1976 Datsun Z-Series

HLS30296294

Clear

1976 Datsun 280Z. Very nice original New Mexico car, 75K miles, one owner till January 2014. Repainted sometime back, everything else original. I purchased this car in November 2014 from one of our local dealers who deals regularly in good, hard-to-find cars. According to the electronic copy of the original title and other paper work I have, the original owner had apparently let the car go earlier in the year. It was purchased new from Albuquerque Datsun, has the dealer sticker still on the bumper, and has lived its entire life in the Albuquerque area where it’s very dry and conducive to vehicles surviving many years without rusting out. If you know these cars, then you know that rust is a chronic issue with many of them in other parts of our country and that good survivors are getting more and more difficult to find. Everything except the clock appears to work: electric antenna, gauges, dome and map light, A/C, etc. Doesn’t appear to need anything for a car of this age and doesn’t appear to use any oil. The clutch needs to be pumped a few times after it’s been sitting for a couple of weeks, but seems to work fine after that. There’s a small dent in the left rear quarter panel right in front of the bumper that you should be able to see in one of the photos. No apparent body rust that I can tell and the bottoms of the doors look very good. Passenger side frame rail has a rust spot near the rear. Driver side frame rail, floor boards, battery box don't appear to have any. The conditions under the dash, in the tool boxes, and in the spare tire compartment of this car are amazing; they look brand new. The spare wheel looks brand new and appears to have never been used. The tools and the factory wheel chocks look brand new as well. The dash has a few cracks in it and the carpet is worn, but the seats, door panels, head liner, steering wheel, console, shift knob and boot, and many other aspects of the car are in amazing condition. The car would be even more awesome, if you were willing to repaint it back to its original light brown metallic color. Painting it back to its original color would be easier than most as the engine bay wasn’t ever repainted. Since I bought the car, I’ve put a little more than a thousand miles on it with it living protected in my garage the entire time. The car runs beautifully down the freeway at 70 mph and is a pleasure to drive. I installed a new Retrosound stereo and Kenwood box speakers so I could listen to my iPod while driving. The heater valves were leaking, so I had them rebuilt by Z Specialties in Washington state. The right rear quarter panel got a small dent in it from a parking lot incident, so I had it fixed by Car Crafters. Otherwise, haven’t done much else with the car.