lonetreesteve

Thanks for all the information & picture Ed! You did a great job on restoring the hubcap! Now that I have the correct color for the newer "Z" cap, I'll need to find out what the proper color is for the old "D" hubcaps.

My 18 year old son and I have about 5 complete sets of Z wheel covers that we are currently restoring. We have 3 sets of the older and harder to find Series I or "D" covers and a couple sets of the more common "Z" wheel covers. All 5 of the sets need to be repainted. Does anyone know what the correct paint colors are for each of these?

After reading what a lot of you guys have spent on restoring your Zs, I don't feel so bad anymore! HOWEVER, the only thing that concerns me now is that I'm only half-way through on my 2 projects!!

What is the best approach to restoring the wood wheels? What is the best process? What is the color of the stain? I noticed that on some of the restored 240s (see picture) that there is high-gloss finish. Did they come from the factory with such a finish? (My son took this picture of #33 of the 42 Nissan restored cars when it was for sale on the showroom floor at Peak Nissan, here in the Denver area 7 or 8 months ago).

I'm not sure where these originated. I only assumed that they were made by Datsun because of the "Datsun" on the black rubber on the driver's mat and that they obviously were designed to fit a 240Z. You can tell that they are very old and were probably designed to cover & protect the original carpets. What you guys are saying make a lot of sense though. I was curious what they were all about and that's why I started the thread. Thank you for your input, I appreciate it!

Here are 2 more pics of the mats. These show a closer look at the type of material the mats are made of as well as the problem areas described on my previous post. The first one shows the hole at the bottom of the hatch area mat, the second shows what the bottoms look like.

Here's a couple pics Bill.....definitely loud early '70s style huh? It's hard to see on the picture, but the driver's mat has a "Datsun" in the middle of the black rubber area on the face of the mat. As you can see, the hatch area mat has some deterioration towards the back, including a hole. The old black rubber on the backs of all 3 mats is flaking off. So, they will need the old rubber taken off and recoated with new. This shouldn't be too hard since the old rubber is flaking off so easily now. The front mats are in pretty good shape and just need a little cleaning in addition to the recoating on the bottoms. The rear hatch mat will take more work and will need to be repaired.

When my son and I bought our '71 240 last May, we got a large quantity of spare 240Z parts included in the deal (basiclly an entire '72 240Z w/o the unibody, hood & windshield). Among those parts was something that we had never seen before.....a set of orange and black checkered floor mats & rear hatch area mat made by Datsun for the 240Z. They are not in the greatest condition, and we were going to throw them away but decided to hold on to them in case someone would be interested. Frankly, I don't find them very attractive, but they certainly do have a nostalgic early '70s look to them. My son and I put them on ebay yesterday just to see if there would be any interest. It's going to take some work to restore these mats. The black rubber backing on the bottoms of the mats is all dried out and is flaking off. So, the rest of the dried rubber would need to be removed then recoated. The mat material is actually in pretty good shape, with the exception of a hole towards the back of the rear hatch mat, which would need to be repaired. Has anyone ever seen or know what these were all about? I assume that these were a specialty item that Datsun sold through its dealers.

Thanks for all the helpful information guys, I really appreciate it!

Oh yes, I thought the name sounded familiar, thanks Mike. Like I said, the higher these parts go for, the more our 240Zs and our hard-to-find spare parts go up in value! The future looks bright!

This "Beck" at Beck Systems who paid over $200.00 for a pair of plastic inspection lid clips must be one of those Wall Street Journal readers we have discussed in these forums. He is probably doing a full concourse restro and wants his '70 240z to be perfect and is willing to pay big money for the rare NOS pieces in hope he gets a big return on his investment. We may not like this, but in the long run, we are all benefiting from it!

Check this out, a set of "D" Series 1 240z wheel covers went for a record amount on eBay (over $300.00 each!!). Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7935518570&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

Are the Series I steering wheels tough to find? How much money am I looking at to buy one in today's market? Also, I can't seem to find any 240 horn pads that are not cracked on the mounting area. Are new ones available anywhere?

