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

I woke up earlier than I had expected to this morning. Probably due to how excited I was feeling about taking the Z out for a spin and attending my first official rally with her.

On Saturday, I was able to get the vinyl card attached to the hatch door. I had thought that I might be able to attach it using the push clips, but I had to change to scrivets instead. I found some from Supercheap Auto that were black and had a vinyl texture to them. The did the job and look great as well. I then washed her and spent a little time giving her a polish. Nice and shiny.

The last thing that I wanted to do to get her ready was to attach the badges. The fender and hatch badges went on without a hitch. But, the bonnet badge didn’t have the clips that would hold it onto the car, and the rear quarter vents that I have are missing a couple of pins and don’t look the greatest. Next job will be to source the last of the badges.

The rally has three different starting points; I started off at Stud Park Shopping Centre as it is not too far from me. I arrived fairly early and was able to spend my time waiting for the flag-off watching the wider variety of cars arriving. Given the broad range of cars, the only Datsun/Nissans there was my 240Z and another owners Skyline.

The drive down to Mornington was a pleasant cruise. I stayed with the convey for a short while, but once we were on the freeway, a few MG’s broke away and I decided to join them and let the Z stretch her legs a little. It was great to be able to join with like minded people and enjoy the driving experience.

Once at Mornington Race Course, I joined up with Dad and my Uncle parking between their cars; a 2-door Datsun 1600 and a HQ Monaro. We spent the first part of the day around our cars chatting to a few people about what we had done to them and the like. The one thing that I really like about these sorts of events is being able to meet people that can help you out and the sharing of knowledge about the cars. As it happened, I met a person that deals in Datsun parts and might be able to help me out with the last of the badges that I need. Dad also had a good day and met someone that had an engine and gearbox that they wanted to sell that Dad will be able to use in his other Datsun 1600 Project that he has going at the moment.

After spending some time wondering around the other cars and chatting to more people, we decided it was time to head off home. My first official rally turned out pretty good.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 15th, 2012 at 22:41 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.