Hey all, I am looking to buy a 1981 280ZX 2 seater 5spd. I live in Canada, and the car came from Nevada 2 years ago and has never seen a winter. It belongs to a guy I know from school, his dad collects and restores old mustangs, chev's etc. but this car was in good shape, it was a toy. Anyway, they are getting rid of it and he wants $5000 Canadian for it.

It has a lot of miles, 171,000 miles (275,000km) The body is almost immaculate but has a tiny bit of rust at the very bottom/inside of both fenders and quarter panels. It also has rust on the firewall behind the battery and under the battery, and when you open the doors and look on the inside of the fender at the top.

It is missing a couple of interior pieces, most of the interior look dirty and old and should be replaced. The engine idles perfect, and it drives just as great. But it is leaking oil. If you stand on the driver side and look just above the oil pan on the block you see oil. What could be causing that leak? One of the pulleys is making a lot of noise, I cant figure out which one.

Overall the car is very nice, I am concerned about the miles on it. He was originally asking $6000, now $5000, I feel it is worth no more then $4000 tops. What do you guys feel this car is worth? Imagine an almost showroom Datsun from the outside, with a very bad interior, and a lot of miles. All suggestions welcome.

 

Unless it's the only 280zx in Toronto, it's not worth anything near that. It's got high miles, and sounds like it still needs some work. I've bought 9 280zx's... never paid more than $500 for them... most of them I paid $200 or $300.

It's all relative... any others available? Is $4k worth it to YOU?

 

here are some pictures of the car.








I offered him $3000 and he said no. 280ZX in this condition are hard to find. You can find them with lower miles (100-120 miles) but the body would be rusted scrap metal. Not worth touching. They go for roughly $1000-$2000. Canadian winters eat through these cars. How much would it cost to rebuild this motor? If I got it rebuilt, it would eliminate my worries, and raise the value of the car if I chose to sell it again. Suggestions welcome..

 

my 81 280zx was in better condition then that and it sold it for less $1k

 

Raise the value? It's already over priced... you've have a lovely time trying to get your money back.

Don't rebuild the motor unless it needs to be rebuilt. Doing it for kicks & giggles isn't the best way to spend your money. Also... Is the car sitting correctly in this pic?



That tire & rim setup doesn't look right... notice how the top is bowing out? Those are too big for a stock setup.

 

for a car like that up here, its pretty much the price you gotta pay, ive had offers higher than that for my car, anything collectable and rust free and old up here is going for big coin. as for it being the only rust free z in toronto, id say maybe, they are salt nuts out there, alone with mag chloride. id say try 4500 and see if he comes down a bit. unless you really want it, then go for it, the price only goes up for you as you fix the interior and the oil leak, which sounds to be oil pan. gotta raise up the motor to fix that one. its not worth re-building the motor yet. these things go forever, while the oil pan is off for the leak, get new bearings put in, thatll cover ever pulling the motor for quite some time. heck get fancy and do the timing chain while your at it, thatll really make it close to new. 4500 for that car sounds reasonable for a toronto car.

 

no willing to travel=buy locally=no choices+ridiculous prices+shitty cars etc etc etc (never seen winter?, tiny bit of rust ? Ha!)
sorry, write down your choices, take you time, they are many, then read n re-read them..

 

I found this one for sale as well..



$7000 safetied, 1982 280zx 2 seater, 134,000km, 5spd manual, blue exterior, grey+blue interior, fog lights, alloy wheels, t-top, bucket seats, power locks, anti-theft, louver, racing seats.

I'm using this to compare. This looks to be in the same shape with a lot less miles for only a little more money. I don't know if this car has any rust, or where it is from. I doubt it has less rust then the one from my friend. But looking at the papers it seems to be the better buy for sure. This is why I cant figure out why he is asking $6000.. now $5000 for it. I feel it is worth $4000 at the very most most.

When I buy one I plan on keeping it for a very long time. The body from my friends car will last, I know that. But I don't want to fix a million mechanical issues. This other car has a lot less miles, but if its from Canada (I don't know for sure) then it will likely be full of bondo. In the picture you can tell it has been repainted. Did it need new paint, or are they hiding something? Accident, rust. etc.. Too many things to think about haha..

 

You're saying it has obviously been repainted since it looks so nice? Not necessarily, as long as these things were garaged and properly maintained the paint can still look brand new.

