Carl Beck

Bidding ended at $50,100.00 Reserve not meet.. Should have been left in its original Camel Colors... FWIW, Carl B.

Yes - Kroil penetrating oil - Aero-Kroil in the spray can - would be the best. The problem is you have to order it on-line, then wait three of four days to get it. In my opinion - everyone that is working on 30+ year old cars - should order a couple cans of <a href=http://www.kanolabs.com/ TARGET=NEW> Aero-Kroil</a> before starting to work on the car. -yes, it is that good-. Use often, it saves a huge amount of time, that would otherwise be spent on drilling and taping broken bolts/striped nuts etc. PB-Blaster can be purchased at just about any auto parts store... It's a stop gap measure while waiting on the Kroil to arrive. OK: Put the longest box end wrench you have on the oil drain nut - hold the wrench firmly in place and hit the other end with a swift and firm smack from your heavy brass hammer. If it doesn't break loose on the first hit - you didn't hit it hard enough. Hit it again and this time like you mean it. The sudden application of dynamic torque is far less likely to strip the threads, than trying to use a more progressive application of static torque applied by a breaker bar. What's that you say? - you don't have large brass hammer either! Go To: <a href=http://www.mcmaster.com/ TARGET=NEW> McMaster-Carr</a> Enter Item Number: 5978A16 in the search box to the left. You should see: 3lb Brass Hammer with wooden handle $36.84 Now with these two essential tools in your garage, you are ready to work on old Z's. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Bob: When he was working on finalizing his book; Mr. Evanow went to the Nissan Storage Facility to see what Vintage Z's were still there. Because when he left Nissan's employ, he knew some of them had been retained by Nissan. There in the dimly lit environment, the dust and dirt covered cars were crammed in side by side. Four stock looking 240-Z's were setting together, so Mr. Evanow took the VIN's off them, believing them to all be Vintage Z's. As it turned out one of them was not. I know this because we were more or less constant communication during that period. The picture below was taken "after" the storage facility had been opened up and most of the stored vehicles had been rolled out of the way, but you can see the thick dust on a couple of the 240-Z's still sitting there. Look at the thick dust on the white Z! As mentioned, when Nissan was moving their H.Q. they decided to sell off many of the cars they had warehoused, so they opened the storage facility and as they cleared the cars and boxes etc out - blew the dust and dirt off the cars - they found that the car DougN has, was not a VZ. Just prior to that, even the people working at Nissan thought they had 4 VZ's that they were going to sell. Recall the initial note put out to the Z Car community via Paul G of the ZCCA? Anyway - that put the number down from 38 to 37. I had reported in error a friends VZ VIN... of course it did not show up on Mr. Evanows list. The car had the VZ Plaque, window decal and it looked the part in every physical sense. So Mr. Evanow may have thought the number was back at 38. In effect one taken off the list and one added. Oops.. my mistake! Upon verification it turned out the car I had reported, once the correct VIN was obtained - was in fact on Mr. Evanows list. So the number is back at 37. Toward the end of the Program - Nissan Press Releases and some of the Nissan employees interviewed by the media were saying that "about" or "something like" 40 cars had been completed. It is my present belief that they were simply rounding the number up - not really knowing what the final number would be and the number 40 stuck in everyone's mind. It just strikes me as odd that to-date, not one VZ has shown up - that isn't on Mr. Evanows list. Not that we haven't been trying to find more... FWIW, Carl B. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Chris: It may be years before we have a "final word". I really don't see an honest mistake, recognized and corrected as indicative of the entire list being less creditable. So no - I don't see a "double standard" of belief or disbelief being applied. Simply a matter of working to verify the cars on the only list that we have. At this point, at least 28 of the 37 remaining on the list, after DougN's Z was taken off - have been found to be correct. No VZ's have been found to date that are not on Mr. Evanow's list. Could one or two show up later? Sure... but until it does, 37 is the best number as far as I'm concerned and Mr. Evanow's list is the only one we have to work with and so far it's proven to be pretty accurate. If not perfect it is the best available evidence at this point. Is it the final word? Right now its the only word, from anyone directly involved, who made a serious effort to account for them all and publish the VIN's. Far more than 37 240-Z's were purchased by Nissan for the Program - but many of them were simply parted out, some were beyond reasonable repair, and some were left unfinished when the program came to an end. Mark at Datsun Alley purchased all remaining parts cars, body shells that were in several of the body shops used, as well as huge quantities of new parts accumulated for the program. A friend of mine just sold one of the bodies he had used for a race car, that he purchased from Datsun Alley, after the VZ Program came to an end. Mark said he thought he had about a dozen or more body shells / parts-cars, that he purchased from Nissan at the end of the VZ Program. Another friend of ours used one of the shells to restore one of his cars, then another was sold some years ago on E-Bay along with the spare parts needed to put a car together.. Perhaps some of the VIN's you have recorded were from some of the donor cars or body shells not used. You might want to publish them so we can all start looking for them as well. FWIW, Carl B.

