Carl Beck

Hummmm….to each his own - I guess. I would not expect that from Hot Rod Magazine. In the 50's the guys in my home town that assembled Hot Rods out of junk yard parts - actually took pride in their work - tried very hard to put something of obvious build quality together. I didn't see anything in this effort to be proud of ... Carl B.

Pictures???? Something is wrong… The original box should have a Part Number - what was that? Carl B.

If there is no frame damage? Looks like the entire front section is smashed. No wonder he won't show a single picture of the frontend damage. It's a Parts Car for sure.. and being a 260Z the desirable or valuable parts are limited.. If you paid $500.00 for it - you would be doing a lot of work saving parts - for very little money in the end.. FWIW, Carl B.

If I put - strike that - When I put all that work into repainting the engine bay, I decided to go with an Optima battery.. Just couldn't stand the thought that a liquid filled battery might ever leak, outgas etc - and eat my paint. Expensive - Yes. Piece of mind - Priceless. {a plus is the Optima's seem to hold a charge forever!}. When your changing the battery cables - go first class with large stranded copper and gold plated terminal ends. Corrosion will be a thing of the past.. Some of the best money I spent on the Z. good luck with project.. Carl B.

Hello 1970240z.. Sound like a very nice 240Z to which you have some personal connection - how lucky can you be? - Personally, I'd keep it pure stock including the A/T. But that's just me.. We had a long discussion about what to do with a Z that has been sitting a long time - this tread might be very useful to you http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/introductions-z-stories/22619-waking-sleeping-beast.html#post184082 good luck, Carl B.

Who knows - you might see it listed again with good clear pictures.. You can't edit a listing once bidding starts, but you can cancel the listing and realist it later. When it comes to 240Z's around here you can't find anything but badly rusted, ragged out junk for $5K. FWIW, Carl B.

I wonder - how many guys/gals here have actually re-worked the timing curves on a stock, points type distributor. For several years, I tried to find a shop that still actually had a Sun Distributor Machine {SDM}. The first step in the process.. finding and documenting the baseline curve. NO LUCK around here - no one even has a Sun Distributor Machine even sitting in storage. I'm sure everyone is aware that the L24's/L26's and L28's all run quite different distributor timing advance curves when stock. So even when swapping a more modern "electronic" distributor from a newer L28 into an L24 stock or modd'ed - it can easily result in a loss of performance because of the mis-matched timing advance curve.. Next - I watched EBay for years.. A few SDM's showed up - but in very poor condition and thousands of miles away. Bummer… So even with various springs of differing rates in hand, or modifications to the advance weights - and given the work of taking the dizzy apart etc - you just can't dial the optimum advance curve in. A programable distributor is a brilliant solution - and at $550.00 it is far less expensive than owning your own SDM or paying a performance shop to do the work {if you could find a performance shop that still deals with mechanical distributors - }. thanks to Mike W for bringing this to our attention.. Carl B.

Today - I wouldn't sell it for a penny less than $14K {if it is as solid as represented}. Very poor pictures will hurt the sale.. unless a local buyer can go look it over.. On EBay - today - $10K to $12K will most likely be tops, if it sells for less than that - it was given away. Carl B.

Another great "Z" story.. Also good to hear you are doing this with your Son. Carl B.

Thanks Guys… Carl B.

This is the GTA I would buy - if I could buy it. An Insult to Shoestrings | Hemmings Motor News Lee Midgley was the co-driver with Peter Brock at the 1973 Baja 500 - in the BRE Baja Z. Although competitors on the track Peter and Lee were friends that teamed up for the Baja.. So I have a little "Alfa" history mixed into the Baja Z.. I do agree - I would like to own a really clean, STOCK GTA - I'd take that Yellow One!! If you want one - you better grab it NOW - as they are going up in price weekly. Carl

Too bad he didn't show pictures of the undercarriage - nor the dog legs - nor the rear deck lid threshold - nor the area under the battery tray.. Looks like the muffler rusted and fell off.. "Might" be a real jewel to restore - but with that dent in the hood it wouldn't do for a "Survivor Class" competition. "IF" it is in really good shape underneath - should bring close to $10K even in California. Perfect dash and really good door panels would save spending $2500.00 on them alone.. Carl B.

Wonder if anyone has actually purchased paint mixed to the above PPG Formula - and if so how did it turn out? Carl B.

A couple days ago - someone said they knew someone that was reproducing the inspection lid clips for the very early Z's.. Question who was that? Is there a source for these somewhere? thanks, Carl B.

Hi Guys; Great Resource - thanks. Carl B.

Yes - the chrome trim is supposed to be there. Why not just buy the one you Pictured - $50.00 would be very inexpensive. You should be able to order the rivets from Courtesy Nissan in Texas. FWIW, Carl B.

I've never had to replace a Speedo Cable.. so never ordered any. Good to know the scuff plates are hard to find. A friend of mine - many years ago - had some made out of stainless steel - I've used them in my 240Z's as they haven't rusted from moisture. FWIW, Carl B.

Bought my first 240Z in March of 1970. Drive it for about 20 months, put 68K miles on it - sold it for $4500.00 in Dec. of 1971. {more than I paid for it}. Then bought the 72 240Z that I've always kept. Thus started my love for the Datsun 240Z, and my friendship with Paul Jaremko.! FWIW, Carl

BLUE Posted This to another thread - thought I'd copy it here as the Subject Line will make it easier to find, or draw more attention. Should answer Montezuma's concerns about over restoring the car. FWIW Carl B.

At the end of 1971 - when we received our first 114 Metallic Brown 240Z - no one was sure if they liked the Brown or not as it came off the truck. Once off the truck it went to for Pre-Inspection and then to the Detail Shop as usual. By the time it came out of the Detail Shop - it had the 14x7" wire mesh Appliance Mags fitted with D70 bias belted Goodyears, and a bright yellow and green pin striping. The bright yellow strip was about 1/2" trimmed on either side with a dark green pin strip… The car was polished/buffed and glazed to a high brilliance. It was STUNNING! In the sun - the original color was quite a bit lighter than most of the pictures you see today. I decided at that point I would take a Metallic Brown 72 for myself. I waited and waited…but we didn't get another one in for months. So I took the Metallic Blue 72 that I have today.{well that I had until I gave it to my son last year}. Of course a couple weeks after that - we finally received a few more Brown Z's… If you look at this image - it is closer in color to the first one's we received. http://zhome.com/History/ZColorGallary/114Brown.jpg Funny thing too - spiffy240Z's Z and the one pictured above also have the Appliance Wire Mesh Mag's.. Just my perception - but it seems that the 114 Brown Z's darken with age. "spiffy240Z's" picture shown the color on the shaded side of the car and it "looks darker" in that picture - than that color really was originally in the sun. Next in 74 the 260Z came with a 301 Bronze Metallic - and that is perhaps one of the best colors I've seen OEM on the Z's. None of the pictures on the Web seem to show the actual bronze color.. all look way to 'brown". FWIW, Carl B.

For the Silver Paint = you use a Paint Pen. You can get them at any Hobby and/or Crafts Stores. Carl B.

Great job Jim - I enjoyed watching it.. Carl B.

No... it looks like they copied the Mustang article by mistake there.

Hi Brian: Great progress - that is the only way to go about it - do it right the first time and you won't have any regrets later. Keep the progress pictures coming - Carl B.

Looks like you started with a pretty clean Z to begin with - and for a 240Z it had very little rust. Great project - keep at it - and be sure to enjoy the process. Once it is done, a lot of the fun will be over.. but you'll have a great Z to drive and enjoy. Keep us Posted on the progress.. Carl B.