I looked at an 83' 280ZXT here in Ohio yesterday. The thing was really nice, 123k miles, 2nd owner, it was brought up from I forget what state, but the paint was all original and it still looked immaculate other than some dings and nicks that you wouldn't be able to see from a picture. The interior was perfect, the dash was original and crack free, every single thing worked, he was asking $5500. Out here in Ohio these cars also go for higher prices because of the salt and the fact that any local ones are going to be hard to find in nice condition.

 

Well...I bought mine for $3k...but that was 13 years ago. I've had people offer me upwards of $7.5k for it. It's just not for sale.

 

Wow, the range of prices for these cars is like really big, i paid $400 for both my Z's. Though repairs on my blue one added like another 1k down the line, mostly damage from other people, and my white one should also run like a thousand tops to get it nice. Once again that will be mostly body work. I agree with everyone else, if yer willing to travel a little for a nice one for less and save yourself some change that you could put into the TLC these cars generally need for being old.

 

surely for that price you can buy one from the states and get it trucked and complied to canadian registration in just as good of nick

 

its a pain to get cars into canada sometimes. they have to get a saftey, you pretty much have to get them to showroom condition ot be able to register it. so if they find rust he doesnt, then he pretty much has to restore it. unless you know a crooked place to go. they also keep your car for 3 weeks at the boarder. ask nismopick, transporting a car isnt cheap. he only went one or 2 states up, and paid almost 500? i forget exactly, but imagine cali to east cost toronto.

 

The guys car from school use to belong to a family friend in Nevada. He owned it for 15 years then drove it from Nevada to Toronto where he sold it to this guys dads. They owned it for 2 years and are now selling it.

They told me they drove it roughly 3000km and haven't had to repair anything. If the car survived a 5000km trip from the south, and another 3000km since it has been here, and it not need any repairs.. thats a good sign, and the car is solid, to make it great though it would need at least $1000 if not more to fix the interior, and some engine work.

Its a tough decision

 

If you can get it for a price that you feel is good, then go for it. It's pretty much impossible to buy one of these cars and not having to put money into it. Otherwise you're going to be paying alot for a really nice Z inside and out.

 

I was able to get more pictures off my phone. Here you can really see the rust. The outside is great, the inside not so much, and I don't know how easy/hard this rust will be to fix.

RUST:






INTERIOR:

 

EXTERIOR:

 

after seeing the pix now, ummmm its not worth as much as he thinks, 2500 tops for it, and i mean tops. 2000 would be fair. hate to say it, but its gonna need some work, so the price goes down. that rust tells me the front clip is gonna be swiss cheese, or needing the fenders pulled and ground to metal and painted, and or holes fixed. the interior is shot, so take some more off for that.

 

WAAAAAAY too expensive. and those wheels/tires make it look like a 4x4. bleh.

 

Your (repainted*) friend's car is just another ZX with a shot interior (due to heat) ..the other you found for comparisons appears to be more car for the money but if you are going to guess rust/bondo/mechanicals in both cars you'll be better off paying a Pro to check both cars or anything you encounter in the future, in the long run the money expended in an specialist will be an investment..

* nothing wrong with 25 years old repainted cars, just make sure someone who knows take a look

 

You have rust spots visible... you have to wonder what the 'newer' paintjob is hiding... oldest trick in the book.

If the interior is such a mess, I'd seriously doubt the exterior under the paint is in much better condition... I'd negotiate price as if it needs to be repainted anyway.

 

as far as I know the car my friend is selling has not been repainted. It is the original paint.

 

Unfortunately, I have to go with Shady on this one.

The rust is always disturbing but nearly every part of that interior needs replaced or refurbished.

It looks like it already has a dash cap on it, so the original dash underneath is cracked as well. Missing back panel, replacement quarter window trim, the seats look to have been recovered, the steering wheel cover is crooked so probably cracked somewhat, the center console is cracked and the "280ZX" emblem is missing, the center console cover needs replaced, etc. etc. etc.

Those interior pieces can add up pretty fast.

Check out:

http://www.blackdragonauto.com/icatalog/z/t.asp

Go through this catalog and add up the price to replace all the interior pieces that are still available, figure out what pieces are no longer available and then decide if it's worth the effort.

 

How can there be all that rust and damage inside but so clean outside... and original?
Take it to a bodyshop... they can tell if it's been repainted in an instant... then you'll know whether the seller is being honest.

If the seller or his dad restores cars as you said, he can't claim he didn't know.

Not saying you shouldn't try to buy it, but price is too high for its questionable condition... and this is coming from a guy who overpays for everything...!

 

Yup, that's what I'd expect from an old car with "immaculate" original paint... interior as nice or nicer than the exterior.