottom of my siginature. I thought all of the interior had been sprayed with black paint to "freshen up" the look, but was very surprised when I took a very close look between the headliner and upper door vinyl and saw there was blue hiding. Blue and blue would be so nice, and somewhat rare from my reading so far. 26th-Z: That must be a factory driving light switch as it has the symbol of a lighted lamp and is a 3 way switch, down, center and up, however no driving lights on the car. The gas door knob is chrome metal and closes (locked) in the horozontal position. Must of been opened (up) in the photos. I was told the engine (block and head) were from a recently wrecked (1976) 260Z that had about 20K miles on it. HS30-H: I need ALL the cheering I can get no matter how far away it is. Bonzi Lon

Bump: I'm surprised there is only one comment on this find, so far. Don't worry, no one will hurt my feelings on what they say about this car, especialy since the threads about the early VIN cars and the prices thay "may" command. I figured the "more knowledgable" members would have something to say about it. Bonzi Lon

My clock has always worked, even ater sitting for 26 years. I guess it knows I'm a watchmaker/clockmaker and knows the consiquences of non performance. Bonzi Lon

Here are some more photos of the frame rails, floor pans and engine. Bonzi Lon

Got this home the other night and just got around to washing off 30 some years of dust and try to get some photos for everyone. All of the tags do say it IS HLS30-00110 with a build date of 12-69. The engine now is L26-56324, but originaly had L24-2796. Carbs are round top 4 screw and the balance tube is before emissions. Paperwork says he bought the block and head but swapped over all the other stuff. Hasn't ran in years and may need some electrical work checked over before trying to crank. Number 1 spark plug wire is not in the right position on the dizzy. Interior has been sprayed black, originaly blue. I can see blue on the headliner when I pulled it back to see for sure. Carpet is on the tranny tunnel and foot wells, no mats, rear deck carpet appears to be home made as the welting on the edges is a type of tape sewn on and there is a seam in front of the shock towers. Dash has 2 large and one small crack. Seats are not original as there is no little vents at the bottom of the backs. Seat brackets are solid. No shoulder belts. Very bottom of heater surround has been cut off to make way for the vintage AM-FM 8 track. Body has some issues as you can see the holes and wheel lips have been puttyed and is now bubbling through. Frame rails are in good shape, some bubbles at the bottom of front shock towers and the sheet metal above the frame rails. Floor pans are starting to rust but not too bad. Passenger side must of been forced up at one time. Hood has a good size dent on the front and some putty? or just some very bad paint as it has lots of cracks. Both bumpers have been tweeked a little, but repairable. All light in good condition, rear tail light trim is in glove compartment. The passenger rear corner by the tail light has a dent that didn't come out in the photos. All of the emblems are missing, No defroster lines on the back glass. Spare tire well is in very good shape and yes, that is a Bridgstone Super Speed Radial-20, 175SR-14 spare, with good tread on an original steelie. Have fun looking and feel free to ask questions. I still don't have any idea what I'm going to do with it as I have been asked if I would sell it many times before I even got it home or had photos of it to show. I have more photos of frame rails, floor pans and other places if needed. Bonzi Lon

1 Bravo 6: On my very late 240, roll glass down and slip on, must be tight to stay in place. Note: Clean roller very good before instalation so it won't leave a mark on the window. Experience showed me this. Bonzi Lon

hls30.com: Not many IF any British cars in this town. Out of the two car shows I've been to in this town I was the ONLY import and was well received, especialy by the bicycle crowd, boys and girls 16 and under. I watched the kids with their parents like 3 muscle cars down the line and then when the kids spotted mine they left their parents and made a bee-line straight for my car, as they had never seen any thing like it before. The looks alone attracted them like a magnet, but the 160mph spedometer really impressed them. They now know my car as I drive it around town and always get the wave and "cool car Mr., lay a scratch". Here are two Crosley's that were there just newly aquired by a friend of mine. Bonzi Lon

Speaking of variety, this is what I had to compete with at our local Antique Car, Truck and Tractor show. Lost out to a 48 Allis Chalmers. Who'd a thunk it? Bonzi Lon

Mike260z: pm sent. Bonzi Lon

Here are a few more pics, but remember the best way to view a color is in person as the camera and computer can do some strange things. For example the color of my garage doors are darker in the photo than they actually are in person. I leave for Tulsa in about an hour but will get "Painter Ray" on this first thing Monday morning. I will send what info I can on his paint system, and numbers which your painter can "tweek" to make yours darker. like the color you want. In my opinion the photos I post ARE a little darker than seeing the car in person, and it appears different in full sun as opposed to being in the shade. I do know he mixed blue, magenta and silver, then we added metalic and pearl, but will have to talk to him on the amounts of each of the add ins. I've worked side by side with a Graduate Gemologist for 20 years and in his business "Color IS Everything", it is all a combination of the following: Tone, Hue, Saturation, Reflection, Transparent, Translucent, Opaque, full sun, shade, reflected north white light, etc, and a few more I can't recall. Best of luck to you. Bonzi Lon

