AWC

Isn't that a 510 parked nose-toward-the tree, between the bimmer and the pick-up truck?

Sweet 510, Red-Eye!

I have bought a few different parts from him and everything was as described and arrived promptly. His prices and shipping are high, but he's got some goodies I couldn't find anywhere else, so it is what the market will bear.

If you read the Hemmings article below it says he was asking $2 M for the inventory, the buses, and the house. So that implies that the property is included. I wouldn't know enough about the value of the parts to determine whether he's already stashed $500k worth of the best goodies off site prior to the sale. A lot of the value in this is his mental ability to locate and provide a part somebody needs; a new buyer could be totally overwhelmed by this.

Man, can't believe it went so cheap!

Take everything you can off this car. Oftentimes they cannot sell you the entire car once it is in the junkyard, but you can scavange all kinds of early parts from suspension to driveline to body panels and glass and you definitely should.

That's pretty cool. Didn't "Dat240ZG" from this site just buy #248 to restore?

If you've never done one before there is definitely something to be said for buying a car that is complete and assembled so you can drive it a bit or at least see where everything goes as you take it apart so you it will be easier to put it back together. Take a million digital pictures and organize them on your computer by topic!

I know there are roadster parts still available from Nissan in Japan that are long since NLA over here. If he could just buy from the dealer over there, there is probably a list of parts I'd like to get my hands on.

How about go into a Nissan dealer and buy a bunch of NLA parts!

I'm a civilian but am in the process of moving the other direction, from Austin to Baltimore. You will probably be pleasantly surprised at the selection of low-rust Z's in your new area.

Since you are nearby you could always drop by for a visit and see if you approve of the quality of work they are doing on some dashes they have in the shop. I got the sense they are a pretty small-time operation, so you may want to be sure they have some work to show you before going over there. But the customer service and communication with them was good.

For what it is worth, I had my roadster dash restored by the guys in Washington state just last year. I am very pleased with the results. It looks brand new to me. I may not be as discriminating as other members, but I paid $600 and am happy with the job they did. FWIW.

The restored my roadster dash and it looks excellent. I am very pleased with the appearance and quality. I cannot vouch for the fitment because my car is still body-off-frame, but I don't see what it wouldn't fit.

I have a solar one. You charge it outside for a couple of days and then it works outside of direct sunlight. You need not be in the sun for it to work. But from time to time you should put it back out in the sun for a day to recharge it. I think it is probably lighter than one with a battery would be, which is nice.

You can do it. It just takes patience and attention to detail. Read up on the proper techniques and then jumpt right in. I had never done any body work before and just went for it, I started welding up holes and using body solder. The small dents & dings I have used the solder on came out very nice. This is an area where you can always improve your results by sanding and re-applying if you aren't happy with the first effort.

If you do buy #248 to restore, I'd suggest taking it to a place right there in Fort Worth called Metal Rehab. They will dip the entire unibody and fenders, hood, etc. and remove all of the paint, other crap, and rust. Then they will prime the whole thing. That would remove rust and stabilize the metal since it will take you some time to get to the point of finish painting. It may cost a couple of grand but to start from scratch with the metal and eradicate the rust would be worth it.

That's a nice, low VIN. This car is approaching basket case status and a MAJOR project. Believe me, it will monopolize a 2-car garage for the next several years. If you would like to make restoring a Z-car your hobby, this would be a good candidate, as it is relatively complete and one of the early cars. Has the car been located in a climate condusive to rusting? Rust can be repaired. But again, the scope of this project is pretty major. The biggest transformations can be the most frustrating but also the most rewarding when finished.

It can be restored. It will be a very long-term project that will take many years and many thousands of dollars. If you are up for a very challenging project and have the dough, it would be really rewarding to see that car returned to "like new" condition. Just make sure you and your signficant other understand what you are getting into. : )

AR also has a version called the "Silverstone" that comes in custom offsets for a similar price (they are a bit more than $480 shipped).

I used chemical stripper to get the majority of it off. Then I went back over the areas where patches of paint remained with a 3M Clean & Strip disc on my drill. Those work pretty good. Make sure you get ones with the metal arbor; I've recently picked some up that have a plastic arbor that breaks right off after one second of use (frustrating). Also, a wire wheel works well to remove old bondo.

Oh there's no question you won't get a BC/CC shine with the roller method. The paintjob on that twin-turbo 4.5L V8 240 you pictured above probably cost north of 10 grand.

G35. There's your answer.

Hey Rick, I've got my own website and more storage space and bandwidth than I've ever come close to using. If you come up with an html page for this I will gladly host it and any pictures for the page. It could reside somewhere like http://www.mydatsunroadster.com/roller or something like that. It may be a bit of a hassle because you couldn't update it without going through me first, but the offer is out there.

These guys have the Datsun logo stripes in vinyl if you are interested: http://www.graphic-express.com/import_datsun.htm. EDIT: I just checked MSA and MSA's are MUCH cheaper.