RE: Shed Of The Week
Friday 11th April 2008
To be honest I was scouting around for the later Z32 Nissan 300ZX, but apart from a few with some serious issues this model is just outside of our theoretical £1,000 budget. All is not lost however because there are a few of the previous generation Z31 models around, despite the fact that I can honestly say I haven’t seen one on the road for years (possibly never). When I was a kid I had a model of one of these that I never put together, but from the picture on the box I always thought they looked quite futuristic. I think the shape of this eighties Nissan coupe has aged well and it is still a distinctive-looking piece of metal.
Called the ‘Fairlady’ in Japan (a name which I doubt would have gone down as well here) the Z31 had a 2.0 litre for the home market, but came fitted with a 3.0 litre V6 over here. This version we found in the PistonHeads classifieds looks like a 165bhp version and has just 103,750 miles on the clock. Of course no eighties Japanese or American coupe would be complete without the targa top and this is no exception. It is an auto but manuals can be found for a similar price.
Ad Reads: Now looking to sell what's been a cracking car during the last two summers. In excellent condition inside. Outside is very good for its age but has a couple of small dinkswheels are excellent, tyres have loads of tread, engine has been perfect, auto box good order. Has: air con(that works!), cruise, electric seat, mirrors. Sorn at the moment,COMES WITH NEW 12 MONTHS MOT !!!!!!! NEW front/centre exhaust fitted!, back box nearly new hpi clear! cam belt plus bits changed in last 1500 miles. BUYER to tax car as SORN at the moment
SOTW: 300ZX
It's time to catch some Zs...
A lot of work had been done on the aerodynamics to make the car slice through the air better than the 280ZX. This later model had the bonnet scoop removed and the bumpers were rounded off to give it an even smoother shape. Overall the design is unmistakably Japanese, both inside and out.
You also get cruise, electric seats and working air con, all for less than a grand. The car is off the road at the moment but you’ll get a 12 month MOT thrown in. I can’t help thinking that these cars are rare now, so one day there will be very few left. Then this Z really will be dead baby, (oh dear, oh dear) so snap one up now…
Discussion
Ashley1111 said:
buckman63 said:
Yeh I agree ! crap photo's Mr PH......sort you find on ebay to hide the bollard scars !!!
The passengers door is a differnt colour to start, so he didn't do a very good job of hiding that!!Not much to go on in the ad tbh.
Kieran XJR said:
If I was going to go for a Z31 I'd want the turbo so I could have fun dialing up the boost. What ever happened to the good ol' targa roof anyway? They are sadly missing from todays coupes. 
Bring back targa roofs!! Sounds like a good plan to me.http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/448919.htm
I love it!
Could be seriously tempted to buy that for a bit of a laugh.
Definately agree about the targa roof, I used to own a Rover 220 Coupe with one and it was ace! I'd love to see more coupes with them, seems they are really just out of fashion now, especially with all these folding metal hard tops now on the market.
Could be seriously tempted to buy that for a bit of a laugh.
Definately agree about the targa roof, I used to own a Rover 220 Coupe with one and it was ace! I'd love to see more coupes with them, seems they are really just out of fashion now, especially with all these folding metal hard tops now on the market.
Bring back Targa tops! This folding metal roof malarkey is rubbish. Targas with the roof out look way better than convertibles with the roof down anyway. Though they should be designed as a targa from the start, so you don't have to have that ugly T-bar in the middle.
Mmmmmmm!
(I am aware that the MR2 is a T-bar, however it looks so bloody nice I'm willing to forgive this transgression)
edit: Oh yes and I forgot, Porsche can sod off with their "targa" tops where the middle bit just slides out, that's missing the point entirely! That's just a big sunroof!
Mmmmmmm!
(I am aware that the MR2 is a T-bar, however it looks so bloody nice I'm willing to forgive this transgression)
edit: Oh yes and I forgot, Porsche can sod off with their "targa" tops where the middle bit just slides out, that's missing the point entirely! That's just a big sunroof!
Edited by OwenK on Friday 11th April 15:39
Worn seat bolsters? Door has slightly different shade of Red? I think some people are missing the point. This is a coupe with only 100k on the clock, its unique, I bet its great fun to drive and gets noticed all for £1000. As long as the mechanicals are sound who cares about the seat bolster ! If you want a minter double the budget, I'd have one in a jiffy as my daily slog, beats driving a Mundano of the same value.
Love it! Not as good as the 280ZX it replaced, even though they "improved" the chassis on the 300ZX, just felt too big and heavy. More of a GT than a sports car to be honest. Rust will be an issue, most end up at the scrapper, so I would go over this one with a fine tooth comb. Still for the money, its such a rare car and looks so retro, its gotta be worth a shot!
I've been discussing the merits of this particulary car with a neighbour for the past couple of months. His father used to own one when they were new, he keeps mentioning an overdrive switch or something, you'd just flick a switch and the car would take off!.
I also found out recently, that Oliver Reed,-("come ere bullseye!!"
..Oliver) used to own one and Paul Newman used to race one..
,-(these facts were stated on a dark blue classifieds add I saw quite recently)
I don't think I've ever seen one of these cars on the road..
, they must be pretty rare..
I'd personally go for the 'also rare' later 300ZX 'short-wheelbase', it handles better than it's larger brother, and looks better as well IMO
.I also found out recently, that Oliver Reed,-("come ere bullseye!!"
..Oliver) used to own one and Paul Newman used to race one..,-(these facts were stated on a dark blue classifieds add I saw quite recently)I don't think I've ever seen one of these cars on the road..
, they must be pretty rare..I'd personally go for the 'also rare' later 300ZX 'short-wheelbase', it handles better than it's larger brother, and looks better as well IMO
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