Its about a stones throw from Seneca and 31st Street South. Will be picking it up after the Tulsa show. Bonzi Lon

My garage is 32 by 38 feet and beleive you me it will fill up fast if you don't watch it. Also put a strong fence around it to keep the wandering Dodge Rams from trying to get in. Bonzi Lon

I have never regreted buying any car, it is after selling them that I wished I had kept them. Like the 57 Chevy 2 door post, bought for $250, sold for $200, the 63 Buick Hearse, bought for $500, traded for a Harley Sportster, the 63 Rambler 2 door Classic, bought for $200, sold for $400. But then there is the 75 Vette I would of loved to of watched in the crusher/shredder. I had many chances to sell my 240Z (Bonzi) over the 26 years it was in storage, but the thought NEVER crossed my mind to let it go for any price offered. Bonzi Lon

I took my camera with the intention of photos, but the garage was dark, the car was black and it was nearing sunset and beleive all you would of seen was a black photo. The shock mounted tag and the driver's door tag ARE in place. I have to wait a week or two to get it as this week end is the Tulsa car show that Cousin David and I are attending and his work schedual dictates when we can get it, (he has the trailer and the truck). Most of the 'unique parts' mentioned were from reading all of your posts about early VIN's and the differences over the 2 1/2 years I've been in the club. Mike B: I remember seeing worn carpet in the foot wells not mats, but will check it out. I'll gladly accecpt your check list of unique parts. As said, no defroster lines and couldn't see if it had a red dot mirror. Early steering wheel, no cut outs. Carl Beck: I did check out your list before going over just to see if it was there, but the guy had it so long just sitting I doubted it would be there. He doesn't even own a computer so had no idea how rare it was and was suprised how many calls he got on it. He had 3 calls while we were looking at it! He kept saying the original owner told him it was the 110th one on the boat when he was thinking about buying it. Thank you all for the congratulations. I kept telling myself, 'if I don't pull the trigger, I'm going to regret it forever'. I do have a few rare watches I can part with to help finance the purchace. This is the third Datsun I own and ALL of their VIN's end in ZERO! It has to be a Z thing. Photos WILL be posted as soon as it finally sees sunlight again. Bonzi Lon

I saw the ad in Sunday's Wichita Eagle as '70 240Z #110'. I called that moment to see if I had read the ad right. It is #110 and this is what I was told. He had purchaced it in 76 from the original owner, a Nebraska car, drove it a couple of years, and has been sitting in his garage as a project car since 78. He just never got around to working on it. Clock says 90K, title says he bought it in 76 with 76K. I made agangements to see it so went over this evening. All numbers are indeed #110, 11-69. It has a 260 engine with rountop carbs, put in by the original owner. He (person selling) wasn't sure what happened to the original engine. It has rust in all the right places, lower fenders, dog legs, quarter lips. Battery tray and area are in decent condition, all glass is very good, (slight scratch from driver side wiper rubbing). Frame rails are in very good condition, floor boards have some holes. Interior is in very good condition, plastic panels appear to have been painted black, console in good painted condition, 2 cracks on the dash, very good seats, original carpets worn in front, very good hatch carpet, speaker holes in the door panels. Paint was original dark blue, painted black by original owner and not a very good job, rear window louvers. Only things I could see missing were tool boxes, throttle lever missing, (he says he will look for it), quarter emblems (holes filled), side mirror broken beyond repair, one chrome on tail light needs put back on, its there though, no rear defroster lines, seperate key for rear hatch, no D wheel covers, front and rear bumpers slightly bent, can be straightened. All exterior lighting is very good, nothing broken or missing. Overall (I think) it is in good condition for a car this old and mostly all there. I know there are some things I am forgetting, so feel free to ask questions. I have to wait a week or two to get it as this week end is the Midwest Z-Fest in Tulsa, Bonzi's first REAL car show. I would of taken some photos but the garage was very dark and small and wouldn't of been of any use. Black car in a dark garage. It was a tough call on should I get it or not, but knew I'd never find another one with that low a VIN in this area, so I bit the bullit and bought it for what he was asking as he had calls from all over the country. I may have to sell a watch or two to help pay for it. Not sure what the future holds for it as if I keep it or re-sell it. I just couldn't pass up such a low VIN. Will post photos when it gets home to "Zedville". Bonzi Lon

