in search of a car...
 

i'm looking for a 70-78 280z. i was looking for a project, cause my civic just doesn't cut it anymore, and i'm sick of fwd. ha, seems like quite a change in interests. anyway, i need to know what to look out for when looking for one of these, besides obvious car problems. i'm not interested in a restored z, but i don't want one in need of restoration. when my civic sells, i will need to have one that runs, so i can get to and from school every other weekend or so. i should have $2-3k. i just decided to get one of these, so my research is a little limited. any help you could give me would be appreciated. you know, where to look, what to watch out for, thanks.

Wurt,
The most important thing to look at, especially in your neck of the woods, is RUST. Lift the hatch and look at the bottom edge of it, look around the gas tank filler door, look underneath the battery tray, pull the carpet up on one side or the other and look under it, look at the trailing edge of the fenders and the rocker panel under the door. If you can get the car up on a lift look hard at the subframe members. Anything else is fixable - rust is not.
If the car is howing rust in several of those spots don't get it. It will cost more to fix than the car is worth.
If have a buddy who wants to go on a road trip I would sugget looking for a good southern car and then driving to get it.
You might also find a local Z Club and see if any of them have a clean Z for sale or can help you find one.
Otherwise, start he car and drive it. If it drives & stops OK and is relatively rust free then it will be worth anywhere from $1,000 to $3,500, depending on overall condition. YOu shuld be able to find a pretty decent car for $2,500.
You might also consider the 280Zx. They can be had for about the same amount of money and are less rust prone. Check them the same way for rust though and stay away from a rusty one.

i guess I'm in the same situation at the moment. Im looking to buy a '74 260Z 2+2 in the next few months, and I'm definately looking out for rust, but I'm not sure how much work I'm prepared to put into fixing it. I've always wanted to restore/tune a Z car, but after reading a tonne of posts on here it sounds like I may be fooling myself without spending a lot of money. Do u guys reckon its worth picking up something soon for cheap and trying to fix it up, or saving a little more and getting something more decent? I know alot of people have done either of the two so id be interested to find out what everyone thinks about it ..........

I bought the decent running car instaed of the not running need work. First because i dont like having a car I cant drive. second because I do not have the time or money to put into a complete rebiuld at once. I have had my 78Z for about 4 yaers and it has been runnin gthe whole time. All I have left to do is body work and thne rebuild the motor. I figure with time and money I should be comletely done in 2 years.

I bought my '77 280Z 12 years ago. I paid $3,200 US for it. If you don't include all the "upgrades and customization I've done to it I probably have invested another $4,000 over 12 years into it. All the other stuff has added up to another $23,000 over that but those were things that deidn't need to be done to keep it running as a daily drive.