motorman7

Track Day/Autocross is on Saturday along with the People's Choice Car Show at Qualcomm stadium. That will be a great event; Check out the racers and the cool cars all on the same day. It's tailgate time! Also, Race Legal will be hosting the Z's Friday night at Qualcomm if Saturday is not enough for you. You can still sign up for all of these events at the website. ZCON 2014

Yes, I was a bit annoyed at the exhaust fume comments as well. To this day, my 1970 240Z still has NO exhaust fumes in the cabin, and I still have ALL of the original 44 year old weather stripping in place and the original exhaust system. Brakes also work great. Yes, he probably could have driven a much better vehicle. Also, I was surprised by the poor door alignment on the drivers’ side. That’s a pretty easy fix and may help solve his exhaust issue.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I really am happy with how the car turned out. I am really looking forward to driving it and taking it to shows. Should be lots of fun. After this, I am sticking to Z's....I think Rich

Wow, I have been working on this for almost 3 years. I will never do another roadster restoration. I think I spent one year alone just getting the body prepped. Anyway, here are some preliminary pics of the car. I got the motor running and adjusted the carbs last weekend. Still need to bleed the clutch and brake lines. Once I do that, it will be drivable. Oh yes, and it needs an exhaust system. It is very loud right now. Can’t wait to drive it. The full resto blog is at: 1970Roadster Will try and post better pics next week with the car out in the sun. Rich

Cool, only 13 units from mine. Mine is HLS30-02614

Saw the topic and thought this car was perhaps the subject....a real steam powered 260Z

$12K may be a fair price dependent on the amount body rust. Interior looks very nice and motor is very original as are most of the parts. Dash shows no cracks. Luggage straps may be under the new rear carpet, that piece is not original. Would be interesting to check out. I hate that black side molding, but otherwise may not be too bad.

Congrats on a beautiful car and a great award! Sounds like it was a great show. Rich

Congrats on the new Roadster! Got one in my garage as well, though mine is still about 4 months away from being complete. The lines on the car are just gorgeous. The hood and front end have some of the best lines. Love the color also. Best regards, Rich

So, I figured I could do this on my roadster same as everyone else has done for their Z dashes. Sure enough, the final product came out looking pretty nice. I am very happy with the results. I must say, however, this was really a lot of work only because the dash seemed to be pretty warped. It wasn’t just a matter of cutting and filling the cracks, that part was pretty easy and took me about 3 Bumper bite applications to finish. The warped dash however was very obvious and took about 6 more iterations of Bumper Bite to get resolved, meaning it was a lot of work. Then, after putting on the second coat of texture paint and hanging to dry, the dash came un-hooked and dropped two feet to the concrete, resulting in two more applications of Bumper Bite on the end and repaint. Anyway, once the paint was on everything was looking pretty good. The texture finish is matte and picks up all finger prints that touch it so I put a couple coats of clear over the texture spray. That works out pretty well and gives the final finish which is a bit glossy, but very nice. I also go the original 44 year old clock working. I took the little motor apart and notice the gunk on the armature where the two brushes contact. I cleaned the gunk off with carb cleaner and used electronics cleaner spray on the mechanism and the clock started right up when I applied 12 volts. Pretty cool. After 24 hours it seems to run a couple minutes fast, but it is still running. Anyway, here are the pics. Hope to have the dash with gauges and glove box assembled and on car in the next week here or so. Making some pretty good progress. Rich

I am SOOOOOOO Jealous. The Pantera is one of my favorite all time cars ever....along with the GT40. If only

Congrats on picking up a nice looking Z. My S/N 2614 is about 50 units after yours. Mine was made in March of 1970 per the inside door tag

Looking forward to the Pics :classic:

Wow, have to be careful with my response here. In my opinion, the West Coast Nationals is a sales event, not a car show. Even the entrants have taken to mocking the car show portion of this event. Take a look at the 2012 stock 260Z class winners. First place was a 260Z with panels painted different colors and words spray painted on the car. ( I am searching for the pic but not finding it). Second place was Bob Heckendorf’s beautiful unrestored 260Z. Although, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I don’t consider this a serious car show. It is more than anything a great place to gather and talk Z’s and a way for Motorsports to sell a lot of parts. It used to be a show when they held it at the park on grass with trees for shade, and the focus was on the cars. Now it’s in front of the store on the hot SoCal asphalt with focus on all of the ‘bling’ you can purchase for your Z. This is not really something that I want to bring my Z’s to.

