Introduced in the United States in 1984, the Nissan 300ZX was a radical departure from its predecessors as it was the first of the “Z” cars offered with a V6 engine in place of the straight six. This 50th Anniversary 300ZX Turbo is offered for sale here on eBay. Located in Columbus, Ohio, it is offered with a clear title. Bidding currently sits at $1,000 but the reserve hasn’t been met.
Looking at this particular 300ZX I’ve always quite liked the styling, but to me those rear wheel arch extensions look out of place on the 50th Anniversary model. I have always felt that they detract from the smooth styling of the car. While this is a nice looking car I think that it might hide a few secrets that may not be very pleasant. There’s a strange mark under the exterior mirror on the driver’s side that I’ve tried to zoom in on, but I can’t work out what it is. While the panels and paint look quite good (well, as best as can be told from the supplied photos) this 300ZX just looks like it has not lived in the most friendly of environments. There is also a rust mark on the front bumper where the licence plate attaches which indicates that this Nissan may have spent some time in a fairly damp environment.
The good news with the interior is that all of the original factory items are intact. The dash, door trims and carpet all appear to be in quite decent condition. Unfortunately the leather on the driver’s seat is badly torn and would need to be replaced. A number of the plastic trim pieces are showing their age and are showing the dried, chalky look that plastic can show over time. This includes items such as parts of the center console and the surrounds for the power window buttons. The lid of the center console is also quite worn on the driver’s side.
Under the hood is where there is the greatest indication that this Nissan has spent time in a damp environment. There’s significant signs of mold here, some of the cast aluminum components are showing a chalky surface and the painted bracket that holds the idler pulley has peeled and has quite a bit of surface corrosion. That sweet little VG30ET engine is backed by a 5-speed manual transmission. The seller states that the engine turns, but that it doesn’t run. This could be the result of something quite trivial, but you wouldn’t know until you delved into the inner workings of the car. One thing that worries me is that where the coolant cap has been removed it looks quite dry in there, and it also looks like there may be some corrosion as well. This may indicate that the car has not had any corrosion inhibitor in the cooling system. With these engines that can lead to some rather bad news. However, if this isn’t the case it would be nice if the new owner could get this running as in stock form this engine produced 200hp, which helped the 300ZX to achieve quite acceptable performance.
This car is a real unknown quantity. The seller provides a significant number of photos, but the resolution isn’t great which limits what details can actually be seen. I went and had a look on the seller’s website and found that they have listed this particular 300ZX with a sale price of $2,500. At this price this car may not be a bad investment, provided it can be made to run again with minimum fuss and that there are no significant corrosion issues with the body. Prices for good 50th Anniversary models seem to be starting at around $13,000, so at the asking price you could spend a bit on this and still remain on the right side of the balance ledger.
what a shift from the pure original Z-cars these swoopy new V6s were.
flares! spoilers! air dams! ground effects! hood scoops!
and that was just the outside.
the interior had digital video game instruments, a g-meter, compass, BodySonic seats that vibrated with stereo! buttons everywhere & a nice lady’s voice incessantly reporting that the door was open & the seatbelt was unbuckled.
the ad campaign was centered on the tag word “Awesome!” (which would soon be diluted through overuse to the point of losing almost all meaning). the hype was that 300zx Turbo was going to be the quickest car available….
as soon as one showed up for sale in town, i liberated from the garage (while parents were at work) the ’84 Vette so that as a 17-year boy i could get some respect from the sales guys at local dealerships. it worked at the Datsun store & a few minutes later i was in a 5-speed Anniversary Z for its first test drive.
it pulled hard in the first couple gears, grabbing rubber into second. there was a button to adjust the shocks but it just didn’t handle or stop as well or feel as special as the Vette.
with all of the fancy extraneous electronics in these cars i’d expect that only considering the best examples would be a good strategy if planning to keep one for awhile.
I have been considering one of these to replace my 240sx race car so I have been trolling craigslist. For some reason the drifters are not buying them so there are plenty around. Last week there were two clean rust free examples locally for $500 and $800. I suspect the 80’s vintage digital dash and other electronics put people off.
Looks like the drivers side mirror may have detached from its housing, hence the mark you’re referring to…???
Thanks for that Mark. I spent ages trying to work out what it was.