classic car

On Saturday, I went to a farming area near Fond Du Lac to look at a project car found on Craigslist with no photo. This was what the ad said:

1972 240z datsun. Was a project i dont have time to finish. Solid body. Motor is bad but comes with a good motor with 70,000 miles on it. Car has manual trans and extra parts. Car is orange.

Even though it said it was solid, I was suspicious, as the 240z and the later variations had very thin, rust-prone body panels that generally ended up falling apart and rusting very quickly. But I was interested, and we decided to go take a look at the car along with a VW Beetle on that Saturday. What we found was, like the ad said, an orange 1972 240z with an extra engine in a separate garage. But, to my surprise, the Z had barely any rust on it at all, just some surface rust on the hood and a very small spot in one of the fenderwells. It also turns out the car had THREE motors: the original one, which was non-running, a running one from a later 260z, and the third was in parts, but missing a few pieces.
Needless to say, we purchased the car, and it is being hauled to my house in a few days. We will restore and modify the car (there aren't very many 240z purists out there to yell at us) so it can be used as a driving car, and basically learn as we go. We have never attempted a restoration before on any car, but we will try very hard for it not to be another "I don't have time to finish it" story that ends up selling three months later. These photos are of the actual car, so you can see it is in good condition for a project. I won't tell you the exact price, but I feel we got a very good deal on this well-preserved Datsun.
One of the only major problems with the car is that the interior is in shambles. There are engine parts ruining the floors behind the seats, the vents have fallen out, and though the seats are in the only desirable color for a '72, black, the are worn and torn. We are thinking about putting in a custom interior and carpet to remedy this. Also, the transmission is not original. The former owner thought that the original trans was lying around with the parts that make up the third motor, but we'll have to see. You can track our progress through the restoration blog at projectzcar.blogspot.com.