Arne

Sailor Bob - Take it from me for experience. If you want a nice driver for less than $10k, buy one that's already finished. Buying one to restore won't pencil out unless you can do the body and paint yourself. The originality thing is a HUGE deal - if everything else is right too. But it's a selling feature, not so much something that adds to the selling price. If your car and a less original car are priced in the same ballpark, any enthusiasts will go for the more original car, and even pay a bit more for it. But they won't pay a lot more. If a '72 or '73 240Z with similar rust issues is a $1500 to $2000 car in your part of the country, yours may be worth $2500 since it is earlier and very original. But it won't be worth double.

Yeah, it's a scam. The replied to both of my ads to. I figured it was bogus, so I asked for details on one of them. They wanted me to accept their "certified check", deduct my payment, and send the balance to them via Western Union. A classic scam involving counterfeit checks. I declined, and reported their yahoo address to Yahoo as fraud.

That's because there was extra formatting in the link tag to make the text bold. Try this instead:http://www.hemmings.com/subscribe/current_issue.html?publication=HSX

My 7/71 car has a pair of them, too.

Yeah, I like that car. Of course, I'd better. Because as soon as I paint mine, it will be much the same...

I actually think it just as well if I answer here, as my answer will not be definitive. I'm going to take a stab at the rust and guess that it may be a little less than my yellow Series 1. Assuming that to be the case, here on the West Coast it would probably be a $1500-2000 car. Perhaps as much as $2500 if you got rather lucky. I really have no feel for the going values back East. I suspect it may be worth more back there due to the scarcity of restorable cars, but how much more I have no idea. There are a few things to consider. If my rust assessment is correct, you can expect to pay a minimum of $4000 to have the body properly repaired and painted. Possibly as much as $7500, depending on the quality of job. (This is assuming the buyer is not able to do this work him/her self.) Add another $800-1000 in parts to restore the interior, and probably $600-800 to re-chrome the bumpers. Then figure what it will cost to refurbish all the mechanicals, brakes and electricals. The short version is that it will cost at least an additional $10,000 to refurbish this car to an adequate (weekend driver) level. Much more to truly restore it. Looked at in that light, your current asking price might be a bit high. Again, I can't say that with any certainty for your part of the country, however. And no, I'm not climbing on the low-VIN bandwagon either. My keeper isn't even a Series 1. And you know what? I don't care. I have mine to drive, not to show or collect. Nothing wrong with a clean Series 1 over VIN 10,000. Will make someone a really nice classic car. Last, there are those potential buyers who may be put off by a quick acceptance of their offer, with no haggling. They see you ask a price they may feel is a bit too high, so they make an initial offer. If you accept, they may begin to second-guess their assessment of the car. A quick acceptance of a significantly lower price makes them suspicious. "No counter-offer? I wonder what else is wrong with it?" You might have better luck starting at a lower asking price, coming up with a definite bottom price, and sticking with it. If someone low-balls you, counter back with your bottom price. They may feel better about it if you are a bit firmer.

I suspect that your car is priced in an inconvenient range. Not to say that it's not worth $3900, as being a Series 1 with numbers matching engine, all original and with fairly minimal rust makes it an ideal restoration candidate for the right buyer. But -- For nearly this same amount of money a buyer can find an Arizona or non-coastal California car with even less rust. Maybe more miles, but if you plan to completely disassemble it anyway, miles aren't the deciding actor. Add to the above the fact that the Z restorers and collectors seem to all be gravitating toward really early cars now - the low-VIN thing. Series 1 cars are still considered more collectible than the later cars, but the earlier and lower the VIN the better. Unfortunately, yours is neither. Or if a person wants a Z to build as a nice weekend or daily driver, why buy a Series 1 when you can buy a later 240Z in similar condition for half the price. Don't get me wrong. For the right person, your car appears to be worth your asking price, especially for the East coast. But it may take a while to find your buyer.

Looks like the floorpans have been rebuilt with fiberglass or something similar. From what I see, the only reasonable course to take now is to have the floors and framerails replaced. Of course, I'm not a body person, I'm much more comfortable with electrical and mechanical. So take my advise with a grain of salt.

