a 'Nut and Bolt' restoration. A how to guide.

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Pete

Well-Known Forum User
This is another one of *those* quotes. It's interesting how people are happy to let them pass without comment, as though they are true.

If this car came up for sale from an anonymous owner it would be absolutely slaughtered on here. Picked to pieces without mercy. Quite rightly so too, I think. Not something you would want friends or family to buy into unwittingly.
We all like a quote. Could you hold off on this till I finish work today, I'm picking up the popcorn on the way home.
 

DonMuscles

Well-Known Forum User
Don, honestly, what do you think it’s worth and why?

From other owners with 2+2’s it would be around the 15-18k mark. Around £20k insured value.

I am just trying to be realistic.

It has been done to a very good standard although it is by no means a show car.

And everything is genuinley new on it. No expense has been spared. And mechanically it is all new.

Money in parts has come close to this and that is by no means remark for a comparison for value.

I am just being realistic with pricing.

Some people on here are old and not up to date with current pricing when they think you can still pick up a half decent 260z for £5k......

Ridiculous.
 

johnymd

Club Member
I think the statement you made just annoys people who know it is not true. You use the words "Absolutely EVERYTHING on this car is new". The reason we all know this is not true is because you simple can not buy absolutely everything on this car new. The parts are just not available for this car anymore. Where would you buy all new glass and stainless trim? Complete new suspension arms and strut housings? New engine and gearbox? new dashboard and wiring harness? The list goes on and on and on. If you has said "Absolutely everything on this car is as new of refurbished" then this would be more realistic but you didn't. I think I understand what you meant by the statement but it's not what you actually said.
 
The good thing is that our valuations guy is a body repair type. So he can look through the pics, asses how much filler, where it’s been painted, look at sold prices etc and give an accurate valuation. Perk of the club membership.
 

Ped

Club Member
Just for the sake of it, here are the 'official' Practical Classics valuations, first for the 280zx 2+2

280ZX 2+2
Concourse/Dealer = £7,500
Condition 1 = £5,000
Condition 2 = £2,200
Condition 3 = £950

I would say this is bang on, although you won't see a 280zx advertised as Condition 3, even if it is!

Now for the 260Z (NB: not the 2+2 but the fhc)

260Z (fhc)
Concourse/Dealer = £16,000
Condition 1 = £10,000
Condition 2 = £5,750
Condition 3 = £3,000

I have not bothered to put the 240Z prices here as there is not enough storage space in the entire 'Cloud' for the discussion that would ensue... EXTRA:D

Anyway... if the 280zx prices are bang on and the 240z prices are under, then the 260z 2+2 should be about in the region of the fhc figures above.

Fuse lit... right, I'm off to get a cup of tea, so will look back in on the discussion tomorrow... can't wait! It's better than the Telly!
 

DonMuscles

Well-Known Forum User
Lol.

I still have to disagree with this.

Maybe for the average car this might be deemed true.

Not for a car with a full restoration.
 

DonMuscles

Well-Known Forum User
And lets be frank, who on earth finds the 280zx as desireable as a 240z?

I think they are 2 completely different foods for thought.

I mean I have seen only an acute handful that I really like.

In standard form they can be tasteless, not to say I would not own one, as long as it was in the correct colour and trim.
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
Okay.

New/refurbished.....

I hope people do not lose any sleep now.

I'm not sure anybody is losing any sleep. The point is that - all the way through the thread - what you've been saying/writing doesn't match up with what can be seen in in your photos.

What's "new" on the car? The paint? A few service parts? Some blue hoses? You haven't even taken the engine/trans/diff out to do any work on them, let alone around the area where they sit. In fact, the only engine work I've seen here seemed to amount to showing a rotary wire brush to a carb top. Have I missed something?

Previous photos showed that the joint between the firewall panel and the floor of the wiper box/cowl was rusted and perforated along a good part of its length. A difficult repair. How was this done? My hunch is that it has simply been covered up and not dealt with properly. Same with the extensive rust at the rear of the roof, which previous photos showed to be pitted and perforated. If the headlining wasn't removed (as seems clear from the progress photos) then how could this possibly have been dealt with properly? It's the stuff like this that doesn't add up. I'm not sure that you understand quite how important this is to the long term integrity of the car. If you simply cover it up, it will come back...

It isn't even on the road yet but talk has already turned to valuation. It's hard to understand this car being talked up towards a relatively high value. I think feelings of sympathy and support of the 'underdog' must come into it and cloud judgement. Once you start supporting individuals over truth, you're in a fantasy world. As mentioned before, if this car - and this thread come to that - was presented anonymously to a peer group it would be torn apart without any mercy, and quite reasonably so.

If the owner is happy with it and it's legal and safe, then good luck to him. But let's not kid ourselves that this is any kind of 'restoration', let alone something you'd want to pay reasonable money for or encourage a friend to buy.
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
We all like a quote. Could you hold off on this till I finish work today, I'm picking up the popcorn on the way home.

I don't see you contributing anything useful or factual in this thread, let alone interesting. It's hard to perceive any position apart from antipathy towards one particular contributor. A kind of 'My enemy's enemy is my friend' thing.

Lay it on the line here. Do you think this car has been 'restored'? Do you think the work shown is good, bad or just average? Would you accept the same standard for your own possessions, or for work done paid with your money?

The sad thing is that - in the long run - you're not doing him any favours by humouring him. Tough love would be better for both him and his car, and - the bigger picture - better for all of us, and for all of the cars.
 

Pete

Well-Known Forum User
I don't see you contributing anything useful or factual in this thread, let alone interesting. It's hard to perceive any position apart from antipathy towards one particular contributor. A kind of 'My enemy's enemy is my friend' thing.

