jayhawk

Regarding the color of the steering wheel: I've always wondered what the "new" color was and it seems to me that most restorations get it a little too dark. I always compare against the 1972 brochure I've kept, and the photo I took of my 1973 240Z a couple of weeks after I bought it new. Of course, photo colors are not always accurate, and I've never had any judge question my (restored darker than these pictures) steering wheel, so it apparently doesn't matter very much. Cropped 1973 photo of my then new '73 240Z. Originally a kodachrome slide, digitized by Costo's Flordia lab a few years ago.

I can confirm that my 240Z that was restored by Motorman7 did win Best Exterior at the 2023 ZCON in Ontario. I also did have Miguel do single stage paint, as I wanted it restored to the way it was when I drove it off the dealer's lot, which Motorman7's restoration achieved spectacularly. For the 2023 ZCON in Ontario, I did have it professionally polished (regular wax, not ceramic) before the show. The judges also seemed impressed with the condition of the undercarriage, which was Motorman7's work. (photo attached) It was that undercarriage that caused me to start down the rabbit hole of show competitions. Got 1st Place Stock at the 2021 ZCON in Colorado Springs, and 1st in Class at the 2022 Hillsborough Concours d;Elegance, but now the wife is complaining about her cleaning duties at these events... 😁 So it time to turn it back into a daily driver. Maybe turn it into something like the modded Z in the attached photo? 😆

I liked you color change, more consistent and readable. And that is interesting about MS Word's limitations on exporting to a pdf. I've been using Libra Office for several years (never wanted to pay for MS Office) and interesting to find that limitation. I like the spreadsheet in Libra Office (Calc) too. I never used MS Excel, used Lotus 123 until about 5 years ago! (when it was part of Lotus Smartsuite) because I got that for free from when I was gainfully employed by IBM.

Feel free to use it. I created it with Libra Office Write, then exported it as a PDF, and used Office Depot's online poster system to print an 18" x 24" poster. Turnaround time was only 1 day for pickup at a local Office Depot. I've attache the Libra Writer ODT document I created. (Microsoft Word can use this format, if that is what you use). The file size seems smaller than I thought it should be, but that may be because the photos I used were low resolution to begin with. Have fun! 2023 THE LEGENDARY DATSUN 240Z CONCOURS INFO POSTER 18x24.odt

In 2022 drove the Z to the 66th Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance, which is the oldest Continuous Concours in the World, running every year since 1956. (Pebble Beach started a couple of years earlier, but did not hold an event in 1960 due to "scheduling conflicts") Not as big as Pebble Beach, but still lots of incredible ancient motorcars. (and Pebble Beach does not have a Japanese car class, not to mention incredibly expensive entrance fees) Judging of all Concours events in N. California is done by the San Francisco chapter of the SCCA. They do not give out judging sheets, so no one knows why anyone came in first or second etc. It is an old boys club that rationalizes their secrecy because someone might get mad about errors they made... This has caused one beautiful Z Owner (another Motorman restoration) to swear off all judged events. One wonders how many other folks this has discouraged from entering SF SCCA judged events) However, Hillsborough does have a Japanese car class, because the wife of the organizer is Japanese! And we received 1st in Class, thanks to only 2 other cars in the class. One a modified 240Z, beautiful Z, but Concours judging rules are identical to ZCON "Stock" rules, ie. no mods. And the other car was a '93 Acura NSX, where the owner was not present when the judges came to judge. This is a poster I use at events like this to show attendees why the 240Z was such an important vehicle in automotive history.

Took the 240Z to ZCON in Colorado Springs. Won 1st Place, Stock! Yea, Motorman's work comes through again! Judging was done in a dirt lot which did not help with the cleaning. Judges shirts on the back said "We Will Find the Dirt" - and they did. ZUP's silver Z in in the photo next to ours. ZUP drove it from Arkansas, and still got 2nd Place. He was happy for me. (and Motorman, who was not there this time). ZCONs are a lot of fun. Great cars and great people. Trophy backed by a 13 lb (!) hunk of Colorado Fieldstone. Nissan unveiled the new 2023Z at ZCON a couple of days after the press revealing in New York. I love the blue!

In 2021, took it to some local shows. The owner of the black Mercedes McLaren next to me was looking at my window sticker price ($4200 in 1973) and mentioned that his first service on his car was $8,000! Yikes! Found another '73 240Z at the show and he is now a member of ZONC (Z Owners of Northern California, of which I'm now the Membership Representative) An attempt at artsy fartsy car photo... Title: Sunset Over a Datsun

In October 2019, drove it from our home just outside San Francisco to the Neillo Concours d'Elegance in Sacramento. Entered into the 1953 to 1979 Sports Cars Under $5,000 class. Another 2nd place to a Volvo 1800 that has survived the disastrous Paradise, California fire. The owner had lost his home and other cars, but had photos of his Volvo on a trailer driving through orange smoke and flames! This was a great lesson is how you present your car! All in all, great fun.

After returning from ZCON, took the Z to the 2019 JCCS in Long Beach, CA. Huge event with over 500 Japanese autos.

I thought I'd update this thread with info about the Z of the last couple of years. Some of this info has been mentioned in other threads, but just to complete the saga to date about this car, this post is about our adventures at ZCON 2019 in Branson. Took it to ZCON 2019 in Branson immediately after Motorman "finished" the restoration. (is a restoration ever really finished?...) Bought a used Nissan Armada, rented a 24' enclosed trailer, and set off for Branson from San Diego after persuading my brother to help drive, as I'd never towed anything larger than a jet ski before this. Yoshihiko Matsuo (RIP) inspecting Motorman's work. Judges judging. Received 2nd place in Stock, after Zup's beautiful '73 Z. Very happy for Zup, as he had unselfishly helped on this thread. The Branson ZCON trophies are really nice!

Whidbey Island was a great place. The Navy built the NAS there because it was drier than other parts of the Puget Sound, as it was in the "rain shadow" of the Olympic Peninsula. Supposedly had more VFR flying days than NAS Miramar in San Diego because of frequent fog there. Supposedly... Bought my 240Z from the Datsun dealer in Mt. Vernon. The new owner, Jack Gubrud, sponsored fun runs for all local Z owners. Here are pix of the run he sponsored in 1974 over the North Cascade Highway to Winthrop. (I think I've posted some of these before here)

I agree, but only get there very rarely. (like driving through in a Z...) Another interesting thing we saw on the stretch of US 50/I-70: Every seen a curve ahead speed sign of 75mph? (Saw this on our trip, but did not get a picture then. Had to go back to Google Street view to find this again)

While editing, I noticed something very interesting. The 1974 photo of my 240Z "somewhere in Utah" had cliffs in the background that looked similar to the View Point stop in the new Z. Notice the profile of the cliff right above the 240Z. This it the original photo. (The one in the post above was cropped.) And again the photo of the new Z view point stop in Utah: The profile of the cliffs on the right was the give away! Realized both photos were taken at the same place! 49 years apart! Using the geotag info in the new photos, identified the location as the Black Dragon Canyon View Point on I70 in Utah. Google Street view of the View Point: I guess Zs like to stop at the same place.

Sorry about the photos. Hopefully I got it right in editing.