Hey Primers,
Some of you may or may not remember me as I've been out of the NSX game for about 3 years now, but I drove around an old '75 turbo Z for a time and had a thread about it at one time. I ended up selling it in July of last year to a nice police officer in San Antonio. :biggrin:
Miss that car, but couldn't stand to let it sit out in rainy weather and rust down here in Corpus Christi.
This past December, I found out that I was moving to Japan this coming November, so my NSX aspirations were put on hold after I had found the most perfect 1992 Comptech supercharged black on ivory NSX up in New Hampshire (telling him I couldn't buy his car almost literally hurt...if he sees this thread). My last NSX for kicks:
Miss that car dearly as well, more than the Z.
I've been in a sportscar void for about a year now after getting sensible and buying a decent 2002 Accord to DD back and forth to base. Thought about getting an S2000 to have fun before I left for Japan. Then people started putting this crazy idea in my head about shipping an old car to Japan, to drive and possibly sell, because the Japanese go nuts for anything they can't have, just like us (a la Skyline).
So I've been casually looking through old Datsun Z and Porsche 911 classifieds. Came close on one 911 down in Georgia, but the owner couldn't get me the info I needed (apparently older Porsches before the 1980's VINs did not have a month of manufacture stamped on the body...very important for Japan). Ended up stumbling across an ad in Ohio for a 240Z advertised as "one owner". I inquired.
What I found was probably the most perfect, original 240Z in the United States. This lady bought the car brand new in 1970 having just come off the boat. After some time, she drove the car less and less and let a good family friend take care of the car for her, the person I originally contacted. It has 59K original miles, and the rust-problem was widespread enough by this time (July 1970) that the dealer took the car to a local shop to completely rust proof the bottom as brand new, and it looks like it.
This car is so perfect, I'm starting to have trouble thinking about possibly taking it to Japan, but I know that it would probably survive better there than here. It may just need to go to a museum.
I present to you 1970 Datsun 240Z Series 1 #7356, white on blue interior.
DAT DASH
If you know Zs, you know this is the most important place to tell what kind of shape the chassis is in. Looks brand. spankin. new. Floorpan.
UBER UBER RARE
The only drawbacks I see is that the car shows some evidence of sitting. The bottom has some surface rust on the suspension components as well as some dry rotted bushings. It was just not driven all that often (maybe once a month). Doing all the fluids and replacing the bushings with urethane.
Then I'm getting in contact with a government vehicle processing center to prepare for the move to Japan. I'm going to need the amber turn signals lenses for the rear and the speedo changed to KPH, but it's gonna be well worth it.
Alot of people think shipping an old car to Japan is a PITA. It'll cost me about $1K to register it there, but I think just being able to say you drove an old Z, left hand drive 240Z at that, in Japan is priceless. It really is.
More updates to come. Thanks for reading my diatribe.
Some of you may or may not remember me as I've been out of the NSX game for about 3 years now, but I drove around an old '75 turbo Z for a time and had a thread about it at one time. I ended up selling it in July of last year to a nice police officer in San Antonio. :biggrin:
Miss that car, but couldn't stand to let it sit out in rainy weather and rust down here in Corpus Christi.
This past December, I found out that I was moving to Japan this coming November, so my NSX aspirations were put on hold after I had found the most perfect 1992 Comptech supercharged black on ivory NSX up in New Hampshire (telling him I couldn't buy his car almost literally hurt...if he sees this thread). My last NSX for kicks:
Miss that car dearly as well, more than the Z.
I've been in a sportscar void for about a year now after getting sensible and buying a decent 2002 Accord to DD back and forth to base. Thought about getting an S2000 to have fun before I left for Japan. Then people started putting this crazy idea in my head about shipping an old car to Japan, to drive and possibly sell, because the Japanese go nuts for anything they can't have, just like us (a la Skyline).
So I've been casually looking through old Datsun Z and Porsche 911 classifieds. Came close on one 911 down in Georgia, but the owner couldn't get me the info I needed (apparently older Porsches before the 1980's VINs did not have a month of manufacture stamped on the body...very important for Japan). Ended up stumbling across an ad in Ohio for a 240Z advertised as "one owner". I inquired.
What I found was probably the most perfect, original 240Z in the United States. This lady bought the car brand new in 1970 having just come off the boat. After some time, she drove the car less and less and let a good family friend take care of the car for her, the person I originally contacted. It has 59K original miles, and the rust-problem was widespread enough by this time (July 1970) that the dealer took the car to a local shop to completely rust proof the bottom as brand new, and it looks like it.
This car is so perfect, I'm starting to have trouble thinking about possibly taking it to Japan, but I know that it would probably survive better there than here. It may just need to go to a museum.
I present to you 1970 Datsun 240Z Series 1 #7356, white on blue interior.
DAT DASH
If you know Zs, you know this is the most important place to tell what kind of shape the chassis is in. Looks brand. spankin. new. Floorpan.
UBER UBER RARE
The only drawbacks I see is that the car shows some evidence of sitting. The bottom has some surface rust on the suspension components as well as some dry rotted bushings. It was just not driven all that often (maybe once a month). Doing all the fluids and replacing the bushings with urethane.
Then I'm getting in contact with a government vehicle processing center to prepare for the move to Japan. I'm going to need the amber turn signals lenses for the rear and the speedo changed to KPH, but it's gonna be well worth it.
Alot of people think shipping an old car to Japan is a PITA. It'll cost me about $1K to register it there, but I think just being able to say you drove an old Z, left hand drive 240Z at that, in Japan is priceless. It really is.
More updates to come. Thanks for reading my diatribe.