Hmm. I have access to eMacs with 10.3.9 on them at work. I'll try to remember to test it.

Makes sense to me. If you aren't going to have the lower part work as a brake light (as our North American 240Zs do) you probably want both the uppers to light - just as the Series 1 cars do.

Actually, note that in the rest of the world, the bottom outside bulbs were turn signals only, not brake lamps. Note the amber lower lenses. I don't know how many of the upper lamps were brake lamps, or whether it varied with the model years like it did with the North American spec 240Z. But if it did vary, Dave's comment should read:"He's also got 3 bad brake lights or 1, depends on the year."

Carl, I've had no problem using my work Mac in either Safari or Firefox, both in 10.4 and now in 10.5. Do you have the Flash plugin installed?

Kurt, to the best of my knowledge, all of the cars (those sold in the US, at least) had fan clutches. I've never seen one without, and the parts CD shows the same metal fan and clutch numbers for all cars up through 7/71 production.

Are these two 280Z threads the start of a new trend? While we do have the gallery here on CZCC.com, it's not easy to find pictures there of a particular year car when you need them. These threads might be easier to find. Although if Photobucket or CarDomain ever die or change their URLs, the whole thread will become pointless, as all we'll see is a bunch of red Xs.

GR-2s are designed for factory stock springs. They seem to work well with the Nissan Euro Stage 1 springs as well, once those springs are cut down to give stock ride height. For aftermarket lowering springs you should consider Tokico or Koni. Oh yeah, I just remembered that the performance springs for the 240Z from Arizona Z-car are supposed to be performance springs that don't lower the car. Might still be a bit too stiff for the KYBs, but the ride height issue would be OK. http://www.arizonazcar.com/springs.html

Don't worry about the differential change until you're done and you've driven it with the five-speed. Depending on your driving style and conditions, you may not feel you need the diff change.

Mike is on the right track, Asta. The two most likely causes (now that the fuses are all fresh) are a dirty/faulty switch on the column, or a dirty/seized wiper motor. Or possibly something is unplugged under the dash and no power is getting to the switch. One thing you could try to narrow down the choices would be to unplug the wiper motor harness there on the firewall and apply power directly to the terminals there to see if the motor will run. I don't have my factory manual here at work, so I can't tell you which color wires to apply power and ground to, but will try to remember to look that up this weekend.

I can certainly understand the sentiment, but if the intent is to maintain its original look, his valve cover is correct as is. That's the way they came.

Two parts to this reply. First is that the later 260/280Z springs will not work properly on a 240Z. So if that's really what those are (and it sounds like it), they aren't right for a 240Z. Secondly, KYB GR-2s are not recommended for use with lowering springs, according to KYB. When I ignored that recommendation in the past (on a non-Datsun), I regretted it. I do have GR-2s in my stock height 240Z now, and am pleased with them as a more-or-less stock replacement. But they are not a performance shock.

As mentioned in the earlier posts, that head is not a performance head, it is an emissions head. As such it does not have any special value.

It appears to be correct for late '71s as well, as my red car has one. I had to look hard in my pictures to find it, turns out that the shots I have here were all taken while it had slipped off the hose. Look at the very bottom just below the radiator hose to see it.

On the other hand, Snopes.com - while pretty much verifying that particular "hand-over-heart" episode - could find no truth to the claim that he has refused to recite the pledge, nor could they confirm or deny that not placing his hand over his heart is normal behavior for the man. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/anthem.asp Again, while not wanting to get into a big debate on politics here, I also strongly doubt that Obama will win the nomination, let alone the Presidency.

Like my MGB before it, I get lots of comments about my red 240Z. Seems like 50% of the population over the age of 35 has a Z story - either they owned one, a family member owned one, or they know someone who owned one.

Persimmon is well known to fade badly towards orange in the sun over the years. I've seen several examples of it fading so much it looks like 918 Orange. Check the undersides of the toolbox lids. Similarly, 905 Red will fade until it is almost indistinguishable from Persimmon. And that I know from personal experience...

Not necessarily. If it's the only one you have, and you don't mind spending a pile to fix it, then it's a project. But if you have more than one it might be a parts car. http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28534