The latest Grassroots Motorsports has a neat article on the 240Z vs. the new 350Z. I only really paid attention to the 240Z part, and I was really struck by how cool of a car they are. Light (2300lb), powerful (150hp) and simple (you could fit two engines in the engine compartment).

Ok, so now I want one. How much would I expect to pay for one in good shape? Can it be a daily driver? Anyone here an early Z fan? Was AC ever an option?

Yeah I'm daydreaming, but you never know. I am looking for a car to replace my daily driver Mustang that is going on 200k miles.

I'm a Z fan. . . helped bring a 260Z almost to the point of very solid, pretty driver. . . I drove it for 2 months and absolutely loved the car. Right at the point where we had it all stripped down for a clean re-paint, the owner decided to sell. . . so what we had was the best-looking rust-o-leum rattle can paintjob I've ever seen

Light, balanced, simple, not lacking in HP. Stock brakes leave a little to be desired. . . love the inline 6's.

Seems they're a good platform for racing and for V8 conversions as well. I'd say a solid driver should be able to be had for $2,500-$5,000. Car that needs work, but running should be able to be had for $800-$2,500.

That's just my guestimate. Go for it.. . parts are often cheaper than Porsche.

Lotso Z forums out there.

Beware, this may be the only car in the world that rust faster than a 914.

Nissan will sell you body parts, but prices are outragous. (1800.00 quarter panels) Look for rust free or at least nearly so.

As always, buy the best one you can afford.

On a quiet evening in this part of the country you can here them rust. Rare to find one rarer to find one you can drive. I had one last year. 99# rust free. light front corner damage, complete, engine turned but not running, no title. I found it sitting in a garage with 1978 plates on it. I couldn't give the car away for $ 400.00. So that's what I did. I left it at a friends house and told him to get what he could for it. I would have loved to do the car but I have too many now.

I had a 72 240Z in high school. Next to my 510 and 914 the Z is right up there for early 70's best semi affordable cars. Your in the right area, look around 4k =/-.

Tim

I love the Z cars... I anticipate getting a 280 later down the road... but 1 project at a time... they are a load of fun!

Gotta tell my story. The new 240Z and the new 914 appeared at the same time. I bought a new 914 in June of '70. To this day I have asked myself if the Z would have been a better choice. Never even test drove one as I was locked in on a Porsche. Couldn't afford to step up to a 912 or 911. In fact I could barely afford the teener. Sold it after 8 months. The 914 was $4300 with appearance group, blaupunkt am/fm and chrome wheels. I think the Z was about $3700 base price with two more cylinders and lots of power. In those days the idea of a sports car made in Japan just didn't appeal. Everyone knew real sports cars came from Europe. Times change.

nah, you still made the right choice... they are both fun sports cars, but I think the teener has more fun in it... especially if you are like me and like driving a car you don't see every day... I see 240s and 280s daily, I rarely see another teener, and I LOOK hard for them...

I do pass the same teener 2-3 times a week on my way home from work, it's always in fromt of some rental place in Plano... I keep meaning to stop in and see if he's a board member...


that said, the Zs are cool cars too, and yes even japan can make a cool sports car... but they do crazy things like make them reliable and effceint as daily drivers... crazy concepts, I don't understand

Check It Out.............It's like this website, but with ZCars. they even have rustoration projects listed.

Z CARS

alright....fellow 510 owners
(okay, ex-510 owner)

Jeff, there is no reason why one could not be a daily driver.....stuff a small block Chevy in it !!!!!!

The straight six is pretty darn heavy so the balance won't be thrown off too bad.............

My girlfriend way back when (wife now) had a 240. It was simply a beautiful car. Perfectly straight, which was unusual.

It was OK performance wise, but the handling was scary. I don't think I would want to try one wtih stock suspension at Thunderhill, you'd be lucky to make it around alive.

You couldn't tell what it was going to do at high speed.

I paid $50 to have a 280 hauled away not 4 months ago.

I had my doors blown off by a 240Z many years ago.. Must of had a Turbo because it was spitting flame out of the exhaust during upshifts, or somthing. I was driving a stiff geared 70 small block Camaro.

Is the story true about why the early z-cars are so fast because Datsun bought the rights to build the engine from Mercedes-Benz? <_<

Pat

okay, why can't WE have something like this on our homepage?

just saying...

My main competition in SCCA F/P is a 240Z.....slick tiared/300 hp mo fo. I/we have yet to beat him......cept when I had a hot dog drive the ulf. Unfortunately, the fella that runs it (a hella nice guy, but don't tellim' I said so ) had hip replacement surgery and can't get into the thing for a while.

Come to think of it, I got him twice in the rain...which tells you something about the handling
of a 300 hp 240Z. Last year a V8 Z showed at an AX....it was hopelessly undertired. Lotta smoke & noise......kinda like a 914 V8

From what I've been told, vintage racing groups don't want the Z cars in. Talking to a legal vintage 914/6 racer(2.5L 6er).....he says when they come in
he gets his doors blowed off.... their hp kills.

Having owned a 240Z, 260Z and a couple 280Z's, you want a 240Z. Lighter car, better handling (what there is for handling compared to a 914).

As far as rust, both the 914 and Z will rust equally. The 914 has a poor back window design that leaks and the Z tends to leak at the A pillars. I sold my 280Z a year and half ago for $6500 (bought for $3900). It has 41,000 original miles and a paint job two years before I got it. All I did was replace all the bushings with Poly (lots of personal labor) and put new tires on her.

