Carl Beck

That is as good as any it seem - There are Survivors at $50,000.00 to $310,000.00 then there are survivors at $20,000.00 today.

There is also a difference between 72 and 73 - related to how far the choke lever is inserted into the handle. Both will slide onto the metal lever - but only the correct handle will line up with the screw hole in the lever. @VaCat33 can’t tell from the picture you Posted - where did your handle break? Did the metal lever tear out the back of the handle? That seems to be what happens when the set screw is missing. If the handle snapped the top off the base - that’s a different problem.

Just get another set of rails for/from a driver side seat - and put them on the passenger seat. Yes the adjustment lever will be in the "wrong" place, but then who cares - your are not building a stock set up anyway. I changed my passenger seat slides, to driver slides for two reasons. My son is 6'3 and I needed to get him farther back so he wasn't blocking my view out the right side window, in addition to giving him more leg room. The right side slides were never a problem with the wife, daughter or girlfriends as passengers, nor when the boys were younger smaller. So I think for most people the difference wasn't usually noticed. I do however appreciate your effort to figure out and document how the rearward travel of the passenger seat was mechanically limited. FWIW Carl B.

I don’t know about “here” - but at most Judged Concours events I’ve attended that had a Survivor Class - a “Survivor”; has to met a list of criteria. In general they have to be at least 40 to50 years old, they have to have at least 90% of the paint applied at the factory, they had to have 90%+ of their original factory installed parts. As importantly they have to present as a well cared for example of what they looked like when new. A few dings, scratches or stone chips are expected, signs of normal use are expected. Of course they are judged based on over-all condition. The 260Z in question certainly would not be considered a Survivor - as it was a complete repaint right off the bat.

Possibly one of the Best-Buy's of the year. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1974-datsun-260z-43/

30 years ago - it was a $3,500.00 example. You have to wonder how much the Dealer paid for it, before he flipped it.

A large number of people pulled the V12 out of their XJ-S - after it caught fire and burned. That is what happened to mine - the next owner swapped in a SBC using the "Jag'sThatRun" kit. He also replaced all the dash gauges & wiring ..

This was one of the best kept, most original “Survivors” we have seen on BAT in a long time. Darn shame it was presented with the damage to the rear quarter panel and tail light surround. A Survivor in that shape (without the damage) would easily have brought $40K to $45K in the last six months - - but that dent in the rear, is in a very hard place to fix - and it was a big Put-Off to most collectors. I think the seller made a costly mistake presenting it for Auction - without first fixing that damage. On the other hand the Buyer got a really great 240Z at a bargain price. Another great Survivor - 1973 on Auction now - we’ll see how it does.

1978 280Z - SOLD $39,000.00 I think its been a long time since I've seen a stock 280Z bring those numbers. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1978-datsun-280z-95/

Winki says "By 1986, Nissan had phased out the Datsun name" - from memory, I think that is about correct.. it took several years to update all the Dealer Signs, brochures, letter heads etc. - which added to the "Brand" confusion.

The 280ZX was introduced as a DATSUN 280ZX, by 1980 the badging was still DATSUN 280ZX, but with an added note "By Nissan"

Chilliwack Datsun - BC

- Isn't it the truth !! The US Federal Emissions standards gave all automobile manufacturers fits, ever changing through the 70's.. enough is never enough for a Federal Bureaucracy. Now I'm looking for another L6 - looks like it will be a Mercedes E450 or E53. (maybe Nissan can copy that one for the next Z).

