True Story:
Friend of the family is an electrican by trade. A few years ago, he is doing work for a residence in the SF Bay Area and sees a 240Z in the garage with junk piled all over. Orange w/ white-black interior. 28,000 original miles. No mods. All standard. No pics yet.

Owners are an elderly couple. Car used to belong to the son. He offers to buy it but is declined.

Then late-2005, he receives a call from the elderly wife. Husband passed away. She is moving to Colorado and looking to get rid of the car.

And the best part: He gets it for....






























...FREE!

Nice find, however, Zs suffer from the same rust ailments as most older cars. I've been seeing quite a few older Zs being restored lately.

I love those Z cars. What a great find.

Back in the 1970's my cousin, an orthopaedic resident at a city hospital rendering free care in the clinic, fixed a guy with a herniated lumbar disc. Performed a successful laminectomy. Patient had no job at the time but did well after surgery and was able to eventually resume work as a mechanic. Over the next five years, the patient worked his way up wheeling and dealing. He developed a successful auto repair business to the point where the bank lent him money to buy a fully equipped shop.

He remembered my cousin, tracked him down (now my cousin was just starting out in private practice) because this patient wanted to "thank" him for "giving him back his life." (In NYC you're just happy when the "thank you" isn't the barrel end of a handgun!)

Anyway, as part of the purchase of the garage, a certain Maserati (can't remember which model) went with it and this former patient actually gave the car to my cousin as a gift. Another free car story!

Paul

I had one back in the day set up for scca B stock class.

triple webers, BRE head and block, and on and on.... Was a really fun car to drive on the track.

I saw a brown 240 a bout 6 months ago at the Irwindale drag strip.

Looked bone stock except for being lowered a tad and a set of R rubber on the back.

Made no noise... Sounded quieter than stock. And turned Middle TENS in the 1/4 mile.

Must a had a big ass hair dryer on that engine. He kicked every bodys ass. On the way home... He passed us on the freeway.

Yup... It's a street car.... Ya gotta love it. A sleeper in every regard.

great cars... Way fun...

Clayton

Very cool for your friend Erik.

I have a buddy who has been putting a 240 together for as long as I have been working on my 914. He's planning on making it into a rather potent strip/street car (which for him involves turboing it I believe).

Z cars are rust prone just like 914's. My wife was the origional owner of a 260 2+2 which we sold when the first daughter came along. It was just too hard to wrestle the large car seats of the day into the back seat so most of the time the wife had to ride in the back with the car seat in the front. It was sold to a friend of a friend and then our friend bought it. So one day she says that she really wishes she still had it so I bought it back. Had to replace both front fenders and patch the floors, and this car never had been out of Colorado.

Awesome find! Nissan really new what they were doing when they built em.
Congrats,
Konrad

Nissan...

Datsun!

Zach

eh hem (Datsun)

My brother had a 72 Green 240Z that was tuned. We used to cruise up and down I5 at 130mph late at night after he was done playing in a band.(1975-77) fun car. Sold it cuz his new gf couldn't haul hay in it for her horses.

I almost restored a 240, original owner car last year. Pulled it out of storage after ~15 years. Car was really rusted. Definatly savable, but quiet a project. Too bad, they are realy cool cars. Car could be on the market for the right person....

The first car I went out and bought was...a 1972 Datsun 240Z...I was 18 and my hand-me-down Pontiac Ventura had just spun the timing gear after about 160,000 miles...

I loved that "twenty-four ouncer"...had to sell it to pay for university though...bummer.

Great score from a barn though!

A bit more info: Last driven in 1988. Family friend now has it re-registered and is well on his way to refreshing back to original condition. I am working to get some pictures soon.

If you want to see how 240 can rust ... watch the rustoration ...

http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/

Finally, pictures! Paint is original, glass-smooth. A few bolt-on mods since acquisition: stress bars, aluminized exhaust, new brakes, new body seals. New wheels too while he gets the period-correct slotted mags refinished. Also has the original wheel covers.

z2

z3

z4

z5

z6 - last picture.

That's Fuching clean!!

Your friend scored big time.

OMG!

I have one. It was my first love before I got into 914's... Like this one, it has just about every part made by Nissan Competition. A bit too dirty right now for pics but seeing this one has brought me a bit of motivation...

HOLLY COW!!! I have not seen one that clean in a very long time... I would venture a pure speculative guess that it should be worth somewhere in the high teens???

Hope he has fun with is super sweet car

Wow, that sure is clean....what did the barn look like?


Very nice find.

Nice Fuch'n Z car. Z car people will freak over that.

I learned a hard lesson years ago. An FJ55 Landcruiser used to sit in a neighbors driveway on flat tires. I walked by it every other day. Thought about trying to buy it, but I ASS-UMED they were attached to it, and I didn't want to hassle them. Then I saw it at another neighbors house. It had air in the tires and he was washing it. I asked him if he bought it from the other neighbor and he said he knocked on the door and they sold it to him for $500! He put air in the tires and a new battery, the thing started right up. He was happy as a clam, I wanted to throw myself on a hary-cary sword. Never be shy if you see a car like that. Just ask, you can't win if you don't play.

Funny you mention this story. The owner of the Z asks every time he sees an old car in a garage regardless whether he needs another car or not. That's when an elder in our family mentions last night that she knows of another Z the same color sitting in a garage in storage. Hmmm...

Hmm, I'm probably going to get rid of my '70 240z to make room for the 914 that a friend is giving me. I like them both, but I think it will be hard to give up a 150 hp six for an 85 hp air cooled four. The Datsun is a lot of fun at the track. Maybe if I convert the 914 to a Subaru engine...

Fred

WOW very cool.

Ferg