I think it’s fair to say times are changing and there's a lot more Z love out there today then there once was. You only have to go to a few show's to see the crazy amounts of positive attention these cars get. I’ve been blown away by all of the comments and support I get wherever I take the car, there’s lots of people out there who lust after one of these still.
From my understanding given the reputation of Datsun’s and rust back in the day its hardly surprising that stereotyping exists, even though that similar reputation spreads across many different manufacturers of the period. If we're being realistic its only in the last decade that the S30 is finally being recognized by the general market place. Back in the 90’s I doubt the marque would have attracted much attention and I’m sure prices would have been fairly rock bottom. With the classic market booming and buyers being priced out at different levels everyone looks to what they can afford and that demand keeps the prices surging.
While a few dealers think they can make a quick few bucks on the back of this then they’ll keep bringing in basket cases in the hopes to make some easy money. Hopefully when they realise this isn’t the case and we see the market continue to rise (rather than being critical of the price hikes, regardless of condition) then suddenly there’s the financial sense in doing the high level restorations that we’d all like to see. I think for the UK though this will be a slower game unless someone can fabricate and produce a kit to convert cars to RHD then I imagine a lot of potential buyers will disappear. My car being LHD doesn’t bother me in the slightest however I know for a large proportion of people that’s game over before they’ve even put a foot in the door.
I get the impression that large contingent of owners on here have in some case owned their cars for decades and there’s not too many new faces, the fact that my membership no. is only 1093 speaks for itself. Ultimately if you want to raise the profile getting more people involved and out on a regular basis is a sure way to do that, using our cars regularly and drawing attention to the S30 should attract new interest and money which is ultimately what we should all be interested in doing as everyone wins then. Also engaging with social media is the new big thing whether we like it or not so it’s important to be spreading the word.
I'll follow this with interest.