I am a lucky man.
I moved to my current home in 2019, and soon thereafter stumbled upon what appeared to be a mostly rust free 240Z parked on the side of the road in a rather "unfortunate" part of town. Having owned and regrettably sold a 260Z in my past, I was enamored immediately. I found myself often taking the long way home just to drive by and see if the car was still there.
Fast forward to May 2021, the car hasn't moved in the time that I've lived here. I made the impulsive decision to leave a note under the windshield wiper that read "I'd like to discuss purchasing your Z, please contact me at (phone number) if interested".
My phone rang the next morning with a guy offering to sell the Z to a fellow Z enthusiast only, if I happened to be one. His asking price was roughly half of what I had anticipated, and too low to ignore. After a series of texts about the car, I went over and combed through it, expecting a disaster.
I left so very disappointed. The frame rails are solid. The floor pans are clean. Under the battery tray I found rust, but nothing a wire brush and some Rust Mort won't cure. The engine is complete, minus a battery. The interior is trash, but everywhere else I looked, I found a much better car than I had hoped / anticipated.
I suppose I should clarify that my disappointment stemmed from the fact that although the price was lower than I had hoped, and the car better than I had dreamed, I could in no way justify purchasing another vehicle.
Anyway, I kind of forced myself to forget about it. The prospect of owning my dream car was nothing more than that, a prospect. Until two weeks ago, that is. I had mentioned the car in passing to my FIL, and we had a nice BS session about cars.
Two weeks ago, he asked me to come over and help him with a yard project. When I got there, he handed me an envelope full of cash, instructed me to go grab his tilt deck and fetch myself the Z car. I was baffled. Speechless.
I am now in the middle of rebuilding the SU roundtop carbs, then will do some tuning. I have to go buy a timing light, flow meter and color tune, but hope to have this thing running smoothly this coming weekend.
This will be a longterm project, a slow build and probably my obsession for the next few years. I will post more pictures and updates soon. The car has an IG if anyone uses that platform. 240z_venture
Thanks for reading
TLDR: my FIL is rad and bought a 240Z for me to fix up.
I'd apologize for the fact that I use a LOT of words when I post, but I'd be lying. I've been called a story teller a few times.
