This rare crossover series 1971 Datsun 240Z is sitting in Reno, Nevada waiting for its new owner. With just a day and half left in the bidding here on eBay, this car is already reached $60,100! The car appears to be in factory original condition with 121,700 miles. The car is painted in Safari Gold (Code 290) with an original black interior.
The numbers matching engine is a 2.4 liter inline six cylinder engine backed up by a 4 speed manual transmission. Designated as the L24, the 2,393 cc engine delivered 151 horsepower which was more than one horsepower per cubic inch. I looked at a similar car last year that was a 1 owner car but the undercoating was so thick, I would have spent all my spare time trying to get it off. I found out that the undercoating was covering up some repairs and passed on it. This car looks original and extremely clean.
The car was originally sold in El Paso, Texas but must have been well loved because there does not appear to be any sun damage to the black interior. There are two hairline cracks in the dash which is not too bad for a 49 year old car. The car is said to run and drive well and has recently had a tune up. The carpet, headliner, door panels, seats appear to be in original condition. When people say to buy the best, this car might be up there.
The Datsun 240Z took the US by storm with its amazing lines and excellent performance. Over 50,000 cars were built and sold in 1971. With prices exceeding $100,000 recently, this car may have some room to go. Let’s all take a guess at what the winning bid will be!
People say “buy the best car you can afford.” This is way, way past anything I could afford.
Hi All,
Lets look at some facts
There were ~148,000 240Z imported into the USA during the 4 model years, 1970 – 73. Yes approximately hundred and forty eight thousand, that a lot of cars!
There was only one body style – no 2+2, no convertibles.
The unique early cars will be worth the most to coiiectors (rear hatch vent cars, ETC,).
Originality will usually bring the highest price (original paint, eng ETC,).
At this point in time manual transmissions will bring the higher price. This many change as people get older or for people who never learned to drive a manual transmission.
So lets compare this to the E-type
There were ~ 75,000 E-types made for the world, which the majority landing in the USA.
There were 3 body styles for the Series I & II. open two seater (convertible), fixed head coupe and 2+2 fixed head coupe. The series III, there were only 2 body styles open two seater and 2+2 fixed head coupe.
The unique early cars will be worth the most to coiiectors – outside bonnet lock cars and to a lesser extent the flat floor and welded louver cars.
So if you compare the 240Z to the E-type series I & II FHC (since there similar in design and engine).
There ~30,000 E-type FHC built for the world compared to over 148,000 240Z exported to the USA. (~90% of the export volume), Almost 5 times as many 240Z. Now if you add in the 260Z and 280 Z 2 seat production that was exported to the USA that adds another 220,748 vehicles.
Both rusted very easily. My early 74 260Z front fenders had holes popping through by 77. I know the E-type and similar issues.
So in IMHO, it should be easier to find a nice to excellent 240Z at a reasonable price. Therefore the $100,000 paid recently for a 240Z is not the norm. The ~$40,000 to ~$60,000 cars should be a trailer queen and ~$15,000 to $35,000 should be the norm for nice to excellent cars. Several nice 240Z went for less that $20,000 on E-bay and BAT in the last month or so. This is just my humble opinion, which means Nothing. The buyers and sellers will determine the price.
240 Z’s are absolutely brilliant cars but 60K is ridiculous.
For this car especially since it’s had a repaint, and who knows what else.
$60K? That’s a new C8.
I bought this exact car in 1971. Dealers had a waiting list (deposit required). I lived in DC and bought mine in Savannah GA (my hometown) to get it sooner. Everyone came up to the car & asked you about it. It was around $3,600. Dealer installed AC using standard dash vents. Great car. I loved it and sold it when the babies came. Ed Forman
Not sure why these bring such big bucks. I had one decades ago and loved it. But would never part with this much money for one.
Bob, that is my thought as well.
They were decent cars, but they didn’t drive all that well to pull this kind of money.
This car is supposed to be so great, why did they throw four of the cheapest Chinese tires you can find on it? Another 40 or 50 bucks and they could have been mounting Toyos, Simitomos, Yokos or Goodyears. But noooo, they bought literally THE cheapest tire available in this size. What else was skimped on? At 60 large, anybody buying this knows enough to be immediately replacing the tires and then going over the entire car again. Don’t know about you guys, but when I buy a second hand car the first thing I look at are the tires because the tires will tell you a lot about how much the owner cared for and about the car.
Good point callsign. I often look at tires on cars an it tells me a lot. Like the other day, I was looking at a Tahoe with custom wheels and the uni-directional tires were all mounted wrong… I would, for myself, only purchase Michelin, Yokohama, and Bridgestone. Continentals if I had too. Chinese? Are you crazy???
Why not Hoosier, Falken, Cooper, BFG, Toyo, Pirelli, Goodyear, Mickey Thompson, Coker, and many others. I select my tires based on the application. For example BFG, Cooper, and Mickey Thompson has the best all terrain tires available. Once at Mid Ohio we ran three brands of tires back to back while testing for a 24 hour enduro. The Goodyear tires turned the fastest lap times, the BFG were second but were much easier to control, and the Firestones came in third, and did still delaminated. However, I do agree that I would rather see how the old tires wore when buying a used vehicle. Furthermore I want to pick my next set of tires, not have someone pick them for me.
I’m with the majority on this!! 60K is an outrageous price for this car!!
Agree with the others that $60K seems outrageous for this. But-as many of you probably already know-a green near mint unrestored 1971 model sold for $310k on BaT earlier this year.
60k and the dog legs have bondo. Not a good investment in any way. I wonder what else was lurking underneath that paint.
Safari Gold is Paint Code 920.