240z.drago.com.au - Adventures of rebuilding a 1973 Datsun 240Z

For a long time now, I had wanted to buy a Datsun 240Z and rebuild her to top condition. The only thing stopping me was having enough disposable income to actually achieve my dream. Earlier this year, I decided I was in a position to do it, and my wife was behind me 100%.

I started scouring the classifieds for the car that would fulfil my dreams. As it happened, the gods were not smiling on me. I would see an ad for a car that read very well, but by the time that I had got hold of the seller (which was the same day as the initial post of the ad), it was already sold.

I then saw an ad for a car in Leopold. Datsun 240Z 1973 manual, silver, original engine and plates RWCert, Reg LMU759 $8200. I rang up the owner and what do you know, it was still for sale! I had a bit of a chat to him about it and it sounded pretty good. There was some rust damage, but nothing that couldn’t be repaired. I talked it over with Dad and we decided that it was worth a look.

Well, as I drove past her, I knew that she was the one. I parked my car and had a closer look. So far so good. At this point, I think I stopped seeing what she was, but saw what she could become. The owner, Peter DeArauco, opened her up for me to inspect the interior. Peter started her up and not an ounce of smoke. The engine sounded great. She drove well, but was typical of a car that was 30 years old and still running on original rubbers.

I took a heap of photos of her as Dad couldn’t make it down with me. I know that there are some issues with her, but I’m pretty sure that it is a great starting point.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 28th, 2004 at 11:20 and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.