Bonkers

Some of the competition on the day

It was good to catch up with Peter, Mick and Richard. Plus all the ZCCQ folk that were there. Seems the Zed boys were able to hold there own against some pretty pricey European machinery. The F40 looks a little dated along side today's cars . They say you should never meet your heroes. Saying that the Zeds being as old as they are didn't look out of place. Thanks to Porsche for putting on the day and the ZCCQ for their group entry of Zeds, Mazda RX7s and a Lambo.

Got a phone call from the neighbor today. Said my daughters body kit for her car had been delivered to his home by mistake. I knew he owned the car yard down the road and he knows I have a zed. He said If you want to come pick it up now, I will show you some of the zeds I have around here. Turns out he is not running the car yard any more and is interested in classic cars now days. He has some Z28's , rays and other yank tanks. But he has four S30's. Three are 280Z's from the USA and all California cars. One has a twin sun roof and a little rust, The other has a original finish and just needs a tidy up . The third is at the shop and has the injection removed. It was getting the carbs tuned so I did not see it.I believe he wants to move them on ,but I could not give him an idea what they may be worth here. They are all 2 seaters and one is auto and all are left hand drive. Anyone have some ballpark figures I could pass on? He also has what is called a Scarab. This is the genuine item of a 240Z (one with vents in the rear hatch) fitted and engineered for a chev V8 and done in the States when the Zed was first released . Very nice ,but it also is in original condition and needs a tidy up. I didn't have any thing to take photos with me at the time. But he will email some to me soon and at that point I will post them up . As I have never seen these cars in the flesh before so speak. It was a thrill. No I don,t believe he will part with the Scarab as he is a hard core V8 fan.

I can host . I can be found at Waterford .Half way between Brisbane CBD and the Gold Coast So I plan to have a BBQ that day (19th December) anyway for some family .So extending to AUSZCAR will not be a problem. Speaking of extending, I have also extended a invitation to ZCCQ to attend. They plan to bring the invitation up at their last general meeting for the year on the last Thursday of this month.Same deal to them of BYO everything.There are a number of members here which also belong to ZCCQ ,or are past members so their is a connection to them. They have also be invited to past Christmas events. But it will not be a BBQ organized by them as they do not do a Christmas thing at Christmas time. CIJ in the middle of the year is their big event and that now seems to be a bi-annual event.

BBQ at Jason's .I must admit if you haven't been to his fortress of solitude(his shed is bigger than some of our homes) it is well worth the visit.and a look over his toys. I used to go by the name of be-zed . But long story short I lost everything when the last computer died. Gavin did fix things for me but I lost the pass word again and BONKERS still works. This happens to be a name loving bestowed to me by the family. There reasoning is that I purchased my first Zed in 1979 and helped start the first Australian Zed car club in 1984 and i haven't been able to walk away from them .There for, there must be something wrong with me. I am BONKERS and you have to be to be around Zeds and Datsuns for this long. Come and enjoy a BBQ in December.

Triptych ,point taken. But it is not a requirement to bring a Zed. I just wish to follow up in the same style of Christmas event which the likes of Sexual Sushi and Peter T have done for Queensland members. I won't be setting out any type of nav run this time. I think ZCCQ do enough of them through out the year to suit members needs .Although most are not advertised here as you need to be a member of ZCCQ because numbers can be an issue from time to time. So 19th December (Saturday) is good for me from late afternoon to late. Bring your own food and drink for a BBQ or to suit your own needs. Rain should not be a problem as I have an under cover area. So come and talk Zeds or any motoring stories you have and partners are welcome . I do have some Paul Newman videos of his S30 and S130 racing cars to show. I will post an address late closer to the date if people are happy with this proposal. Cheers Aubrey I have some chairs but bring your own may be a good idea.

That time of year is fast approaching again and it will soon be time to drag the tree and lights out again. It may also be time for some Z enthusiasts to get together round a BBQ. As It has been a couple of years now since we in the northern states got together for a Christmas thing and Melbourne is a little far to go for a BBQ. I was wondering, Is there any interest in doing something like a BBQ and open hood lunch?

Just a quick update that number 00046 is long gone . I lost it in 1989 to a semi- trailer. But bits of it went on to other cars and the wheels it had at the time went to Alex's car which he seems to have been sold to matt211zed. That is a special car you have there Matt as it has a lot of history with ZCCQ and was the car featured on the poster for the first Z car nationals held in Australia in 1990. If you don't have a poster I am sure ZCCQ will dig one up for you.I hope Alex is well and I should catch up with him. Just some pics from the last time I saw the car at Lakeside in 2010.

