This 1990 Nissan 300ZX is a desirable twin-turbo example, said to maintain its original paintwork and been in long-time ownership spread among two caretakers. The seller is thinning his herd, and is the youngest owner of this Z car at 75 years old. The white over red leather combo is excellent, though the automatic is a bummer. Find it here on eBay with a $14,900 Buy-It-Now and the option to submit a best offer.
The twin-turbocharged example was one of the marquee sports cars of the 90s, right up there with the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 and Toyota Supra. Packing 300 b.h.p. and a design that won rave reviews when introduced, the 300ZX was intended to be a world beater, with Nissan claiming it would be the best sports car of the era. The Porsche 944 and Corvette C4 were primary targets for the extensively redesigned Z32.
This example sports one of the best color combos out there, and the red leather interior is less often seen in a car like this, say, compared to a Thunderbird Super Coupe. The leather looks quite nice for a car with 71,000 miles on the clock, speaking to the level of care its two owners have lavished on it. The floormats were even covered since new, which explains why they appear to have never been stepped on.
The automatic is a bummer, in more ways than one: the turbocharged cars were also de-tuned down to 280 b.h.p. to ensure the four-speed slushbox would stay intact under the additional load. But all turbo models received Nissan’s highly advanced Super HICAS four-wheel steering suspension setup, along with huge disc brakes at all four corners. Likely still heaps of fun to drive, the mileage is high enough on this preserved Z32 that you won’t feel bad stretching its legs.
This is one sharp 300 ZX Twin Turbo. I remember one of the car magazines (Road and Track I believe), did a road test on one of these models and were very impressed by it. I’m pretty sure their test mule was a manual shift and if this was a manual shift it might already be sold.
This is one car I would prefer to have 100k and a sheaf of maintenance records, and of course a manual transmission. It is a beauty, however.
The upside:
– This is probably one of the nicest first year 300 ZX TTs left
– These handle really well. I test drove one in 1990 and it was one of the best handling cars I ever drove up to that point.
– The asking price might be OK but he will entertain offers and you won’t hurt his feelings.
The downside:
– If you want to claim low miles you need to explain why the last timing belt change was done in 2000 at 67,842 and yet the car now shows only slightly more than 2K additional miles during the last 18 years.
– If the last timing belt change was done 18 years ago it needs another belt change now.
– It’s a 300ZX. If it was an equally original ’70 240Z the value would be 3 to 4 times the ask for this car.
– The auto trans.
– Need underside pics to support the claim of never seeing rain.
This one is pretty darn nice, and the price is on target for an all original twin turbo. Good color combo and the seats look great for being nearly 30 years old. Take care of those red plastics as they are really hard to find replacements for. It rolled off the line just after my blue NA in the summer of 89. 5 speed swap can be done without too much effort if the auto isn’t to your fancy. As always, watch the engine harness for deterioration, which was caused by heat and time. But overall this is one of the best looking examples I’ve seen.
Great find. I remember back in when I first saw one of these parked on a street. It was absolutely amazing. It was silver in color and just sat there as I stared at being a design that universally transcended all comprehension of automotive design till that time. It also stood as a great evolutionary development in comparison to the previous Z car which was already aging well. The flush glass on its hatch and the squared off, yet rounded exterior said officially, “Meant for speed”. Thanks