My experience was quite the opposite when it came to the Flat Tops While some like to debate the technical merits of the Flat Tops - one thing is not debatable. From the introduction of the 1973 240Z’s with the Flat Top Carb’s needed to met the EPA Exhaust Emissions Standards - Dealers were plagued with Customer Complaints accompanied by Datsun 240Z’s being returned to the Dealerships on a Tow Hook. Something never before experienced and most certainly never expected. The 240Z and indeed DATSUN had established a well deserved reputation for Reliability second to none. I was there at one Dealership and it was NOT PLEASANT for anyone, most certainly not the New Owners, nor the Service Managers that had to tell the Customers their car might be in the Service Bay for several days. Of course the Customer Complaints came back on the Sales Staff as well. Several Customers demanded that we refund their money and take the car back. The Flat Tops were so good - that Nissan Motors spent thousands of hours of Technical Service & Engineering time trying to identify and solve the problems with the Flat Tops both here in the USA and in Japan. We had Nissan Personnel in our Service Dept., working with our mechanics, several days per week, for several months. This was happening at 2 or 3 other Datsun Dealerships that I was aware of on the West Coast as well. Indeed we saw an ongoing series of modifications attempted while looking for an actual solution to the problems. A lot of Trial and Error went on for months. The problems according to Nissan were Vapor Lock in the fuel lines and Percolation of fuel in the float bowls (now hanging directly over the larger and hotter exhaust manifold). The attempted solutions were many and varied for months and months. The result were Z’s dying on the street or highway and/or refusing to restart when hot. It was not unusual for a Customer’s Z to be returned to the dealership 3, 4 or 5 times before the Customer gave up. (then went to Private Repair Shop and had 70/72 SU’s put on - problem solved). By the end of the 1973 Model Year, Nissan had greatly reduced the occurrences of the “problems” - but far too many Customers in several area’s of the Country were still being effected and/or were disappointed. Nissan’s real solution to the wonderful Flat Tops was to replace them with Fuel Injection as soon as possible. For most customers, and secondary owners - the Z’s were out of Warranty after 12 months/12,000 miles - so any/all labor spent attempting to “correct” of “fix” them held the potential of significant Labor Costs for subsequent owners - their least expensive solution was to replace them with the 70-72 SU’s. By the time the 74 260Z’s came out - Nissan had made several changes to the Flat Tops and they did perform far more reliably - however outside of the Datsun Dealers, the privately run shops did not have the benefit of Nissan’s Extensive Technical Training offered to the Dealer Service personal, nor did they have all the Technical Service Bulletins the Dealerships had. So private shops just refused to spend the time with the Flat Tops - because their Customers weren’t willing to spend the money on the labor hours needed to overcome the learning curve. The “learning curve” consisted mostly of trying to get the technical information from the Dealer Service Departments (who really weren’t in the business of training their own competition). This was not a situation where untrained Service Tech’s did not know how to deal with a new Carb. - it was a situation where the new carb. properly tuned to meet the EPA Spec.’s at the time - would not perform on the car. A year or year and half later, with the new Carbs redesigned / modified yes, the Nissan and Dealer Trained mechanics could set them up and yes they would run (most of the time). Mr. Umera tells the story in his Book: Section: Post Sales Responses - Vapor Lock -Quote:- Executive Director Ryoichi Nakagawa, the chief of the engine departments, gave us a pep talk, saying, “In a car, the worst case that can happen with this defect is the engine stalling, but if this happens on a plane, it crashes.” Although the engine design departments also tackled countermeasures, satisfactory results were not obtained, and the manager Harada of the Third Design Department asked us to cooperate in coming up with countermeasures for the vehicle itself. As a temporary measure, a heat shield plate was placed between the exhaust system and the carburetor, glass fiber was wrapped around the fuel system pipe, and louvers were cut in the engine hood to vent heat. But this was not enough. Then, as the last resort, a powerful sirocco fan, which began to turn when the temperature in the engine room rose above a given temperature, was installed in the engine room to pump out the heat. This almost solved the problem, but it was never perfect, because the fan would turn for a while or sometimes started turning suddenly even after the engine was turned off, surprising drivers. Assistant Department Manager Shidei, who was the chief engineer at this time, visited America to persuade Nissan Motor Corporation U.S.A., to deal with the problem using this tentative measure for a while until a proper countermeasure could be taken. I can’t imagine that would have been an easy task for him. One year later, we solved the problem properly by abolishing the carburetor and adopting the L28 engine with electronic fuel injection. -End Quote- FWIW, Carl B.

@Dadsun Here is one answer - http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/AccelLinkage.htm What is the build date on your Z? FWIW, Carl B.

Personally - I'd love to have that 510 (if I had room to keep it). I thought the bidding was about right, if a little low compared to others more highly modified. It isn't a Pure Stock / Original example, nor is it a really "mod'ed" cannon carver. The L18 was nice, but why not an L20B or a KA? So no big money buyers. I also think that the photoshop'ed feature pictures, making it look too bright a greed based yellow - - may have hurt it a bit - the color of the car shown in the video's was a bit more pleasing for a more stock looking example. Over-all a very nice 2dr 510 and perhaps the seller and top bidder could get together.