Not as I recall. You start disassembly with the panel that has the overhead light, then do the quarter window panels, then the rear side panels, then take the rear finisher out. They do overlap.... if you look at them you can see what is on top of what... but without running out to the garage... I'm pretty sure you start at the front... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Randy: The Dark Green A/T is the only VZ we've found so far in that color. Carl B.

Courtesy Nissan in Richardson, Texas has supported the Classic Z Car Enthusiasts on line since 1987. They are a Recommended Vendor for the Internet Z Car Club - and to become a recommended vendor on that sight you have to have received at least 100 unsolicited recommendations/commendations from the members of the IZCC. The IZCC takes on commercial advertising nor commercial sponsorship. (Ad's can't be bought there - nor can recommendations) You may also notice that Courtesy helps to sponsor this site... The guys at Courtesy not only know what a DATSUN is.. some of them actually drive them!! A toll free call usually gets the parts you need delivered to your door - sans local sales tax.. which offsets the usual shipping costs.. How can you beat that? Courtesy Nissan Richardson(Dallas), Texas E-Mail To: "Courtesy Nisssan, Inc." sales@courtesyparts.com Web Site: Order On-line At: <a href=http://www.courtesyparts.com TARGET=NEW>http://www.courtesyparts.com</a> Call Toll Free To Order: 1-800-527-1909 Toll Free FAX: 1-800-382-7891 Open: M-F 7:00AM-7:00PM CST, Sat. 7:00AM -3:00PM CST

None that I know of right now. I have one VZ owner that is "thinking about" selling his.... but so far no firm decision, nor a firm price. On the buyer side I have a list of four people waiting. Several have been either sold on E-Bay - or generated enough free advertising that they were pulled from the site and sold - or sold after the auctions ended... Watch E-Bay and Hemmings... FWIW, Carl B.

Fortunately for you - you have owned the car for 13 years. No question in your mind that it's a Black Pearl Edition. Very few people would have bothered to create a clone back then - and try to pass it off as the real deal. You also have more documentation than many... Make perfect sense to me. As does your earlier statement quoted below: As I recall - the last Black Pearl on E-Bay with 20 some thousand original miles, in near pefect condition sold pretty quickly for $25K or $26K. On the other hand if you started with a ragged out example - and actually restored it - you'd be spending over $50K today. FWIW, Carl B.

Your dad-in-law has some very good friends... hard to buy all the parts needed for that amount... Around here it's normally $375.00 to $450.00 FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Michael: The program you are referring to is commonly known as the Vintage Z Program (as has been mentioned;-) . The Internet Z Car Club maintains a classic car register specifically for the Vintage Z's on the <a href=http://zhome.com/IZCC/ZRegisters/VintageZ.htm TARGET=NEW>Z Car Home Page</a> As far as we know to-date, 37 Datsun 240-Z's were repurchased, remanufactured and resold by Nissan through one of the 10 Authorized "Z Stores" located around the Country. With so few having been completed, it's no wonder you haven't seen any. Most are now in the hands of Collectors and/or held by some of the Dealers for display. Every once in a while you might see one auctioned on E-Bay. Lately they have been selling for between $25K to $35K. You can order Pete Evanow's book from Amazon.com - he was a project manager for Nissan involved directly with the Vintage Z Program, and he has a chapter related to that program. Z - 35 YEARS OF NISSAN'S SPORTS CAR PETE EVANOW ISBN -13: 978-0-7603-2181-2 ISBN-10: 0-7603-2181-7 Published 2005 by Motorbooks "Were the cars any good?" - - Yes, very good. Given the price - the Vintage Z's represented an excellent value. I doubt that anyone could duplicate them for less than $65K today. If you are considering another Datsun 240-Z today - shop, shop and shop some more. Buy quality not price. Buy the best quality car you can afford - they almost always cost less than the lower priced car in the short run. Rust is the biggest killer of the Datsun 240-Z's so the condition of the body is of the utmost import. If you are looking for an example that has been restored or nicely refreshed - look for complete photo documentation of the process, invoices for parts etc. Shop, shop and shop some more. good luck, Carl B. Carl Beck Clearwater, FL USA http://ZHome.com

Oh Stephen, now I remember you !! Put that buffer down - and step away from the car! Carl B.

