Just picked up a 280Z

[MidnightCafe]

So in January, I had ruptured my Achilles' tendon when my lifted 4x4 van broke down and I tried pushing it to the side of the road. While laid up and recovering, I sifted through local Craigslist ads and found a ratty 240Z for sale. I checked it out with a friend while on crutches and discovered how serious rust is for these cars-frame railed were rotted through and there were holes in the underbody I could reach up and feel the interior carpet! When I test drove it though, I had a big, shit-eating grin across my face-I absolutely loved it. I walked away from that specific car but I knew I had to have one while I'm still young.

 

Fast forward to late April and I had just about given up on searching for an S30 since my budget couldn't buy me much in the northeast. Then one day, for whatever reason, I did a 250 mile range search on Auto Tempest and discovered a 1978 280Z near my parents' place in Boston. I called the owner and the car sounded reasonable, if a bit pricey. Sent my father and uncle out to check it out and long story short, they drove it home that day.

 

Now I live in upstate ny and only had low resolution photos to see what I had bought. I arrived yesterday at my folk's place to this sitting in the driveway:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:D

[MidnightCafe]

Body is in good shape and there's around 105k miles on the clock. Rust was repaired with aftermarket British Victoria metal parts (hood, fenders, rocker panels and floor pans) in the 80's and was repainted (paint is great minus one small dent and a clearcoat scratch where a speck of rust formed). It was family owned all its life and garaged since the repair work-last registered in 1991! The owner did throw his plate on it and drive it in the summers to keep it maintained.

 

The bad: it needs interior work. The floor pans need to be painted, needs carpets, and the dash has cracks. The brakes need to be flushed and the horn, turn signals, and tach don't work. Some more pics:

 

 

 

 

[devilsbullet]

sweet! not a bad lookin ride man.

[ArchetypeDatsun]

I think you did good usually in the east coast there pretty rotted glad there's some nice ones left. The interior doesn't look bad have fun!

[Ranman72]

Looks pretty nice 

I like the black bumpers it takes away from their large size IT LOOKS GOOD 

nice van too looks pretty bad ass

[Palmer765s]

great find man expecialy around here (im in PA) good luck with every thing iv had mine for 3 months and I haven't even been able to drive it yet :/

[Z-train]

Replace every inch of rubber hose on that car ASAP!

[72240z]

Nice z, how far upstate are you? New York Z Car Club  fun run is this coming sunday, it starts at bear mt. 

http://nyzcc.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=964

[MidnightCafe]

Jay, that looks like a fun time! My Datsun (and the rest of my vehicles) will need some work to get it to pass inspection before then. But I'd love to make it at some point! Is that the club out of Rochester? 

 

Edit: I'm located in Schenectady NY, right outside Albany.