lonetreesteve

Check this out, has anyone ever seen or heard of an early Z ash tray like this before? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=013&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=230040737601&rd=1&rd=1

The car may be extremely powerful and the owner probably sank $60k into it, but it's so ugly that no one will be willing pay anything even close. That seems to be a common problem with a lot of car enthusiasts, they want the buyer to pay what they put into it.

My first 240Z was a low-mileage '72 that I bought in August of 1978 when I was 19 right before entering my sophomore year of college. It had a beautiful new black paint job (originally blue) with a very clean white interior. I bought it from the body shop manager at the local Datsun dealer in Casper, Wy. That's the time in between when the new 280Z Black Pearl had been out for a little while and right before the new 280ZX was released and black was soon to be the new hot color for Zs & ZXs. I had the car for about 3 years before selling it and buying a '76 Corvette. My son and I bought our '72 240Z in February of 2004 from a private party in Conifer, CO and it's curently in the body shop. We bought our '71 in May of 2004 on Ebay that happened to be located here in the Denver area, so I was able to inspect it before bidding. We kept the '71 in storage until November of 2004 and since it required less work than the '72 my son and I stopped work on the '72 and focused on refreshing the '71. The paint was completed in December of 2005 and we finished everything up on it this past summer.

Bruce, Wow! You don't waste any time do you? Looks like your restoration of the "Desert Queen" is coming along nicely! A lot of us here were sure interested on how the entire purchase of her unfolded last May (see link below). That's great that your son is involved in assisting you with the restoration. My son and I have had a great time working on our two Zs. Keep up the good work and thanks for keeping us informed & posting the pics. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21629&highlight=arizona

Hi Carl, Thank you. If I only had a place to put it........Here's another 1/70 that was in a lot better shape with a lot less rust that was given away with a "Buy it Now": http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=015&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=250042786484&rd=1,1

Carl B, All of us here certainly respect your opinions, and I was curious to see what you thought of the '70 that Darrel started this post with (still listed on Craig's List). Hopefully, the brief description I gave of the car when I stopped by and took a look at it last month helps a little bit in providing you some additional information about the car (page 2, Reply #17)

Blaine, I recommend that you contact Gary Bracken and check out his red '70 240Z for $5,900.00. If you end up buying it, I have an extra set of the correct 70-71 "D" hubcaps that I can sell you.

Is this Gary's car? I copied this form Darrel's Colorado Shine & Show thread from about a month and a half ago.

Darrel, Fill me in.... I met a lot of people at the car show...who was Gary Bracken and which 240Z was his?

Some Guy, Since you live in the Denver area, here's a '73 240Z driver for sale that the owner claims runs good, but you should probably go check it out in person to see what its condition really is: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBI%3AIT&viewitem=&item=160042069034&rd=1,1

Don't forget about the rear hatch & glass with the vertical rear defogger and the early console with the ash tray/fuse box cover. These items are hard to come by and worth good $ if in decent shape.

This should help: http://zhome.com/History/ZColorGallary/index.html

Yeah, it's been listed on Ebay a couple of times before. The owner is using a Buy it Now/Best Offer format this time. Previously, it seemed to get a lot of bids, but never met the reserve.

Paint?? A nice big chewed up piece of Bazooka bubble gum should work well too! :stupid:

Yeah, that makes sense, Will. I also look at it this way, anyone that spells "pozzitraction" like that is "pozzitively" out there!

Based on the the few pictures (see below) and the brief description, yeah, I would say that it is worth every bit of the $8.5k and more, particularly since it's #247! In fact, I would say it's a steal at that price!

Well, after being on Craig's List for a month, it looks like the owners got the car started and lowered the price by $500 to $2,000/obo. I'm curious to see what's going to happen to this car. I hope someone buys it and restores it back to its original beauty (you gotta love the red/black combination along with the low VIN and matching engine #). Let's hope someone doesn't buy this one just for the parts.

#247 is up for sale in New Jersey. Here's the link: http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/carsforsale/datsun/240z/345679.html

Those guys actually drove the second Z up to 165 mph at one time? I guess they really were speed demons and it's no wonder with their "fear-nothing" attitudes that they later ended up dead doing some other crazy thing. I agree with you on the 3rd car, it's a beauty!

Bruce, It's good to hear from you! How's the restoration of the "Desert Queen" coming along? A bunch of us were sure interested on how the entire purchase of her unfolded last June (see link below). http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21629&highlight=arizona As far as this other '70 that is currently on Ebay is concerend, I agree with you, it would be nice for someone to restore it rather than part it out. That would be great if you van work things out with Greenmonster80. Don't forget to post some pics of the Desert Queen and tell us about the progress.

Nice looking car, I don't recognize it as a member's in this forum. Here's another '70 from the same web site that looks to be a very good price for a potentially rust-free Nevada car: http://adcache.collectorcartraderonline.com/10/5/9/85719559.htm

Looks like the Craig's List ad was recently updated with the VIN info (#1032) after I explained to the seller what they had. Like I said on Sunday when I went to look at it, it's going to take quite an investment to restore this car, but with the low VIN, it should be worth it in the long run.

Well, I went and looked at the car and the best thing about it is the very low VIN (#1032) and matching engine (#4056) from 1/70 !!! The car was repainted at some point in time, perhaps about 10 years ago or so (poor job with overspray in many areas). The bumpers are in pretty good shape, the front one being almost flawless. Rear tail lights are in good shape, with just a little discoloration on the chrome pieces. The original black interior isn't too bad, with the exception of the cracked dash (no surprise there) both seats are original and have small tears. The headliner is pristine as well as the rear plastic interior panels, the console and the ash tray/lighter piece. Although, the rear defogger switch was gone. It has Keystone slotted dealer-optioned wheels that are in decent shape. The car shows no signs of ever being in an accident, except for a very small dent in the rear. Now for the rust: I checked under the battery and the metal is a little thin, but no holes. There is some rust in the engine compartment located at the base of each strut tower. The right front fender is rusted out at the bottom as well as the right rocker panel. The bottom of the left front fender is bubbled as well as the tops of both rear fenders. The floor pans are rusted through under both seats, but not in the floor areas. The driver's side being worse than the passenger's side (about the size of a baseball on the passenger's side and about the size of a cantelope on the driver's side). As I mentioned before the floors in front of the seats are solid. The spare tire area is solid, with no rust. This car has average rust of an early Z, not as solid as some, but not too bad. As mentioned on Craig's List, the car hasn't been started in 2 years. I understand that the fuel pump was clogged and the gas tank needs to be boiled. Has the "2400" valve cover and seems to be almost all original except for an older after-market AM/FM cassette player and a 5 speed tranny. It is not an A/C car. Overall, I would say that this car is a good candidate for a restoration, primarily since it is such a low VIN with its original engine and all the ID tags are there and clean. Let me know if you have any questions.

Since it's only about 20 minutes away from my house, I will call and set up a time to take a look at the car tomorrow and let you guys know what I find.

Yeah, it was a great day, thanks for inviting me, Darrel. Bill, I'm sorry that you couldn't make it, perhaps another time. Darrel, actually, Dan had a camera, but I didn't bring one...... Oh, by the way, I think the low-profile tires look pretty good on my '71, expecially since the car is lowered 1 inch.