aj280z
Forum User
Hi all, it's taken me a while to start a thread on my car - but better late than never, right?
Lets take it back to the start... Ever since Petrolicious dropped the 240z "Dare to be Different" film, I knew my dream car was a Datsun Z. The body lines, the noise (oh god, the noise!), the simplicity - it just had to be. At that time, I wasn't able to buy one for lack of money and still living at home so the idea was forgotten about for now. Fast forward a few years to 2020 - the funds are building and moving in to my own place is on the horizon. I patiently stalked the classifieds and came across Huggys Speed Shop. There's a couple of 280z's waiting to arrive in the UK from California, but again I'm not quite ready to buy so the thought goes to the back of my mind - but I'll remember the shop for future. A couple months go by, I now have my house and I'm toying with Datsun ownership again - I ping Huggys an email to see if either of the 280s are available and one of them is! I really thought there was no chance. I drove up with a couple of mates and knew as soon as I saw the car, I would pull the trigger. So, on September 16th 2020, I became a Datsun 280z owner.
Here's my journey of ups and downs, capturing what I find, what work I carry out, and what my plans are along the way. I'm a complete novice so the project is going to be a steep learning curve.
What I want to end up with is a car with similar styling and dynamics to the 240z in the Petrolicious video that inspired this project. Low, air dam, duck tail spoiler, RS Watanabe style wheels, triple carbs, and a symphony out the exhaust. Also, I wanted a late 280z for the L28 engine, larger fuel tank, and likelihood of a 5 speed gearbox.
I'll add some photos and descriptions of what I've done over the past 2 years when I get a moment, but for now, enjoy the original "pre-import" photos.
Lets take it back to the start... Ever since Petrolicious dropped the 240z "Dare to be Different" film, I knew my dream car was a Datsun Z. The body lines, the noise (oh god, the noise!), the simplicity - it just had to be. At that time, I wasn't able to buy one for lack of money and still living at home so the idea was forgotten about for now. Fast forward a few years to 2020 - the funds are building and moving in to my own place is on the horizon. I patiently stalked the classifieds and came across Huggys Speed Shop. There's a couple of 280z's waiting to arrive in the UK from California, but again I'm not quite ready to buy so the thought goes to the back of my mind - but I'll remember the shop for future. A couple months go by, I now have my house and I'm toying with Datsun ownership again - I ping Huggys an email to see if either of the 280s are available and one of them is! I really thought there was no chance. I drove up with a couple of mates and knew as soon as I saw the car, I would pull the trigger. So, on September 16th 2020, I became a Datsun 280z owner.
Here's my journey of ups and downs, capturing what I find, what work I carry out, and what my plans are along the way. I'm a complete novice so the project is going to be a steep learning curve.
What I want to end up with is a car with similar styling and dynamics to the 240z in the Petrolicious video that inspired this project. Low, air dam, duck tail spoiler, RS Watanabe style wheels, triple carbs, and a symphony out the exhaust. Also, I wanted a late 280z for the L28 engine, larger fuel tank, and likelihood of a 5 speed gearbox.
I'll add some photos and descriptions of what I've done over the past 2 years when I get a moment, but for now, enjoy the original "pre-import" photos.
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