Dean,
The car looks great. We should get together and have a beer to commiserate. Bought a "rust free, ready to go" '71 Z out of Michigan (should have been first watch out).
Got it back here (I'm just north of Toronto) and needed to patch frame rails, battery. Bottom of both door are rotted out (passenger side can be fixed), and the bottom of the floors have surface rust (but no rot yet...). Also needed to redo (brace yourself): complete front end, brakes (master cylinder, brake booster), cooling system (water pump, rad), clutch (master cylinder, slave culinder), u-joint, horns. Bought for $4,300 US. Put in almost another $5k to date in the work above. Still have to paint and do the doors.
I didn't get anywhere going after the guy who sold the vehicle. Still not sure if he mis-represented the car intentionally or was just an idiot (or both...a distinct possibility).
But I have a car that drives, goes straight and pulls strong. (Picking up some cool vintage JDM racing wheels tomorrow ).
I'm still schizophrenic about the car. When I take it out, it gets noticed and people genuinely like it. I love driving it, but when I find something that was misrepresented, ugh...
As an aside, are you a member of the Ontario Z Car Owner's Association. You should come check out one of the events or meetings. (Big tour of Z's up to Huntsville and back this Saturday).
PM me and we'll grab that beer.
Mike A.