Lay it on the line here. Do you think this car has been 'restored'? Do you think the work shown is good, bad or just average? Would you accept the same standard for your own possessions, or for work done paid with your money?

The sad thing is that - in the long run - you're not doing him any favours by humouring him. Tough love would be better for both him and his car, and - the bigger picture - better for all of us, and for all of the cars.

I've not got antipathy towards anyone.
From where it was to where it is that certainly looks like some kind of restoration.
I've not got all that much knowledge of body repair so wouldn't really comment on the standard of the work.
You're implying that the 'standard' isn't acceptable. As I've said I don't have the knowledge to say yes or no. If I got a tradesman in to carry out work (work that I was incapable of doing or had very little knowledge of) on my possesions I would to a large extent have to trust him as to whether the work was an acceptable standard or not. Just go on any 'builders' type forum and see the arguments raging over acceptable standards of work, it's not an easy thing to define.
I'm not humoring anyone, just having a bit of an online blether.
To quote you "If the owner is happy with it and it's legal and safe, then good luck to him."
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
You're implying that the 'standard' isn't acceptable.

No, I'm saying that that the description and the evidence put in front of us via photos don't match. You appear to be commenting from the peanut gallery with throwaway lines, but no commitment one way of the other. I don't think it helps, it's just more white noise.

As I said, if the owner is happy and the car is legal and safe, then fair enough and he's the one who has to live with it . Just don't put it in front of a peer group and tell us it's "fully restored" because it quite clearly isn't, and when it comes on the market - as these big projects so often seem to do - don't expect everyone to be talking it up as the best thing since sliced bread.

The stance of the owner through the whole of this thread is that he knows best and doesn't want to listen to any naysayers. It sets up a situation where positive comments (those pats on the back I've mentioned before) are lapped up, but constructive critique and wise words of advice are dismissed as negativity. You only have to look at the situation regarding the clutch master cylinder to see what would be to come. Where warnings of serious structural issues (like that firewall joint) are blithely dismissed, you have to wonder whether it has been dealt with properly. My bet is probably not.

If the car is going to be given a valuation by a marque/model expert acting for an owners club then I fully expect that value to be at the low end of whatever scale is used, no matter how much time and money has been spent.
 

DonMuscles

Well-Known Forum User
Just to mention all of the rust pointed out has been cut out and has a new metal put in.

Albrecht, you have been invited to view the car many times, and yet have refused because you would rather have something to which you can direct criticism, rather than hold your hands up and admit the truth. You are just a man behind a screen and whether or not you deem it to be true, most dislike your behaviour from a community standpoint but put up with you because you have good knowledge of the cars.

If you think you are liked and applauded by the majority, then you need to wake up and smell the coffee. Look in the mirror and change your behaviour.

It is people like you who ignorantly ruin online communities because of your comments which are not backed by any factual representations, as you have not seen the car in person.

So jog on kindly please.....

I do not care for you or your comments.

If I was on the board of this forum I would have you banned.

Quite simply.
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Don is a master of exaggeration and I can fully understand Alan 'where you are coming from'.

But you get yourself so wound up about this car and the owner's approach to it.

I have a pretty good idea (like most on here) about what's been done, how it's been done and whether this car would stand close scrutiny by a Z expert. However I am full of praise for the vision to return a 'bastardized' rusty Classic car into one which now resembles it's origins, is getting back on the road and has given it's young owner a tremendous amount of satisfaction.

We all have our own idea of what is acceptable so when we see other cars we can find fault with them or praise them - and we do on here, as you say.

I have had 4 S30s and they have all been very different. I could praise them all in certain ways and find fault in other ways and other people will have done that when they have looked at them. Some people express an opinion to me and others don't. I know what I want from each one and I'll work on the bits I want to improve and leave the bits that don't bother me but that would be different for someone else.

You have very high standards and incredible depth of knowledge of these cars so I doubt if there are many of the cars that you see in the UK which meet your criteria. If you are concerned that someone may buy a car and not know it's faults then you'll never sleep at night - it happens every day.
 
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Just to mention all of the rust pointed out has been cut out and has a new metal put in.

Albrecht, you have been invited to view the car many times, and yet have refused because you would rather have something to which you can direct criticism, rather than hold your hands up and admit the truth. You are just a man behind a screen and whether or not you deem it to be true, most dislike your behaviour from a community standpoint but put up with you because you have good knowledge of the cars.

If you think you are liked and applauded by the majority, then you need to wake up and smell the coffee. Look in the mirror and change your behaviour.

It is people like you who ignorantly ruin online communities because of your comments which are not backed by any factual representations, as you have not seen the car in person.

So jog on kindly please.....

I do not care for you or your comments.

If I was on the board of this forum I would have you banned.

Quite simply.

Don. Do you have any idea how incorrect you are? I think this thread has/did have a greater negative impact on the perceived view of this forum than anything.

You’re making the classic mistake of taking your opinions as fact, then trying to stand them up against facts. I hope you realise this is the incorrect way to base your life.

Facts are facts for a reason. Opinions are like bottoms, everyone’s got one. Only a true idiot argues with facts.

Why don’t you post pics of the area where it’s had metal work replaced? Or of the car before it was painted?
 

Ped

Club Member
So my 280zx 2+2 at £7,500 would be a bargain :(

Where would you rate your 280zx Ped Condition 1,2,or 3 ;)

Derrick EXTRA:D

Hi Derrick, I would say mine is low condition 1 with a fair amount of room for improvement. Anyway, I valued it at £5k, so did Moggy and the insurance valuer agreed to £5k. Happy to accept offers over £10k! :)

Your car is concourse and exceptional, so would be worth a fair amount more, but how much... No idea.
 
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