"if they exist"... See window stickers below. One with the SAP at $199 and one without the SAP. No way to tell if the SAP was more popular than the non-SAP equipped cars. It's possible the people that wanted the SAP equipped cars simply kept them in better shape, and today more of them are in existence. Who knows? As with all Classic, Collectible and Special Interest cars - Documentation, documentation, documentation. That is the best way to tell the real thing from a clone. That is also why a full documented example will sell for more money and sell faster. FWIW, Carl B.

THEN For one it comes from me, because I worked for Datsun in 75. Secondly see post #2 again. The SAP was "available" as an extra cost option on the Black Pearl Edition, not standard. True - at least for North America. Not True - - Again, see post #2 - That Dealer Sheet was to announce the availability of the SAP - not the Black Pearl Edition 280Z. The SAP was "AVAILABLE" on the 2 seater coupe with Black Pearl Metallic Paint. That is why they listed the Package Content for the SAP, which was only available from the factory on the Black Pearl Edition 280Z. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Alan (everyone): I'd be surprised if Datsun Competition USA actually sold more than a dozen of the complete Factory G-Nose kits. I'm sure they sold far more pairs of the headlight covers and hood hinges for use on various after-market knock-off's, ran mostly on the street. The first aftermarket copies were pretty high quality as well, but as time drove price competition, copies of the copies were being made and the quality of the parts went down with the price. Sadly the lowest price units sold the most... The G-Nose doesn't seem to have made it into the Datsun Competition Catalogs here until around 1976. At that time they were $1,100.00 from Nissan. While the after-market supplied them initially for $675.00, then later the less expensive copies were around $450.00 Looking at the cost/benefit in terms of the "aero" effect for performance, most of the racers here used some type of front air spoiler and rear air spoiler from 1970 on. The BRE Spook was around $45.00 then and the rear spoiler was around $65.00. The BRE headlight covers were around $65.00 a pair then as well. So $175.00 vs $1,100.00, or $675.00 for a good copy vs $1,100.00 - - - wasn't much of a choice for most. This usually being added to a three to five year old 240-Z, that sold then in the market for around $1,800.00 to $2,500.00. At the time not really big money cars nor racers... So I'm sure that the $1,100.00 price on the factory G-Nose put a lot of prospective buyers off. California like Florida has always been filled with fiberglass specialists related to the fiberglass boat industry. So lots and lots of low overhead suppliers were looking for anything to supplement their incomes. The buyers here expected low prices on fiberglass parts... Looking that the "aero" tests done by Car & Driver in 74 Stock 240-Z Lift at 70mph Front 140lbs. Rear 20 lbs Fuel Economy as a measure of Drag - Adding the complete G-Nose kit: Lift at 70mph Front 45lbs Rear not given Improvement in Fuel Economy + 1.2 mpg Adding the BRE Spook, Rear Spoiler & Headlight Covers Lift at 70mph Front 35lbs Rear 40lbs Downforce Improvement in Fuel Economy + 1.4 mpg By 1975/76 with the introduction of the 280Z and the IMSA competition we started to see the G-Nose applied at least in appearance. Like the race cars in Japan, the G-Nose used on the track, was combined with an even lower front air spoiler. So far we haven't seen that combination tested, but there is little doubt that the additional front spoiler below the G-Nose would have yielded a significant improvement. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Alan: It seems that everything evolving, moving over time, in the 70's with all the factory teams was at least linked, if not directly related. The IMSA Series was set up with "rules" that would encourage professional racing participation by as many factory teams as possible. Over the years, talking to the guys involved - they felt that the driving force in the establishment of the rules - was Porsche. So whatever Porsche had, was using or needed to use - was allowed in the rules for everyone else. that was the story from the Pits anyway... FWIW, Carl B.

You do not necessarily lose top speed when you install a lower ratio rear gear with the 5spd. The stock L24 has 150HP and it will only pull that 3.36 rear gear to certain RPM points, which is well below it's redline. The amount of available HP is what limits the stock 240-Z to around 120 mph in the first place. If you look at the calculator you reference - you will see that "IF" the stock L24 could pull the car to its redline in 4th gear - it would be going 175 MPH! - - of course it can not. The stock L24 can pull the 240Z to about 120 to 125 mph in 4th gear - which means it turning about 5600RPM... By installing a lower ratio rear gear with an overdrive 5th, it makes it possible for the engine to pull it to a higher RPM range with the same hp. Put a 3.9 rear gear in and the stock L24 will pull that to about 6689 RPM at 120.. In 71 - Car & Driver found that putting a 5spd. (with a 0.85 overdrive) in with a 4.44 rear gear (an overall gear ratio of 3.774) allowed the L24 to pull up to it's red line in 5th - adding 15 mph to it's top speed. So no - you do not necessarily lose top end with a lower over-all gear ratio... FWIW, Carl B.