Hi Dave: Just saw this. I bought the EZ Car Lift - LOVE IT!. Looked at several alternative, but in the end the EZ Car gave me the best access under the car. I also appreciate how easy it is to set up and store. It did cost a little bit more, but the quality of the build and materials are top notch. http://becksystems.com/garage/EZCarLift/EZCarLift.htm hope that helps..

Peter Brock's Limited Edition 370Z on BAT https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2020-nissan-bre-50th-anniversary-370z/

I don't know for sure who else on this site - but so fare we have found 189 people that bought their 240Z new from the Dealers and kept them - or kept them in the same family. Wonder if there is a World Record there? http://www.zhome.com/IZCC/ZRegisters/original.htm FWIW, Carl B.

Small world - when I was finishing my degree I received letters from two Presidents on the same day. The first was from President Elect. Nixon thanking me for working in his campaign. (Nixon Promised to End The Draft) The second was from President Johnson - GREETINGS. I was to report for induction two months before being graduated! It had taken me about 6 years to work my way though a 4 year degree - so the Draft Board wasn't willing to extend my Student Deferment... Lucky for me, my Journalism Professor Dr. Dean Jachius- happened to be a Colonel in the Marine Corp Reserves and an Administrative Assistant to then Governor Rhoads. He was able to get me a 90 day extension - during which time I joined the Air Force.!!

When I bought my first Datsun 240Z, I had just been at the local Porsche Dealer trying to trade my 67 911s in on a new 911E. The Webers on the "S" were always loading up and fouling plugs in stop & go traffic. It was very hard starting in the Winter and the shift linkage was worse than the Corvairs I'd owned before. I couldn't get together with the Porsche Dealer - they wanted too much for their new car and offered way to little for mine. On the way back to the Base, I passed the Datsun Dealer and saw the 240Z. Stopped and long story made short - I bought the Z. Three months with the Z - and I sold the Porsche. Never wanted one again. Over the years that followed I did add Corvettes, Jag's, and a Ferrari to the garage - and over the following years I sold them all except the 240Z. Nothing since 1970 has ever been better than the 240Z.

Wow - still trying to understand the $31K difference between this 73 - and the Silver 72 - 4 First Place Street Mod Awards, 3 2nd Place Street Mod awards.sold last month. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-datsun-240z-152/ Carl B.

The clear coats solved the problem with metal flakes - but created another problem - over a short period of time in hotter sun regions especially - the clear coats started to crack - at first it looked like fine scratches in the paint, then got worse over time as the clear coats increased “grazing” until they started to flake off. The problem as explained by the BMW Factory Tech's - was UV light passed though the clear coats and heated up the color coat under them. The difference in the coefficient of expansion of the two coatings caused the clear coats to crack as the color coat expand more rapidly under them. In 1972 BMW and VW had such problems that new cars sitting in stock were crazing before even being sold. I worked for a BMW/DATSUN dealer then. Lots of customers with BMW’s had their cars stripped and repainted - under extended factory warranty - cars up to 3 years old were covered. The solution at the time - was to mix a small amount of color with the first application of clear coat - then put a second clear coat over that. That made the heat transfer between the color coat and the final clear coat more slowly and evenly… Do agree that by the 80’s newer paints solved the problem by more closely matching the coefficient of expansion of the two different materials.

As far as I know - all metallic automotive paints in the late 60's and early 70's were clear coated.(I worked for Datsun/BMW and VW in the early 70's). My 1970 Silver 240Z was clear coated from the factory. The reason was that some of the metal flakes mixed with the paint being sprayed - did wind up at or near the surface skin coat of the paint. Any polishing/waxing or compounding at that point would have resulted in the metal flakes sticking above the surface. So metallic paints on the 240Z were clear coated. FWIW Carl

4 Bidders still in above $25K 3 Bidders still in above $30K 3 Bidders still in above $35K -knocking on the door at $40K 1 Bidders still in above $40K I thought that it would sell - given the last couple months of the market - at perhaps $25K to $27K. Yes, it had most of its original paint - but still - lots of non-original and quit frankly less than cosmetically pleasing stuff. Nonetheless, glad to see the market showing a lot of strength. It will be interesting to watch the Silver 71now.. Carl B.