26th-Z

I had such fun with your son, Kats. We teased each other with our duck whistles. I really enjoyed that moment. Sorry you had to leave early and I didn't get to say goodbye!?!! I think we should meet in Washington - good idea! Yes, I really DO want one of those fat, heavy rice-rocket-stop-light-smoking-babe machines! I have followed all the conversation on this site about the 350Z. I know how you all feel. I don't agree. Check out the spot right here on my pants! The Fairlady is SO everything I think about Z. I conducted a research with smile photo documentation. My smiles are identical. I think a Nismo R-tune convertable with a chopped windshield and those two little roll hoop bumps over the rear deck would be nice. Red, please. Dan, I specifically asked to not judge the stock 240Z class because everyone entered is a good friend! I judged 16 cars (mostly engines) during the day. Mostly 350Zs - stock and mod - and 300ZX Z32s. I no more had time to go load film in my camera before I was asked to look at another 18 cars! I probably saw everything, but unfortunately had no time for photographs. The stock 240Z class had three major contenders. There was a gorgeous stock 280Z and my suggestion to all reading this thread who might want to successfully compete in the stock class is; "260". I am noticing that the 260Z is the rare hen of the bunch. Frankly, I am noticing that the S30s are the rare hens! Some comments about judging; pretty much the same as I have always said. Clean cars win and dirty cars loose. All this worry about original this and original that is second fiddle compared to "clean". The level of detail? Clean! The "drop dead spotless picky housewife white glove" brand of clean. I deduct for scratches, chips, stains, and don't let me see a spec of rust. I first look at all the cars in the class I'm going to judge. That initial comparison / impression usually tells me who is going to score high and who isn't. It's really fairly simple. The stock 240Z class was a tough one. Dan and Bob are pretty much on equal turf in my opinion. I think arguements could go on all night about which is better. They are both superb examples. I loved seeing Anne's car. She is the original owner! Her 907 green / butterscotch is just like what the twins will look like. Notice she has Panasports? Oops! But I was just sitting back imagining what my Watanabes will look like on Her Majesty. Dan won the class and a gold medallion. All three were fully restored and nothing really surprised me about the level of detail. To win a Gold Medallion, the car has to look brand new. Chris

Now I understand where you were! ROFL :stupid: It was in Irving and next year's convention is in Daytona Beach. We are working on the web site. I saw the development model a couple of days ago and I'm real happy with how it is going to look, but for now tune in and bookmark us. www.flza.com Texas was the best run convention I have been to. My serious thanks to everyone who worked on it. Now we start thinking about Daytona. The car show and the track day will be at Daytona International Speedway. The car show will be in the garages and "Fan Park" area. The road course can be viewed http://www.skipbarber.com/locations/daytona_raceway.aspx Click on the view button on the left of the screen. The host hotel is the Hilton and the Atlantic Ocean is 50 yards from the lobby. I'm in charge of the car show and one of the main guys for the whole event. I am also putting on Florida Z-Fest this fall - October 7th and 8th in Sebring. The car show will be at the raceway. If anyone wants to help me and be a part of these extravaganzas, send me a PM and we'll talk.

Hey! The low VIN guys gotta stick together! Frankly, me and the commander were shocked! I mean it was way cool that we even finished! I skipped Zdayz to go to the Mitty, but I'll do Zdayz next year. The Florida ZCCA convention is in Daytona October 1 - 5, 2007. Look for lots of info about it soon. Yea, twinturbo.net, sorry.