Yes, I was just 30 then - and what was $15.00 is now $150.00... Seems like yesterday... Carl

The different transmission styles are shown on the <a href=http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/69-83TrannyShifterDrawing.jpg TARGET=NEW> Z Car Home Page</a> Note the Top Cover Plate on the 72-79 four and five speeds, there is none on the 80-83's <a href=http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/GearRatios.html TARGET=NEW>Transmission and Rear End gearing </a> is listed there also. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Chris: One good piece deserves another...here's mine... FWIW, Carl B.

I think so - you could not begin to build, let alone finish something like this for less than $45K... plus the value of owning a real piece of Datsun history. It's not "just" a pace car- It's "the DATSUN IMSA Pace Car" that you can take out on the track today and run Vintage/Historic events with. "SharpSight Motorsports performed a complete mechanical freshening including the engine, clutch, brakes and shocks. All safety equipment is installed and functional including roll bar, fire system, belts, window net and new fuel cell built to the original specifications by ATL. The engine is a professionally built Nissan OHC 2.8 liter inline six fed by triple Mikuni carburetors extensively modified for racing by Wolfcreek Racing. In its current state of tune the engine is producing well in excess of 300 reliable horsepower. All of the go-fast goodies are on this car such as Nissan Comp ceramic coated header and intake, MSD ignition, crank fire, Nissan Comp large capacity oil pan, Oberg oil filter, adjustable suspension, Wilwood brakes and Goodyear Eagle Radial slicks (25.5/14 x 16 on the rear and 23.5/10.5 x 16 on the front). The transmission is an ultra-rare 5-speed Nissan Comp Option 2 Direct Drive transmission. Included in the purchase price are the HSR and SVRA log books, a photographic album of the restoration and a professional freshening of the engine" FWIW, Carl B.

It's the real thing - I'd "guess" at least $45K.. perhaps higher. Most likely a bargain at anything under $50K to $60K FWIW, Carl B.

Please remember you said "Please let me know what you think." I Think: a) A First Generation Z is NOT a "she". He is a big powerful brute that whisks you off your feet and carries you away. He is a stallion.. a thoroughbred... a decathlon athlete.. a conqueror and champion that decimates all competition for your heart. That big long hood and straight six pounding beneath it has to stir basic instincts at the subconscious level. OK - now go pick another song that fits the above.. - VBG - We all know what a Z looks like - there should have been more shots of you in the video. c) You were holding the camera when the power slide around the corner was done... so who is driving your baby???? If it was you, then I want to see you doing it... d) That if this was your first video - you have raw talent right out of the box. Keep at it.. Timing on images and flow of the music was very good. Music selection was great...for what you wanted to convey... e) If you go to the garage at midnight to look at it - then their should have been a few frames showing that... door opens, lights go on... Z sitting there... I wish I had an ounce of artistic ability... I don't .. so don't take anything I "think" too seriously... regards, Carl B.

Other than the picture - are you going to tell us anything about the car? Carl B.

Hi Andy: There are points in your life that mark certain "transitions". You seem to at one of them now. It sounds like you have your priorities set in the right direction. Get a good education now between the ages of 19 and 25. Put everything else aside and focus on that. Put the Project up for sale... Set a price on the disassembled body and all original parts. Then put a price on all the new stuff you have bought. The new stuff you'll lose about 50% on, the car you'll just have to chalk it up to "education". You learned how to take it apart.. got some hands on experience that is all worth what you paid for the car to begin with. So cut your loses short and bail out.. In effect your making the transition from a kid living at home... to a man going forward to develop your future. All transitions in the future will cost you something... If you recognize them, bit the bullet and do whatever it takes to get through them - you'll find that will always be the quickest, easiest and least costly path. Hemhaw, dillydally and screw around refusing to face reality - and you'll waste a lot of time that could have been otherwise more productively spent, and you'll dump even more of your resources into the delay... that will all be a waste. I'm 62 now - but believe me when I say that I remember being 19 like it was yesterday. With the full recognition that we all have to make our own mistakes, I also believe that it is possible to learn from others {otherwise why go to college to begin with?}. Getting a good education was the best thing I've ever done for myself and it paid a lifetime of benefits. But like you now - I sacrificed a lot for it at the time. Bottom line - as much as it hurts mentally at the moment - dump the project, clear your parents garage out - and move forward. Later you'll have the time and money to do what you want... good luck Carl B. Carl Beck Clearwater, FL USA http://ZHome.com