prices

[dan21012]

Hi there I am new to the forum but I am just wondering how much 240zs and 260zs 2seater model will go up in price in the next year I would love to buy a z car but currently have no garage and live near the sea. probaly looking for a straight looking car for under $13000

Thanks in advanced guys.

p.s where moving more inland.

[XRQTR]

Mate pricing speculation is a hard game at the best of times, it all depends on the Japanese market for these cars, the more collectible they become their the more valuable they become everywhere else. The Australian and US muscle car price surge has certainly helped it long making most cars built in the late 60's and early mid 70's more collectible and therefore much more valuable.

 

However this trend can not be sustained forever and there must be a peak before too long, prices can only go so far before they will inevitably drop like a sack of shyte, this is when things will really get interesting with those that bought at the high end.

 

The Australian and US markets will follow suit depending on how much the Japs want them back and the lengths to which they would go to get them including the prices they would be willing to pay.

 

A well restored example now you would see in the $20+ easily mid, but in the end it all comes down to one thing, it sells for what the market is willing to pay. You could rebuild a concourse 240 or 260 and then ask $50K for it, doesn't mean you will get it unless it is something extremely rare or special, it all depends on the market and its willingness to buy. On that note some even see the 260 as being slightly more valuable in Oz in particular as we didn't get as many as the 240, but again it all comes down to the man with the money and how much of it he is willing to part with.

 

Don't buy a car just to make some money, buy it to enjoy it, if you make a dollar in the end that's just a bonus.

 

Good luck with your hunt.

Cheers

Stef

 

[sco_aus]

yeh, couldnt agree more.  But for a clean  simple zed, atm seems like around the 10 - 15k mark, but who knows where it will go from here.

[dan21012]

Thanks guys I got about a year to go, I would love a Z for first car. Would you recommend it for a first car, because the thing is I know my theory about cars from the net and general reading but when it comes to working on cars I don't have much knowledge. Thanks in advance.

 

 

[dan21012]

Sorry also I would not want to buy one for the money I just think there an awesome classic car.

[sco_aus]

I reckon your better off learning about working on cars by getting an old shitter, like a 120y or corolla and you can fix stuff as it comes and learn, then commit to a car your confident in.

But thats just me.

[620Z]

Dan having your first car as a Zed and a daily driver might be a bit of a pain. Whilst they are great cars remember they are 30 years old. The steering is heavy and often have bump / steer if the car is lowered and possibly expensive to insure. If you can put up with all that and spending another 3-4K on top of your 13K to get it driving nice then go for it. 13K will get you a great Zed. Personally I don't think the market is such that you won't get the same for your money today or in 12 months time. But you can get a great A to B car with power steering, fuel injection and trouble free for 8K and learn to drive in that for 12 months. Then buy the Zed as a second car for the weekend and go the hack.

I know as a young fella you might want to go straight in up front and express your indiviuality on the first car but it might cost you. Some advise from an old duck who went in boots and all on his first car, spent 10K and sold it for 1K over 4 years. Remember as a daily driver you need something reliable and a Zed I hate to say it may not be 100% reliable or comfortable. Just some hints on what to think about.

[modular9]

OK playing the devils advocate ( picture this little red fella with horns perched on your shoulder that is me ) . there are some rather sweet 240z 2 seaters on ebay right now. The goldy silvery one is on a second relist on ebay for around 12 K ? 

 

My first car was a v8 powered torana. You are only young once. Everyone makes mistakes ( like swapping the torana for a 1275 powered mini  ) but i dont think getting into a 240z 2 seater now is a mistake at all. according to the australian classic car mag i get they have gone up quite a bit in a relatively short time.

 

I would say a crash course in SU tuning is a must and get the blue haynes manual for it as well.

 

Sorry to the rest of the forum councilling restraint but i remember myself going into work with a v8 torana when everyone else had hyundai's which cost 4 times as much and definiitley werent 4 times the fun.

[sam]

My zed is my first car, i have had it for about 6 months. I would definitely say to go for it. I know very little about car mechanics too but even i can do a fair bit of work on my car with the help of a couple of books and the internet. The running costs are also not that bad when you take into account the fact that there will be no depreciation as opposed to a newer car. And you will be much more willing to spend money on something you love than pouring it into something crap and having to dump it after a few years.

 

Dont be tempted to rush into buying a car now because you think that they will appreciate in value. Spend the next year looking for a great example for your budget. That will save you the most money. Especially if you dont have your Ps yet (got a year to go to Ps or moving?). When i was looking I wanted to buy the first one i looked at against the advise of my mechanic who looked at it for me, but i waited and ended up getting a much better car for a lower price. Also, definitely get someone to look at it for you if you dont know much about mechanics.