I had a freak'n blast! I ALWAYS have a freak'n blast at ZCCA conventions. I love ZCCA conventions! I'm quite bummed to see such little talk about Dallas on the site. What!?! A few pics in the gallery, a couple of snide remarks and that's it? WTF? A whole bunch of Ultimate Z Car Club members came over from Japan. Kats was there. We had a cocktail reception for them Sunday night at Mad Mike Taylor's house. They brought Saki and special little cups for us. Tetsu brought his car from Japan. I heard Ultimate came with 2 cars and about 25 people. I took second place in the rally. First rally I have ever finished. Usually, we happen to find a junk yard with Zs and...that's what happend the last two years. I have graduated to "Senior Judge" level after three years and was one of the senior judges. I was involved with 34 cars during the show and had only time to buy a 2400 OHC valve cover from a part swap guy ($30) I spotted. Sorry. No pictures to speak of. I didn't even have time to eat lunch! Dan Banks won a Gold Medallion for his Mike McGinnis restored '71. Original paint! Her Majesty the 346th made a visit to the stock 240 class as well as the celebrated Sports Illustrated centerfold car of Bob Speights. You want to see pictures? Check out www.twinturbo.com Their website joined the ZCCA as a club, came with over 15 cars, and sponsored the track day. Real cool group of guys. Nismo brought out the 2006 350Z R-tune car that appears in the Shift ad with Arlo Guthrie singing; "Give me a ride...Bbrr...bbrbbrr". Here I am at the autcross drifting with Tim McCormick. I want a 350Z so bad I can't stand it. There were lots of great friends and celebrities. Although Mr. K was not there, Masataka Usami came. John Parker, Mr. Sanada from Nismo, John Yukawa, Fred Jordan...Mr. K called us at the closing banquette and we talked to him - yes, all 600 of us! I came home with a couple new books, some great autographed stuff for the Z shrine, and a serious grin on my face.

I bought three of them when it first came out a couple of months ago. I didn't know what it was and I bought a couple of extras to give away as gifts at this past week's Zcon in Dallas. As I said in the other thread, it is a delightful story book. I'm sure you will enjoy it. Well worth it for $10.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21661&highlight=Manga

You have pretty much pointed out the differences, Adam. If the larger LCD and faster "drive" speed is worth it to you, get the 30D. I would not imagine the image stabilization is necessary for the lens unless you plan to shoot a lot of low light exposures without the flash. My EF75-300 is IS. I had trouble calibrating the 550 EX flash, but other than that, the 20D is my recommendation.

Arnie, I can't imagine you would prefer to use them as a daily driver but there is no reason to fret about your great find. This is like dressing up our Barbie dolls in special costumes. Use them for show and whenever you want to impress that special woman of yours!

I budgeted $10,000 to strip 26th to bare metal, removal 100% of the rust by dipping the chassis, replace what was once rust and now is a hole, prepare the bare metal and paint the babe green again. It looks like I am going to do it for about $8,500 because the vast majority of the labor is from me. I paid for a welder and a painter. Everything else I did. I can easily see another $5,000 for my time if I paid myself $45 an hour. Body work is not cheap. It is not easy. It's dirty work. And to prepare the metal correctly, takes a lot of time.

Ooohh! Nice ride.

Holy Literary Misinterpretation Batman! It's a comic book! You think your'e pissed off now, Victor. Wait till you get to the part where Sgt. Rocka Michi san scraps three Toyotas with his bare hands whilst showing off his new Z ensign underwear! Come-on guys.

So where the hell are the pictures? How many cars were there? Where's the write-up? Of course an old Z can compete, Vicky. I mean, we're talking Zrush! Congrats. Way cool.

Stock means stock and aftermarket wheels are not considered stock. Depending on the judge and the condition of the rest of your class, you may end up with a ten point deduction. Watch out for even replacement parts because stock in the purest sense means correct replacement parts for the year. The ZCCA has been getting lenient over cost issues of correct tires, hoses, batteries, etc. however there are plenty of guys competing with the correct parts. It all depends on the judges. If it were me, and there was someone in your class with the correct stuff, I would mark a deduction. If everyone in the stock class had aftermarket wheels, for instance, I would not mark a deduction and just judge the wheels for cleanliness. I can say this for certain, though. You should get less of a deduction for bad looking stock wheels than brand new aftermarket wheels. I judged stock 240 and 280 at the convention last year. Will I be seeing you in Dallas?

Surely not! The product description lists the recent publication date in English. Your'e picking on me, Alan.