I hope you enjoyed that event in 1990 GoneZ .I think it rates up there with the best of the Nationals held over the pass 25 years. ZCCQ has put on a number of events at local tracks and one not so local with help from both Dat2kman and DET260. The 2010 lakeside event was just a bunch of members deciding to have a day of it and as word spread it snow balled into what it became . Dat2Kman is correct when he states we will never see a day like that of 2010. But it is not the fault of ZCCQ. Queensland Raceways changed the rules so no club can have more than 2 groups booked and set the total of cars per group to at sprint days to 15 at Lakeside. So that is what we have to work with from now on. Its not often someone gets the best of Tetley and now it seems we are paying for it.

GoneZ did you get to have a few laps with Skaife on the day or see Grant Kenny rub the wall with the GTR. Special day for all seeing the first mock up of Godzilla in Nissan war paint that Easter.

Perhaps in September but for something like what the ZCCQ had in November 2014.

Driven a lot of Z's over the pass 35 years . Put in around 2500 laps round lakeside and QLD raceway. But the most memorable drives were in the company of other Z owners and ones that stand out were the drives from the Mount Cootha Botanical Gardens to Mt Jollies lookout for breakfast at sunrise in the middle of winter. They were drives to remember and very spirited. Almost roller coaster like. Its now been some time since the last one.

That explains why most members of Z car clubs have more than one Z. I didn't leave VIC out of the formal clubs .I just don't know why they haven't got a formal club for Z's. What stopping you guy's .

Lots of interesting comments there. But the original Z still has some way to go before it regains its original value. If memory serves they sold for around $4600 and in today's money that's around $71000. About what you would pay for a new 370Z. That is not to say there are not any S30's worth that, but it would bring them full circle.It seems Nissan picked Professional people (Trades people, Nurses, middle management) as their target market in 1969 and decide that a 3/4 to a year's income would be a good price to extract for a new Z. Its 46 years now and that ideology still seems to be in place. Not convinced I see. About six years ago I was handed by mistake the 370Z promotion booklet intended for dealership marketing purposes.Interesting reading if nothing else.But it just confirmed there their ideology. So if you're a team leader welder or CN Nurse expect to give up a year's pay for a new Z. Gav buy a house now .It won't get any cheaper. It may flat line for a while but that's about it. By rule of thumb the cost of houses doubles every 7 years.Sometime it takes 10 years some only 3 years. But those who have equity in their homes and can not afford more property will look at classic cars as an investment. Z's are front and centre. Prices are all over the place. They have a club and cult following round the world and are strong here in Australia with formal clubs in NSW,QLD,WA not sure about SA. There are bargains to be had even at first glance they don't seem to be.As long as interest rates remain low (under 5% to the public)the value of the cars will increase quickly .As stated supply and demand.

Dave is almost right that in Queensland it was the ZCCQ that held a all jap show but it was as early as 1992 and held at the Jindalee hotel car park on Brisbane's south There are photos and even a video of the event It was held to raise funds for the SIDS foundation. One time only type of thing. The current organisers have take the all jap days too a new level.

I can make it to Banyo on the 7th . Fixed the gearbox to the point that I at least have gears again. It is unfortunate the 432 will not be at this event or can you talk Brian into it Dave. But at worst we will see the Fairlady 432 at the RACQ event in July. Aub

You have a lathe and mill there at home ,Jason .Make him some gland nuts.

Nice of Jason to open an invitation to us to over see the up coming transplant at his home . But unfortunately it is a little short notice for me to be able to attend. But if anyone can go ,then do so .His shed is bigger than most of our homes. I know a large number of us here are ZCCQ members and the thing that hamstrings the club is that it can not do anything on the spur of the moment. It is also difficult for members to contact one another. Unlike it is here. I can just see the ZCCQ getting together to terrorise some Mazda 3 drivers . 30 Z's all turning up on mass . I'm sorry I just can not stop laughing at that. But it is still worth becoming a member of the ZCCQ . As they do attend events (all be it organised by other clubs most of the time) do drives and put on the odd track day. I would have it at a guess that they may be going to the ALL JAP DAY at Banyo some 4 weeks from now. There may be a track day later in the year . Possibly something a little bit different perhaps than usual kind of LAPZ event and some interesting day runs may be on the table. Only time will see.

What are you interested in doing?

It might be worth asking Alan Stean this question.He is still active in the Z community as he was at the NDN2015 event .Alan and Ross are good friends and Alan does still navigate for him on a number of rally events. He is seen here with Marsden and Ross working on the channel 9 cars. Anyone from ZCCQ could probably contact Alan Stean.

more But that is it for now . I am sure others will have much better photos to put up later.

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and some more

They did get their fair share of rain today. Sorry I missed you Jason and Richard your official's tag is waiting to be picked up. The S30's seem to out number the nissan Datsun makes at about 2:1. Or that's what it looked like . Maybe they were hiding somewhere else as I only had about 3 hours their today to take in everything. So some pics

A few questions Roll cages in road registered cars and perhaps trailer cars. How do they stand on value? History : What if a car has been involved with an incorporated Car Club and the owner has history with events such as sprint series , Japanese day events , Targa type events and the car is a road registered zed but not a candy car. Or does it just scream something that has had a hard life?