 

Sam

[tattoo_ink]

yep i agree with modular........ just jump in the deep end i recon but defenatly grab a workshop manual cheers chris.

[dan21012]

Thanks for all your info. There are a lot of nice 240zs going around now theres a red one on carsales for 12900. Anyone seen that.

[dan21012]

also to Sam what kind of Z do you have. I'll have my Ps in a year.

[sco_aus]

http://www.carsales.com.au/used-cars/private/DATSUN/240Z/details.aspx?Model=240Z&__Nne=20&__N=4294966615+0+4294966408+834+285+257&Make=DATSUN&State=All%20States&silo=1003&state_id=0&distance=25&Cr=1&seot=0&__sid=1138372962C7&R=1423375&__Ns=pCar_PrivateSpecialFlag_Int32|1||pCar_ImageCount_Int32|1||pCar_LastModifiedDate_DateTime|1&trecs=2

This car belongs to Sooley, it  was his "daily" whilst his race car was being built.  Hes a genuine guy and I reckon its an absolute score.

So you know, I bought a 240Z rear bumper off him a year or 2 ago (hence how i know him).

 

[sam]

I have a 1977 2 seater 260z. Here is a pic at nationals. Bought it for 8k from newcastle from a guy called des if anyone knows him (has a grey and black 240 track car at nationals). It was bare metal resprayed 12 years ago and drove flawlessly back to melbourne. Since then the only problem was the distributor and the rear shocks needed replacing. so i dont think you need to spend 13k to get a very good zed if you look around.

I got some interesting looks driving with the L plates on but i thought they complimented the gold wheels beautifully .

[Toecutter]

Nice car Sam.

[zedevan]

i bought my zed as my first car, i sometimes wish that i'd bought one that had already had alot of work done to it, although i didn't have much money to play around with.

 

i agree with others that for the same price there are other cars that would be better as a daily, but it depends what you are happy putting up with.  my car has not broken down on me and i have not been being nice to it, well except for the clutch pressure plate going, but i wasn't being nice to it so it was my own fault.  Although in winter particually it would b nice to have a car which has demisters that work along with a heater thats hot, and air conditioning in summer, and there is something about having door panels which are more than a peice of covered chipboard that i would now love to have as a level of luxury in a daily driver.  Also having idiots hit your car in daily driving is something i am scared of.  if CH plates were 90 days a year i would get them in a second and buy another car to get written off like my crx lol

 

Before my zed i hadn't mucked around with the mechanics of a car much, its all easy enough, just giant mechano, and have since changed the clutch and diff along with the normal stuff.  This was another reason i was happy buying a zed that wasn't the nicest out there, as that 13g one on car sales i would be scared to touch or drive.  If i could do it all again i would look into buying a rwd corolla station wagon that was 4age powered, or could have one put in it pretty easily, then buy a real nice zed like the one on car sales later on in life...or a go kart

[JP240z]

have to agree with evan.

im 18, had my licence for 6 months, and my 240 for 2 years.

For the same price I really wish I had bought a worked skyline or 300zx.

As a daily driver, you have to be ready for all sorts of mechanical things to die.

As im sure I've previously mentioned, my diff is now the only part on my car i havent had to service.

BUT,

these cars do attract attention, especially if they have worked engines etc.

And if you're thinking of doing the typical 18yr old thing by putting a system in it, then they are an awsome car for that.

 

my advise is to look around and see what you are really after.

a super classy car?

or a super quick car, coz i promise you will get hammered by skylines that cost half as much.

 

or you could buy my 240 which could be for sale soon 

[Toecutter]

Odd to hear about so many having problems with their 240's and 260's!? Well I'd like to add some posative experiences as I've used mine as a daily driver for about 3 years. Initially picked it up as a pretty rough car and spent a few daollars just to get it legal. Drove it to work from St.Kilda to Bayswater every day and parked it in the rain. Did'nt service it on a regular basis as was always hoping to change the motor. Never touched the SU's as the car started nicely even on cold winter mornings. It never missed a beat. Never had any serious problems in that time. When I bought the car it had bad synchros in the old box but even then kept driving it for at least 1.5 years and found a 280 box for $80.00 which was in great shape.

 

I suppose when your 18 you tend to really cane a car thinking you look great hammering it from every second set of lights. However as you start to break things and realise you have to pay for new parts & it is truely amazing how exponential the learning curve is. I think they call it "the school of burning a hole in your ass pocket". I think we've all done some part of that course!