Parts a pretty cheap. You do not need to spend $1800 for a new quarter panel when so many quarter panels are out there in the junk yards that can be refurbished.

You should go to www.zcar.com. One of the top hangouts for Z info and tons of classifieds. I good running daily driver should be in the $4000 range.

I'd rather have a 150hp engine in my 914. I drove a 280 briefly. I felt cramped in the cockpit. I prefer the spaciousness of the 914.

$4k is about what I was expecting. If rust is as big of a deal as on the 914, is it just as hard to find a good example? Are most of the "drivers" out there terminally rotting?

Does the price double/triple for the "nice" ones vs. the average condition? I don't know if there is such a thing as concourse cars in Z land...

If the Z was to be a daily driver I'd probably want a restored car with zero issues. Most of the ads I looked at were for rough cars that needed work. I don't need two projects!

I just did a quick search on http://www.collectorcartraderonline.com/ and they seemed to be priced like 73/74 2L 914s if not a tad higher except there seems to be more generally available. Based on those listings $6000-$12000 seems to get you a nice problem free driver. $4000-6000 gets you a decent driver that needs a little work and below $4000 you are looking at a project.

About 6-8 years ago the Nissan dealers were trying to buy, restore and sell 1000? or so 240Z's. T

The idea was to generate floor traffic as well as offering a mintly restored 240Z with all new everythings. They were going to re-make tranny parts, fab up sheet metal, remake brakes, and rebuild the body's at several Cali restoration shops.

One of the guys at work saw one of the first ones for sale at DC- $20k or so. He was so impressed, he put down a big deposit and got on the list.

Last I heard, they couldn't find enuf rust free bodys (in Cali) to make all of them. Dave moved to Cali, and I never heard more.

Those damn things killed the 914 sales in the 70's. They were less dollar$ and more HP.


If I was gonna buy one, one of those resto's would be nice. Seen too many rusting at the rear shock towers.


Ken

They did restore some though.

I've seen them advertised in the high teens to low twentys, they were well done too.

Around here, they are all rusted out..............................

If you can't see it, nissan doesn't paint it...................................

I get the feeling that finding one in decent shape might be hard.

Sounds familiar...

I wouldn't mind paying more for a car that is sorted out, but that is probably almost as risky. When I was looking for my 914 I looked at a lot of "Restored" (haha) $6500+ cars that had flaking paint and rust holes in them.

Friend just sold a very solid one orange 240 that was sitting on his top shelf in the shop for a while.. . original paint, no rust problems. . . didn't know if it would run or not.

I inquired about it and he said he'd sell it to me for $1000 if it didn't run at $1500 if it did run.

Had I not been $7,000 into the 914 project at the time, I would have bought it. V8 conversions are much cheaper on the Z-cars largely because you don't have to fork over the $5,000 for the 930 gearbox w/ case mods and because you run the GM gearboxes instead of mating w/ special adapters and clutch components.

Had I known the numbers from the beginning, I would be not driving a Z conversion instead of not driving a 914 conversion. But I do think the 914's are cooler cars.

-'Chung

1972 240Z - Dark Grey (very solid and upgraded to a 1975-78 2.8L with FI.)

1972 240Z - Orange

1972 240Z - White

1972 240Z - White (another nice one)

1970 240Z - Green (first year car)

1973 240Z Blue (with early carbs...very nice...don't want the 1973-74 flat-top carbs. This has the round top twin SU carbs)

OK....so I know way too much about Z cars from a previous life. If I were looking for a Z right now, I would check these out. The parts are cheap on these cars and you can swap over 80% of them from years 1970-1978. Over 200,000 cars built if I remember. The motor and tranny are very solid on these cars. Just stay away from 1973 240Z with the flat-top carbs (although you can put the round-top SU's on yourself for about $750). Also stay away from the 260Z's. 1975-1978 5-speed trannys can be swapped in also ($250 for a used tranny).


The 240Z with the 2.8L upgrade with FI is very desirable upgrade. An even better buy if the original 2.4L comes with it.

I remember in 1972 I was in the market for a new sports car. I narrowed it down to the 240Z, the 914, the TVR Vixen and the Lotus Europa. Believe it or not, I was swaying towards the Lotus. But then all the magazines came out with articles about the 914 2.0 and convinced me that the Porsche was the way to go. That was the smartest thing I've ever done. I remember doing time trials in the 70's at Lime Rock Park and my biggest competition was always the 240Z's. It would take a perfect lap for me to beat them and even then it was only by no more than a 10th of a second.

Most of the cars listed above come with spare engines!
Is that a good sign or a bad sign?


It screams project car to me. Maybe I am expecting too much out of a 70s sports car?

Several of the ones posted above seem well above project status.

I don't think I'd use any 70's - early 80's car as an only car daily driver, just do what I do and keep 3-4 around, one of em is bound to start when needed..............

oh yeah, I had a 70 240z back in the day, I found out later after I sold it to a freind who totaled it, that it was one of the very first built (like below 300) due to the way the rear compartments were. I also had a 77-78 280Z, both of them were southern cars and were rusty as hell, but they were a blast to drive and excelent performers.

Is Z-Car Atlanta still around? It was on "Bright Star Road" in Litiha Springs?

Damb you one of those is less than a days drive away and "affordable", christ just what I need another car!

Glad it has ugly flares on it or I'd have alreday called him, must resist.......................

Z cars with extra motors is pretty standard (I see many 914's with extra motors also).

DuckRyder : That "low numbered" 240Z would have been worth lots of money even in a decrepit state. Kind of like that #004 914(6) floating on this board.