I don't want to argue for arguments sake, but "Honda Fiji Blue Pearl" would be different than "Mitsubishi Fiji Blue Metalic". Each company has their own name, albeit almost the same color and name. The "pearl" and "metalic" make each one different. I know what I saw in the book and I picked what was as close to original, "115 Blue Metalic", as possible and "Painter Ray" tweeked it a little with more metalic and some pearl to come up with what I have, just a little darker. Therefore it would be a different color than either of the ones mentioned above. We called it "Bonzi Blue Metalic Pearl". If you want I can photo the chip, name and number from "Painter Ray's" book and the paint system he uses. Bonzi Lon

Mine is Fiji Blue Metalic, (1992 Mitsubishi import only) with a little bit more metalic and some pearl. The one shown looks a little darker than mine but then colors can appear a little off on a computer. I'm very pleased with the color. Bonzi Lon

This wasn't in the movies, but on 8-17-08, the program "CBS News Sunday Morning", was doing a story on how China was importing everything. About half way through they said, "remember the early 70's when Japan started importing cars in great numbers?" They then showed photos and films of acres of Z-Cars sitting at the docks, Z-Cars at the dealership and some Z-Cars driving on the freeway. They were only on for about 20 seconds but great to see them. I thought it was unusual to show ONLY Z-Cars. Bonzi Lon

I say welcome also. Mine sat in the garage/barn for 26 years and is now on the road. Life with a Z-Car is so much better the second time around. Bonzi Lon

This is what I used and am very happy with the results. I saw a thread quite some time ago and wrote the numbers down as I was too cheap to spend the $28.00 a can for original. It is "Dupli-Color High Performance Wheel Coating, WP-102 Graphite" (on the bar code), but had to have "HWP-102 Graphite" to order. It went on the steel wheels, wheel covers, tail finisher, and the grille. I first used it on the wheels and it looked way to metalic and shiny for what I was going for. I then used "Krylon Matte Finish #1311" over it after drying and it turned out great. I put my original grill next to it and could not see hardly, if any, difference in color or texture. I then went and did the tail finisher, wheel covers and grille just to have it all matching as I had a few chips on the grille and a scratch on the tail finisher. I think the only way you could tell the difference in colors from original is to have an original side by side, but then have to take into account the original would of had some fading from being 35 years old, or changed from exhaust fumes. We will see what the judges say at the Midwest Z-Fest in Tulsa later this month. I was also told by the person behind the counter that Dupli-Color had just purchaced Krylon, or was it the other way around. Don't remember. Here are some pictures of how it turned out. Like I said before, I am very pleased with the results. Bonzi Lon

Twenty some years ago I locked the keys in my sister's Camero. A bent coat hanger and 2 minutes later I had it unlocked and told myself "never again". Very embarrassing. So, every car I've had since gets a spare key wired up under it somewhere, very well hidden. I bought a used Saturn 12 years ago and did the same thing with the spare. To my surprise, about a month after pruchase, Saturn sent me an (emergency use only) spare key in a flat sleave to put in my wallet in case I locked myself out. That was unexpected and appreciated. Two years ago at the Branson Z-Fest, cousin David locked his keys in his ZX. I was driving his other ZX (4 years apart) and tried that key in the lock and lo-and-behold it unlocked it. About for or five other people tried their keys in his lock and it unlocked it also. Maybe these locks are not all that different after all. Bonzi Lon

That is the very hose I had to replace this spring, easy with the tank out. Please post photo of any markings on the top of the tank. If you have your evaporator tank off of its mountings, there may be a mark on its backside, facing the quarter panel, like the one on the fuel tank. Bonzi Lon

The thread is about Ohio, but other States should be listed, if possible. The only 4 rules from Kansas, came from the "Tag Lady" herself. (from my County) 1. Must be year of the vehicle made. 2. Must of been (at one time) a State issued (manufactured) plate (any county (105 to choose from), can be used as 'Historic') 4. Can not be any other plate of that combination in County of registration. 3. Must be legible. They make a photo copy of it, send it to the State, the State requires a signed affidavid (form) to validify said plate. Plate stays with vehicle until sale and can be transfered with vehicle after sale. Antique and Historic plates are taxed minimum each year. ($17.50 this year) Bonzi Lon

soundmasterg: Funny you should mention a Volvo 1800S. A buddy has one and now is preping it to paint by "Painter Ray" that did my Z in November. He was impressed with the quality and talked him into painting it this week. Bonzi Lon