Does anyone know of a solution to repair those flaking chrome strips on the stock 240Z door panels?? My eighteen year old son and I are restoring two 240Zs, a '71 and a '72. The '72 originally had red interior, but we are changing it to black due to the short supply of red interior parts. We have found 4 original door panels in excellent condition, but 2 of them have a couple of small chips (or rips) on the chrome material. Your advice would be greatly appreciated! Steve & Nick '71 HLS30-25734 (orange w/matching engine#) '72 HLS30-64733 (white w/matching engine #)

Cool!! I'll be sure to tune into that show on 11/7! Didn't the History Channel also feature the Zcar on their series "Automobiles"?

For a pretty much rust-free & original Series I car, it is going for a very low price. With some work, this car has a lot of potential and will do nothing but appreciate in value. You just don't see too many like this one around anymore. If it was for sale in Colorado and not California, I would try to buy it!

What is going on here? I start a thread about a pathetic 240Z ad on eBay a few days ago and I check back to see what the response is and I can't believe my eyes...... one of the most pathetic political debates I have ever seen on the Internet!! I agree with a couple of the level-headed members that have chimed in on this thread....this is a Zcar enthusiast web site, not some political debate forum. I don't care if you guys want to have a political debate, just do it in the general chit-chat section not here! Now, back to this thread.. As Ed mentioned, someone actually bid on this (non-pictured, but the one shown is real close!) Z. Did they not read the ad close enough or maybe they contacted the seller and went and took a look at the car in person? Or maybe they have a VW Bug full of trading cards that they plan on buying the Z with!!

Read this e-Bay link in its entirety. Is this person trying too hard NOT to sell this 240Z or what? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2486601602&category=6187

If you ask me, the dash caps are cheesy and if you were to ever to enter your Z in a car show, judges detest them! Find a replacement dash or have it professionally repaired. Sometimes you can find solid dashes on eBay. There is also a company in Seattle who repairs them for about $600.00 I believe.

Hi Guys, I have a dashboard (no cracks!) from a '72 240z for sale on eBay. Please check it out if you are interested or know of anyone who is. Not sure if it will fit other years are not, does anyone know? Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7909399635&category=40017&sspagename=WDVW Thanks! Steve

Just go to the eBay link and e-mail the buyer yourselves. Why would the buyer lie?

Koreavet, Rick at Eurasian performance is full of it! Chuck, the buyer and new owner of #390 e-mailed me back this morning and here is my question and his response: "Chuck, I e-mailed you about a month ago regarding the 1969 240Z you purchased (#390), asking you if you were going to restore the car or not. You e-mailed me back and said that you were, which I thought was great news! There's a rumour that the seller e-mailed a member of "Classiczcars.com" that you sent it to the shredder. If you did, that's your decision and your right as the owner. However, I just wanted to see if this was true or not." Chuck's response: "That is NOT true. It took 2-3 weeks to arrange shipping but I have it at my house. The car is very original. It's missing the original wheels and hub caps but I have some. I'm going to restore it. I'm not the kind of person to throw something away...especially Z #390! I need to finish my 260Z turbo project and then I'll move on to another one. Do you live near PA? You're welcome to check it out." Chuck

That's strange, because Chuck, the buyer told me that he was going to restore the car (see my post on this thread 5/28/04). Perhaps it turned out to be a bigger and much more expensive project than he originally anticipated and he only kept the parts he needed. I am going to e-mail Chuck and find out for sure if this is true or not. I will let you all know once I hear back from him.

Zacch, What is the number that is stamped into the block? Also, what is the number on the dataplate?

Zacch, Very interesting! What is the engine number on your L24 and does it match the engine number that is stamped on the dataplate, along with the serial number of the car? Do you have an E31 head as well?