Gee, The first book, Brian Long's, is new and I have not read it. I understand from Brian that it is a more comprehensive work spanning a longer period of time and covering more model history than his frst book. I plan to get it to add to my collection. The second book, "Project X", is a tanslated version of the original NHK Project X Manga by Akira Yokoyama. The NHK Project X is also credited to chief producer Akira Imai. It is published in native Manga which reads right to left, or backwards to western publications. The text is in illustrated form similar to what westerners would call a comic book and describes the story of the 240Z in a dramatic theme with Yutaka Katayama as the hero of the plot. In my opinion, the illustrations are superb. The cast of characters include Yutaka Katayama, Yoshihiko Matsuo, Hitoshi Uemura, Hiroo Miyate, Teiichi Hara, Akio Yoshida, and Masataka Usami. Any knowledgable reader will recognize the story line and the charaters, however the accuracy of precise historical fact is doubtful. I have been told that Mr. K refered to the work as "the hollywood version". I found great delight with the book which became available last March and would recommend it, however I see no point in discussing any historical significance. The reader will pick up many points which may or may not have basis in historical fact. One thing I did enjoy was the reference to the Japanese Showa calendar which we commonly find on date stamps and other dated part references discussed in past threads here on this club site. Z-Zulu.bmp

26th was dipped and de-rusted by electrolysis. The initial dip that took off all the paint was pressure washed clean before the elctrolysis dip that took off all the rust. Keep in mind that the original sheet metal inside the frame rails etc. was never painted and protected to begin with. All this worry about protecting the inside metal from corrosion is overblown. One of the main reasons these cars rust so badly is because they were never protected or sealed properly. My suggestion is to spray the inside metal with self-etching primer. I used a thinned solution in a pump-up garden sprayer - the kind that has the long plastic wand and spray nozzle. Self-etching primer because there is no way to clean and prepare the metal you can't reach, let alone see. In my case, the thin primer solution dripped out the bottom of open seams and made a big mess. Most of the threads I read about sand or media blasting come from people trying to find a cheap, easy, less time consuming way to solve an inside rusting problem by attacking the outside. Painters don't like sand blasting because silica is embedded in the metal and without proper cleaning, paint doesn't stick. The bottom line is that there is no cheap easy way to get rid of the rust. Proper preparation of the body metal involves a lot of time and it ain't cheap.

Welcome to the group, BD. Here's a photo of encouragement!

I concur that gaining proper title is possible even though none exists at the moment. Since it is the subject of an estate, I would recommend appropriate bill of sale. Whomever buys this piece - please contact me. There is quite a bit of interest here in Florida for parts. Even the body shell.

I would, Arne. D hubcaps in restorable condition are worth $75 each and wheels are worth around $25 each. It will cost over $1,000 to restore a set of hubcaps making them quite valuable in perfect condition. Wheels, as you know, probably depend on the date stamp for value. I might recommend buying anything that would be appropriate for an early car. It's a collector thing, Arne, but you are a collector and connoisseur of the Z. You can't go wrong.

27th had a snake skin draped over the center console when she arrived. There was a mouse nest inside one of the frame rails. I recall back in the good old days when I was young, I bought two Lotus Europas from a junk yard in Tampa. One of the cars was crashed in the front and the other was burned in the back. I cut them in half and glassed the bodies back together. When I was pulling the carpeting out of one of the cars a scorpion bit me in the stomach. Hurt like hell.

Carl and I were talking about this car on the phone this morning. It appears as though the car was originally blue. It has A/C. The valve cover is a 2400. Just look at the bumpers! Straight! I think this baby could be bought for a song and there are plenty of people whom would be interested in the parts. It looks pretty complete. I would go for it!

http://www.pinks.tv/ You guys crack me up. "Complete long block... from valve cover to oil pan". Reed the fist post an U will no the Code.

Sorry, I just now thought to post the web site :stupid: :stupid: :stupid:

I don't see an antenna either. Nor the pillar emblem 240Z. Interesting. Do you see "D's" on the hubcaps? I like to collect the old photos as it reveals to me the extent of the "dual identity" Fairlady / 240Z and Datsun / Nissan image problem the car had in the beginning. Of course, my opinion, but built as the Nissan Fairlady Z and exported to American shores as the Datsun 240Z. Here are some interesting ones from my files: This is the official publication photograph as we have discussed in past threads. The red Z has no emblems. The B&Ws come from the original Road & Track magazine announcement article and the first road test article. Notice the license plate of each car is the California designated dealer plate indicating the cars were owned by Nissan NA. By the time of the road test, custom wheels had been fitted but notice the missing hubcap "D's".