Back in my youth, there was huge interest in the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) scene – Honda Civics were more within my budget, but every brand had a Halo car or two. Mazda with the RX-7, Toyota with the Supra and Nissan with the 300ZX. This is such an iconic design and shape that it still looks great today especially when it’s painted in an amazing yellow colour like our example here on eBay. It’s available out of Miami, Florida for $25,000 with one bid, and the reserve is not met.
This 1990 version we have here today is the Z32 generation and followed the first generation released in 1983. Amazingly these reached a sales figure of 1,000,000 units sold in America in 1990, the same year as our find today. Whilst these are perhaps not as legendary as the Supra or Skyline, they are still sought after and values have been steadily climbing in recent years. These were good sports cars at the time, and practical with their 2+2 configuration for some of the models (ours is the 2-seater version though). Unfortunately, we have an advert which gives us no story or background – simply that the car is sold ‘as-is’. So let’s dive into the photos to see what we have on our hands here today.
At first glance, this looks to be in timewarp condition – completely flawless inside and out. This is surprising as it has over 90,000 miles on the clock -but given its age, that’s just under 3000 miles per year. The yellow exterior paint is spotless and so is the black plastic interior – typical of a car from the 90s, but there isn’t even a rip or tear in place. The one thing you would normally have to worry about this that twin-turbo engine with two Garrett turbochargers, putting out 300hp. Not much by today’s standards, but rapid enough.
This car then sits in an odd place – not low-milage enough to sit in a museum or heated garage to wait for it to appreciate, but then you don’t want to be thrashing it out on the roads either as it’s in such good condition. All I know is that I would want to visit those nostalgia-filled glory days of the 1990s, reconnect with my youth and enjoy it for a few months before moving on to something else. But what is it they say – never meet your heroes? I think for this one, I would make the exception.
a couple of minor errors here..they didn’t sell a million of these in America in 1990 (nor any other year nor did they sell a million total) and this car isn’t JDM most likely, because it’s left hand drive.
The writer might be saying that sales between 1983 and 1990 reached 1M.
Notice how he doesn’t have a pic of the front frame rails!!
First get a good pic of frame, if he doesn’t
Post one, it’d be ashamed to have a really good car!!
Oh, and by the way, this isn’t a 300zx, it is a 300z!!
JDM was a thing, in 1990? Must be a west coast thing. I never heard the term, until I heard it on Motor Trend/What ever they’re calling the cable automotive station, a couple years ago.
Not sure if it’s still true, but I remember reading windshields for these are unobtainium.
Test drove these 300ZX’s when the 1990’s came out, cause they were so cool looking…. like GT race cars.
They had really poor visibility in the back rear quarters and out the back window from what I remember. Plus I didn’t like the layout of the dash.
This one doesn’t, but a lot of them had tweed seats, which was ugly as
crap.
I had had a 1979 280ZX so it wasn’t like i wasn’t use to sitting very low in the car and that car was far more nimble than this version. Anyway it was a no sale.
I see no evidence of this being a Japanese market car. It’s nice though. 25 grand? I don’t know.