Any Datsun/Nissan People Here?

May 5, 2008, 6:45 am
#1
Joined: Mar 11, 2007
Posts: 2,411


Mark, have a question for ya. Autoweek's 50 years in review feature just mentioned the years that Datsun did not have a "sporty" car in the model line up, so you could go to the dealership and buy an older, factory refurbished 240Z off the new car showroom floor.
What else can you add to the story?
2006 Time Magazine's "Man Of The Year"
May 5, 2008, 8:10 am
#2
Joined: Aug 5, 2007
Posts: 2,352
Initially, Nissan intended to refurbish 200 240Z's and sell them through 10 specific dealers. Actual completed number was 40 cars befor the project was scrapped. Nissan purchased a ton of the parts on the open market, which lead to a shortage of parts for the rest of us.

"After the Z's were selected from across the country (many came from Arizona and areas similar due to the more rust free condition) they are fully disassembled, then each part is inspected and inventoried. The unibody is inspected, repaired if necessary and then dipped and painted. From there any parts needing replaced are ordered (yes they have access to parts we don't). Everything is kept as original with the exception of tires, (hard to find the original size) and a few other suspension parts (bushings, struts). The other difference is a small sticker on the quarter window and an emblem on the center console designating it as an official Nissan refurbished Z."

Original sticker in 1970 for a 240Z was $3500. Factory refurbish was $25k. One refurbished sold at auction for ~$34k at Montery Auction.

On a side note: for you "old timers" and readers of Sports Illustrated from many, many years past, there was an ad for an Orange 240Z shown on the beach. The following is that actual car used in teh photo shoot all those years ago. In the final shot, you can see the old Sports Illustrated open to the 2-page ad. I took this at our Midwest Z Heritage Show Indy Z hosted in Brown County in 2007. Sorry, the car was in shadows at the time and I was way too busy working to go back for more.
1983 Datsun 280ZXTurbo
May 5, 2008, 8:15 am
#3
Joined: Mar 11, 2007
Posts: 2,411
Kind of a neat program. Any word on where the 40 cars ended up? Seems like they would have a cult following if anyone tracked them down.
2006 Time Magazine's "Man Of The Year"
May 5, 2008, 10:04 am
#4
Joined: Aug 5, 2007
Posts: 2,352
I'm not sure where they all are. Never seen one myself. Hear about them every now and then...kind of like bigfoot or loc ness monster...people say they're out there, but hard to find.
1983 Datsun 280ZXTurbo
May 5, 2008, 4:33 pm
#5
Joined: Sep 30, 2007
Posts: 1,024
On a similar note, Honda has a program where you can ship your high mileage NSX back to Japan to be fully refurbed with the mileage zero'd out and the car re-registered as a current year vehicle.

The only person in the USA that I've ever heard of doing it was a guy that's NSX got mangled in a crash and somehow he was able to get the other guy's insurance to pay for it. I don't know how much it is for sure, but I heard 50K + shipping.
Those that are lucky their whole lives usually die young...
May 8, 2008, 12:41 pm
#6
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 1,615
Raza76 wrote
On a similar note, Honda has a program where you can ship your high mileage NSX back to Japan to be fully refurbed with the mileage zero'd out and the car re-registered as a current year vehicle.

The only person in the USA that I've ever heard of doing it was a guy that's NSX got mangled in a crash and somehow he was able to get the other guy's insurance to pay for it. I don't know how much it is for sure, but I heard 50K + shipping.
That would be awesome.

"So, what year is your NSX?"
"2008"



9/18/10
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