I wanted to introduce my car and myself to the group and let you know there’s one more 300 starting restoration out there.
My father-in-law, at the age of 73, bought a new 1996 Platinum Mist Metallic / Charcoal 2+2 300ZX where he lived in Los Angeles. He bought the 2+2 and not the TT specifically because he wanted the back seat; ironic considering he always had them folded down and never used them. He was a spry old goat who was incredibly intelligent, scientifically inclined, and a complete smart aleck, the car fit him perfectly. His front license plate wrapper said “Sexy Senior Citizen” while his back one said “Flunked Sex, Need Tutor.” He lived in the canyons west of LA and installed a 5 point safety harness in the car, which he used quite frequently.
He had the car in California for 6 years until he moved to Joliet Illinois to be near my sister-in-law as he was getting up in years and wanted to be near family. The car wasn’t driven in the winter time the first few years as he had an old Toyota Tercel wagon that he used so he could keep the Z in good condition. Unfortunately, some punk kid rear-ended him on his way home one night and totaled out the Tercel, leaving him with the Z as his main driver car. He put a set of winter tires on it and started to use it year round as his main car, putting about 71,000 total miles on the vehicle. As you can imagine, yearly use in Illinois took its toll on the body of the car as their is rust throughout, including visible rust on both quarter-panels. The car was reliable though and with the winter tires got him around where he needed to go and when, good car through and through.
Sadly, he passed away last September at the age of 86 due to complications from rheumatoid arthritis. This is the single hardest event my wife has ever had to go through as she was very, very close to him. She’s only 38, not near enough time for her to have spent with him, such is the curse of having children later in life. Both my parents died in 1999 so I’m able to keenly understand what she’s going through and have been able to help her through the worst of her grief. An awful thing to go through losing parents, just awful.
The car was willed to my wife as her sister was given the Paragon, a giant audio speaker from the 1960’s, so we had the car shipped to us here in Colorado back in March. We paid around $1000 to have the car shipped to us so my initial financial investment isn’t very much. The car cost me one father-in-law to obtain though so it is the single most costly thing I own, regardless of the actual financial cost. The old gal has a spot in my garage and will forever be safe and warm and protected from the elements.
Enough sadness, I’m tired of thinking about it and it makes people uncomfortable dwelling on it.
The car has an appointment at the body shop next week to have the back 1/3 of the car de-rusted. I’m going to split the body work in three parts to keep from having to dump a ton of money out at one time. I’ve been using this place for over a dozen years on my daily driver so I know the guys there will treat the car as their own.
I have formulated a somewhat rough plan of what I want to do to the car:
1. Mitigate rust from back 1/3 of vehicle.
2. Mitigate rust from center 1/3 of vehicle.
3. Remove engine and components and mitigate rust from front 1/3 of vehicle.
4. Paint entire car, including internals (Not the $99.95 Earl Shibe paint only what you see carp) in the original Platinum Mist Metallic.
5. Rebuild/replace/swap/modify engine and install back in car.
6. Increase performance, restore interior, and make it look generally beautiful.
7. Enjoy.
The last car I worked on was a ’78 Grand Prix with a transplanted 400 that blew a rod back in the late ‘80s so it’s been a long time. I worked on helicopters when I was in the military so I am mechanically inclined and can learn how to maintain and modify something.
I haven’t decided what exactly I want to do with her other than get the body back to original condition, removing the rust is top priority. One the rust is gone it’ll stay gone, we live at 6,500 feet elevation so the climate is incredibly dry. I believe there is a major tune up needing to be done at 76,000 miles so this will be my first dive under the hood. I’m a little trepidatious and excited about doing the work, very excited actually. This is my third vehicle so if it takes me 6 months to work on something that’s okay, I don’t need it to be my daily driver.
I’ve read the etiquette guide, am familiar with spellcheck, and work with computers so I’m familiar with the search button. I’ve never posted on a forum before so when I do something wrong let me know, I’m pretty trainable.
Thanks and pleased to meet you!
Snubnosed (Russ) (I used to own a boxer, ugly dog but sweet as can be. Thus Snubnosed)
See, the backset is flawless, he never used it!
The body needs a good bit of work but will be worth getting it done.
I think this was its first wash in 10 years.
One suggestion for when you begin working on it. Unless you add a rollbar, I would advise removing those 5 point belts. I know they seem cool but those 5 pt harnesses are not designed to be used without a rollbar.