So I took a break from my 1600 Roadster restoration and went to the Benedict Castle Concours last weekend. The show was about 60 miles up the freeway, so it worked out well to take the Z out for a drive and show. My plan is to just do two shows a year. It’s always nice to take the old Z out for a drive, and socialize at the car show. This was the inaugural event. Special tribute was paid to Chuck Barris, creator of the Munster mobile, Bat mobile and other ‘Hollywood’ cars. The show benefited the teen challenge charities and was chaired by Barry Maguire of Maguire’s car wax. They had a Japanese class with a number of award winning vehicles in the line-up. Koji and Terry Yamaguchi of JCCS fame headed up the Japanese class and invited a number of their past winners to enter the show. On hand were a couple Mazda’s, 5 Datsuns, 2 Toyotas, a Honda and a Mitsubishi. And yes one of the Toyotas was a 2000GT, I got to line up next to him. Anyway, here are some pics from the show. For those interested in awards, the 2000GT took third, the Toyota 800 took second and the Z took first. Not bad. Link for show pics

It always depends on what you are looking for. If you want a Z to modify and customize, the craigslist Z may be a good choice, but I wouldn't put its value at much over 7K. I do like the e-bay Z and feel that it is probably a better investment. Seems to be much more original. Not sure if you would be able to get that one for $10K though. It appears to be fairly original which would improve the value. Either way, take your time and make sure you are happy with your selection. Best regards, Rich

It is great to see the Z Car Class added to this Concours event. I am hoping that other Concours events will follow their lead and start including the Japanese car classes. Until then we are relegated to 'Preservation' and 'Special Interest' Class.

Love that avatar Dave. Tempted to do the same

Very Nice! Sounds great.

Looks like a great project car. I would really like to second what Jim said here. Be very careful on what you may think about throwing away or replacing. Those clamps are works of art (my opinion as a mech engineer) and very pricey on e-bay. Same with your braided hoses if they are salvageable. You will hear a lot of complaints about those flat tops, but mine worked just fine. A Zed with flat tops is becoming increasingly rare. I restored a '73 several years ago...below is the thread if you are interested http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/open-s30-z-discussions/40016-1973-240z-refreshtoration-%96-901-silver.html Best of luck and enjoy the ride. Rich

Pics would help a lot for estimating worth. The price range based on your limited information would be anywhere $5K-$15K. Has it been repainted? Dash and interior condition? motor pics? frame rail pics? 'Unmolested' has a different meaning for each individual. It can mean anything from 'untouched' to 'the air cleaner on my V-8 doesn't stick out of the hood'. Offhand, sounds like you have a great car.....we just like the pics :-) Best regards, Rich

Wish I could remember exactly how it happened; I'd sell the secret. In some way I think a purse is involved and the magic words Michael Kors, Dooney & Bourk, or Coach

Thanks everyone, I really love the lines on the roadster…they are classic. This one is not a racer, but is very high in the cool factor department. I will keep things updated as they progress.

Hi Carl, Yes, I thought we were going with the red, but she felt that every roadster she saw was red, so she decided on a bright white to be different I guess. I like it. I haven't even color sanded it yet and it looks pretty nice. It should look pretty good with the badges and SST rails on the side, and re-chromed bumpers. Of course I'll keep the hub caps and stock rims for the shows. I will be picking up another Z this weekend. A 1971 with 91K miles and virtually no rust (just a bit at the battery tray). I will post latest pics and blog once it is in my garage. Attached are some teaser pics. Best regards, Rich

Boy, this has been a long project. Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel though. 1970RoadsterP13