We all know that Japanese classics are a fast-growing area of our car hobby, and demand for the earliest Z-cars has climbed steeply recently. This car is a little later than those, and probably a little less desirable, but certainly seems worthy of consideration. It’s offered here on eBay and is located in Rescue, California, and is offered by its original owner. The buy it now is $10,000, but bidding starts at only $5,000.
While I can’t say that what I think are Appliance aftermarket wheels are my favorites, I certainly did see them a lot on Z-cars in the day. The rear bumper guard looks like an AMCO item, and the mud flaps, although not to my taste, may be part of the reason the car is so corrosion-free.
The 260Z did gain some uglyness in the bumper department over the 240, but at least this isn’t the awkward looking 2+2 version. I remember the 260 having some issues with the smog controls at the time, but I’m betting those have been taken care of long ago, as this car has traveled 138,511 miles!
Apart from period “sheepskin” seat covers, the interior looks pretty nice! I can’t tell whether that’s a dash “cap” or the original, but it looks good. If you’ve never sat in an original series Z, it’s quite different to most cars of the time; you really sit in it rather than on it. I remember my friend’s 240Z feeling very different from my TR6, despite being similar in performance.
Here’s the engine, which looks very original if just a little dirty. There was a huge amount of maintenance work done on the car before it was put into storage in 2007, including replacement clutch master and slave cylinders, rear brake drums, shoes, and cylinders, fuel lines and clamps, coolant and vacuum hoses, drive belts, all fluids and some shifter work. However, the owner hasn’t made any attempt to try to start the car since bringing it out of storage; that will be up to you! Interested?
Next to Oldsmobiles and Packards, Datsun Z cars are on my top list. It looks like someone repainted this car in a two tone finish so it looks more like a later 280ZX.
I have a 260z 1974, they are desirable here in my area as they are pre-inspection, no DEQ/EPA testing. That bumper thingy mine had too.. (over rider?) and are desirable, When i advertised parts from mine (Im building a kit car using the Datsun as donor) I had a TON of emails and calls,. Could have sold 20 of them.. Great little cars. What minor issues there are can be easily corrected.
AlteredZ.com has some great rebuild and performance tech. Also, JTR publications has a good book for installing a V8. Believe it or not a SBC and trans comes in only 40 pounds more than the stock motor. Really cleans up the engine bay as well plus the increased power
I dig the Appliance Wire Mag wheels!
Please find me an affordable 300ZX TT !
I read “uglyness bumpers” lol
This looks like a pretty good 260Z *if* the long 9 year storage hasn’t led to rubber and seal deterioration on top of the big mileage on the car. It might depend on whether the car was stored in a cool or a warm/hot place, especially since it’s in CA.
If sitting unused in hot storage, that’s bad for rubber and seals. I was looking at the dash for clues, but there seems to be a new cap on it, so can’t tell. If there are sun/heat induced cracks in the top of the plastic dash that would make me want to go over the car carefully, especially since at a likely $10K price you don’t want to have to pump a lot of additional money and work into the car.
These 260s came with the dreaded flat top carbs that were very similar to the awful flat tops that the ’73 240s had, but this car has had a carb change over to the earlier round tops, so that’s a plus. But the intake manifold looks like the original, which has some awful emissions stuff on it that looks to be still there and maybe operational. The usual swap on these includes both the earlier round top carbs and their earlier manifold, so I would want to check that out. However, there are a lot of the earlier manifolds for sale these days, so it would not be difficult or expensive to find an earlier manifold if needed.
The seller says the car hasn’t been started, so you would want to bring a battery and try to start it. The Ebay sale complicates things, since if you win the auction, you have bought the car. Little room for negotiation on this deal.
Datsun Z bumper overriders back and front were OEM options and often dealer installed. On many 240Z window stickers and in the Datsun accessory catalog. Some aftermarket bumper overriders were also sold back then. This car has a partial dash cover. Biggest problem with 260Zs were the carbs, overheating and fuel boiling in lines. Change back to 72 240Z carbs, install an auxiliary electric fan with a manual on-off switch (leave on all the time after start-up), use water wetter, and re-wrap the fuel lines with thermal protectors, replacing the old factory asbestos fix. Then the 260Z runs great and as fast as a 240Z.
Anyone near Oregon-Washington or NorCal who NEEDS a stock motor and trans for these,, I am pulling mine. Not going to use the stock one. Will consider part trade for a 200mm ring gear assy/rear differential from a 300zx with the mustache bars. Posi preferred.
My motor does not run, still turns over, maybe COULD run? But I honestly dont know the motor history. Car was a barn find from up in Washington. I just got it for the clean title, and relatively sound donor car. Will be selling other odds and ends later this summer. I am retaining certain parts of the car, and installing a kit car body. For someone who is going stock, or restoring could be a good core. I Might have some otehr carbs too. I will have to check storage but I thought i had 2-3 sets. But I will be off line for a week. If interested ping me or site admin and Ill give you an email or phone #
Sold!
I found the car listed elsewhere ( not on ebay ) and hadn’t seen this post yet. The original owner finally decided he was not going to be able to drive it any more and it was time to let someone else get it back on the road again. I had a 260Z back in the 80’s and loved that car, but unfortunately I just didn’t have the means to store it at that time. I looked for a long time before finally selecting this one. It had been stored under a cover inside a closed barn. The interior is all original and in near perfect condition. The dash is original and does not have a single crack.
I turned the motor over with the fuel lines disconnected to make sure it was not frozen. I am going to remove the gas tank to boil it out and then replace all fuel lines prior to starting it up. It sat for 9 years with gas in the tank so I don’t want to take any chances on sucking bad gas and gunk into the carbs.
The original paint is in great condition, but the dark brown which was added on the hood and doors just under the windows is cracking and peeling. Unfortunately that will mean that I will have to get the whole car resprayed. I will keep the original color.
Although I am not crazy about the bumpers that came on this model I am leaning towards leaving them since this is such a nice example of an original. After I got the barn dust cleaned off the car is quite presentable as is.
Thanks for the update KAB! Good luck with your new project.