Why I should not look on craigslist ever.

pparrigo

India Delta OneZero Tango
Feb 12, 2008
115
0
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36
WNY
So way back in 1972, my father bought himself a factory new, loaded 240z. I do not come into the story here, as I would have been -15 years old. Something or other happened, long story short- he doesn't have it anymore. Of course, he always reminisces about said 240z, says he wants another '72, etc. Sometimes I mock it, but in the back of my head, I have always thought they were exceptionally pretty cars. I occasionally have a look around on the interwebs to see what's out there, and boy, have 240s been going up in price (a '73 for $13000?).

Well, I find one on Craigslist about 45 minutes from my house, so dad and I take a trip in the mk3 to go see how bad it is (Pass a gorgeous BMW 850i on the way- would have bought it but i don't have that much money lying around).
We expect it to be a complete loss for $800, seeing that they were rustbuckets to begin with.

The hood has some rust at the leading edge and there's minor spots here and there, but most of the panels are newish and in great shape with pretty nice welds. Interior needs a little assembly, but it's all there.

Engine was rebuilt in 2000 (1000 miles on it since then), but was parked soon after due to some growling in the rear end. Seems to have pretty good compression. I don't care for the light blue color of the valve cover however...

All in all, it was far better than we had expected. Offered 5 for it.

Now we have a 240z coming home to live with my other projects ('76 XJ-s and a '64 TR4, and I guess the '76 kawasakis count as well).

Good stuff. I hate you, craigslist...
 

Quin

Trans killer
Dec 5, 2006
1,989
0
36
33
Columbus, IN
If you really don't want it cluttering up your garage/driveway/yard, you can always ship it down here. ;)
 

Isphius

Supra-less :(
May 30, 2006
359
0
0
long branch
pics? my dad also had one of these back in the day. He said it was quite fast compared to the other 80s cars running around
 

pparrigo

India Delta OneZero Tango
Feb 12, 2008
115
0
0
36
WNY
Haha. No, we just built a new garage, so the room and clutter isn't a problem anymore :p

We brought our camera with us when we went to go look, but since he decided to buy it right then, we didn't bother taking pictures.

It comes home on Friday, i'll take some pictures when we get it pressure washed (It's fairly scuzzy).
 

pparrigo

India Delta OneZero Tango
Feb 12, 2008
115
0
0
36
WNY
Update, not that anyone cares-

The guy with the car calls my dad up today to tell him that he was moving it up front to get it ready to come home. Said it rolled just fine.

On a whim, he hooked the jumper cables up to see if it would run. Big surprise, it didn't. Wasn't getting any spark. So I guess he tinkered around for a bit with it, fixed the spark problem, and voila- started right up.

Not bad for a car that has been behind a shed since 2000. Something to be said there for Japanese reliability.

In light of that, we might end up going today after I get out of work to pick it up instead of waiting until friday. I do have my camera with me, so maybe I'll take a few snapshots of it in it's ugly state.
 

Tanya

Supramania Contributor
Aug 15, 2005
1,851
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42
Naples, FL
Werd, craigslist is da debbil. There's a black '82 280ZX, turbo, on it right now for $800, looks good too! Wish I had the money!
 

SUPERIUM

Low Postage Member
Nov 29, 2005
171
0
0
40
Buffalo, NY
^x2 or bring it and your supra to the ZCCR (z car club of rochester) meet on July 12th in Rochester @ Hoselton Nissan, 50 Marsh Road at Rt. 31F....shameless plug lol.
 

pparrigo

India Delta OneZero Tango
Feb 12, 2008
115
0
0
36
WNY
Yes, I am quite the epic failure. There would be pictures up by now if my SD card wasn't in my computer at home (can't post pics from home due to lameass dialup connection). That being said, pictures won't be up until tomorrow night at best (time to dodge all the bullets of hate being thrown my way).

But, so I don't leave you all with nothing:

Car came home on Friday after work (Wednesday didn't work out). Didn't really run on 8 year old gas, go figure. So we hooked up the small gas tank from our golf cart to the fuel pump, It ran ok, probably still had some residual bad gas in there. Alternator charged the battery just fine. It's still missing some air cleaners here and there, nothing major.

It spent the night on the trailer, we figured it would be easier to put some good gas in and drive it off rather than try to winch it, but of course, this plan required a working transmission. Well, as it turns out, the transmission does work, but the brakes don't :p That was an interesting 20 minutes of clutch slipping.

Once we got it off, we decided "What the hell, let's take it for a drive." So we did.

The Good:
It runs
It shifts (don't worry, it's a 4 speed)
The body isn't horribly cancerous
All the interior parts are there
The interior is in mostly decent shape
Radio works

The Bad:
It needs some brake work
It needs some electrical work (no exterior lights or wipers)
Needs a good hood
Needs a paint job and minor chemotherapy
One of the mirrors is a little floppy
Needs a new gas strut for the hatch
Needs new spark plugs
Needs rear suspension work (It handles the curves like a boat right now)
Carbs could stand being fiddled with or replaced
The seat covers... they have to go.
The rear bumper is homemade and doesn't really do much for me
There is no front bumper

So, overall, not a real bad find for $500... especially for a car that is easily worth 3 grand parted out (Don't worry, we're not parting it out).

It looks a lot better with all the dirt sprayed off. Started to use that new Liquid Ice interior cleaner, I have to say I like it.

The pictures will come.
 

Quin

Trans killer
Dec 5, 2006
1,989
0
36
33
Columbus, IN
I kind of like the de-bumpered look, myself. Sounds like a steal for $500, if I found one around here that cheap the Supra would be half parted out that night!