 

I suppose my advise on wether you should get a Z for a first car comes down to what you expect from the car as the guys above have mentioned. If you want to impress the disco boys or run your car up against late model Jap cars spend 10K on 200sx and get all the go you want. Thats what my brother drives, he's pretty young and impressionable but he's very happy with it, (I think he's just starting to admire Z's pitty his 200sx is clapped out from all the line ups he's done with it, I'm pretty sure he did the full course mentioned above!  

 

Good Luck with your desicion but if you decide to buy a Z don't rush in to it, there are plenty of people here that will gladly help out.

 

Cheers,

Sulio

[dan21012]

thanks for all the input guys. I am also thinking of getting maybe an old CRX or newer del sol.

But compared to the Z those cars dont look great. I also have to put high powered restrictions    into the picture.

Also jp240z when and how much are you going to sell your 240z for.

[JP240z]

Um, well, i just spotted a speed camera that i was unaware of today, and I'm pretty sure I went through it at around 160-180 last week. So if that comes through and I lose my licence and my job as a driver, I will be looking at selling in the next month or two.

I wouldnt sell it until I have the tripples set up to perfection, atm its still very quick, but is rich under power, and lean at idle.

I would be expecting about 18K with the system, or 17K without, you really would need to pick over the car with a fine toothed comb to appreciate it, there really isnt any rust, and almost all parts are new. Have a look in my gallery to get an idea.

 

Sulio, I wasnt talking about parts that had been broken due to thrashing the beast, I dont drive her like that. Im talking about parts seazing up because my car has been off the road being restored the the last 20 years. Parts like fuel pumps and thermostat housings...etc, it all had to be replaced.

[zedevan]

do not get a del sol purely based off their apperance lol, get some form of vti-r couple/hatch instead.  if i could find a 2nd gen SiR for 7g or less i'd buy it, but unfortunately they are a complete rip off and you may as well buy a renault clio sport instead imho, as hardly any cop attention compared to a riced out honda and is a 2000+ car instead of early 90's like an SiR

 

my zed has been great to me reliablity wise, but its not a new car. i was completely aware of this, but i'm craving a newer car after having both it and a 2nd gen crx. like you sulio i've hardly serviced it as i'm waiting for the engine to blow.  Trying to drag people off at lights is pointless as previously stated, however its still alot of fun around twisty roads in second gear

 

The zed's insurance is really that cheap that if you had CH plates its really not going to b costing you anything a year, so if i were JP240z i'd hold onto the car, but it depends if you want to use the money for something else i guess. when ur speeding that much it takes awhile for you to loose your licence anyway due ot havig to arrange a court date lol

[Toecutter]

Sulio, I wasnt talking about parts that had been broken due to thrashing the beast, I dont drive her like that. Im talking about parts seazing up because my car has been off the road being restored the the last 20 years. Parts like fuel pumps and thermostat housings...etc, it all had to be replaced.

 

Jack my comments are general advice based on my experience was'nt refering to any particular member here. My first car was a Gemini. Had the car for three years and at the end those 3 years it was ready for the tip as the motor was completely buggered and body work was in a miserable state too but the car went every where and had a lot of good memories in it. At 21 I bought a BMW and treated that differently as parts were not as cheap as thr Gemini.

 

But now that you have mentioned the car being off the road problem, thats another thing to keep in mind when looking for a 240. A car thats sat still in a garage for years might look ok but theres always rubber bushes and hoses etc that tend to deteriorate to cracking point after 30 years and these will be some of the first things to go on heavly acceleration.

 

A Z car, 30 y/o car really needs attention every so often which translates into dollars and the more it's cained the more dollars you can expect to fork out.

 

For blokes with an established income and a couple of cars in the household the "required fix's" on a Z are often just taken as a hobby. For a young bloke with a part time job at uni it must be a different experience.

 

If you can afford a regged and running Zed thats had all the work put into it go for it as people have often put much more dollars in to the car than you pay for it.

 

Sulio

[dan21012]

At the moment I am completing my Year 10 but I will be living to join the Navy when I turn 17.

[sco_aus]

NOOOOO!!!!,Dont do it, your too young   Did 4 1/2 years in the army, experience life first dude.  I joined just after i turned 18 and wish I had left it to later, im definately not saying dont join though.  Just a bit of advice.

[modular9]

i'll modify my advice now then . I dont know anything about the armed forces but do you get enough time to play with cars ? I remember my 16 -21 Years as the best years of my life so far and the cars were a big part of it. I think if the armed forces ( navy in your case ) take up a lot of time i would be a little reticent in getting a high maintenance ( I check  fluids / suspension / grease nipples / brakes / distributor&plugs  every weekend - a little anal but it is good practice i think ) needs to be driven, classic. If you dont have the time or money then maybe a less exciting/but more modern car is needed.

 

Haha who would have thought a bloke like me who has never owned a car younger than 1978 counselling a modern car.