A few listers saked about the classic Z promotion here in the US. How man
of you caught the piece that I did on this in Classic Cars (UK) last year
when all the brewhahahaha was going on at the introduction. I also write
for Zcar Magazine and was in the thick of it all.
It seems that the factory had its corperate ways of doing things that
slowed things down to the point that not enough cars were being poduced to
supply the demand of the dealerships who had hundreds of orders from people
who had only seen the cars in magazines. In a way these cars were a really
good deal as they were for sale for $25K and were costing Nissan about $35K
each to have hand built at two little shops in SoCal. On the other hand,
one could buy a REEEEALY nice original low mile, home restored, or nicely
modified example for $10-12,000 if you looked hard enough and knew what to
look for. I was looking for one awhile back and found the coolest
mustard-gold '70 in the world that had just been finished by a Zclub member
who promptly died (I guess he was finished and had nothing left to
contribute to history). Another club member bought it for ten grand and
there were a bunch of us in line if he didn't!
The Nissan management set themselves up to fail. They picked shops that
were clean, showy and run by educated classy men who have clean fingernails
and wear stylish sportclothes. A good example would be Mike O'Connor of
O'Connor Classics in Santa Clara, CA. While this is a plus when dealing in
low volume, one at a time classic sports cars, it is not the way to crank
out 1-200 restorations a year. I'd like to see Mike keep his low key
composure under this pressure. Especially if he had to depend on the
factory approved engine builder in Arkansas and the trans builder in Texas
for mechanical components (Nissan says this for uniformity and liability)
and had to use an ever decreasing supply of factory bits and pieces that
had not been slated for reproduction.
One shop down here is run by the guy who runs the LA area Zclub. His cars
are the tops and he has over 35 restoration ready shells out back, but his
shop looks like a disaster and he is a brash longish haired, younger guy
who wears cut-offs, boat-mocs and Hawaian Shirts most, maybe even, all of
the time. This tends to put off corperate managers. Hell he didn't have to
sell or show the cars, just sell the restoration service to the factory,
but they do have standards and Charlie fell way below them! The two shops
that they did use have probably just about finished a dozen cars and the
bloom is off the rose at this point and people are bailing from the list.
Then there is the problem with the bodyshells. These are the first of the
stress-bent-sheet-metal-the thickness-of-cooking-foil unibody cars that
were not that solid when new and are pretty soft and flexible when old.
Imagine a Morris Minor or MGB made out of softer and thinner material! They
are not all that plentiful. Also, there is little point in taking apart a
decent $4,000 good running used car to spend $33,ooo for restoration and
sell it for $25,000. The whole project was ill conceived and will probably
be put to rest with little mention.
The only real change that this very expensive idea made was that it doubled
the value of used 240Zs.
Also after looking at a bunch of them to buy, I feel that except for the
power, the MGBGT is a more likable car and with Rover V8 power could be
easily as entertaining - but I AM on this list!
Rick Feibusch
Automotive Journalist/Appraiser
Venice Beach, California
310-393-6605
Fax:396-1933
1959 Morris Minor Convertible
1960 Morris Minor Saloon
1960 Morris Minor Pickup
1961 Morris Minor Pickup
1969 Chevy Malibu Sport Coupe
1969 Chevy Malibu Convertible
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