Pictures of Z cars

[JerryHofschneider]

My house is sold and I'm just awaiting a closing date. I got the price I wanted, they got the financing and I'm about 30 signatures and a wake-up away from closing out my house and moving on.
So, I'm sorting and packing through 17 years of stuff and I came across a cache of forgotten car photos that I havent seen in 20 years--and some of the photos are of cars that I used to own. There's the Supra, the El Camino, the Camaro, all near-forgotten cars that I used to drive.
A lot are of my '79 Datsun 280ZX 2+2. This one I can't forget.

I've owned a lot of Datsun/Nissan cars, and this was one of my favorites.
There were shots of the ZX at home, on the lawn, a shot of the car in The Keys, in New York and New Orleans, a couple from the Carolina mountains, some from Captiva...
(..Young friends in the photos are older now, losing their hair and gaining a belly, and my kids have kids who are older than the kids in the photos, who are my kids...).

...I had a Cadillac ElDorado ( "The Green Piece of Chit" ) but the motor exploded--and I desired a sportier car, so I traded my Caddy away for a 3-year old sportscar with back seats.
( ...here's a shot with the kids, the one taken in the parking lot after a Dolphins game, and a picture of the odometer showing "100,000"...).

My new Z was a mild metallic blue (with a silver pinstripe!!), and came with an ultra-black window tint, necessary if you live in sunny, sunny Florida. It had aftermarket pop-up T-Tops that leaked and an odd aluminum rear window shade, a slatted screen painted black, that gave great weight to the lift-up hatch. It came with a set of 16 inch aftermarket silver wheels--5 blades-- that were Ferrari-like, but that caused the tires to rub on the inner liner in tight turning situations. I eventually had to replace them.

Inside, it was approaching the Vegas Whorehouse look, the "Blue Period"--with fuzzy velour seats that belonged in a Pontiac and a rear seat headliner that you could use like a blanket. Every surface was a different shade of blue.
There was a full dashboard, giving the driver a LOT of information in a simple layout (--like the gas gauge/computer that would monitor your usage down to the last gallon) that today's cars don't bother with. There was an impressive array of buttons on the blue driver's armrest and a very good factory stereo/ cassette deck with a built-in equalizer, simple HVAC controls and a spacious blue center console, padded in blue leather. The plush, striped-blue seats adjusted eleventeen ways.
If you dropped the back seats you'd have a HUGE, blue, carpeted space in the rear hatch, suitable for moving a lot of stuff-- or of sleeping in it. (--which is actually where I slept when i went on some of those long, intercontinental trips i used to take.).
It was a Datsun acting like a Thunderbird. A BLUE Thunderbird.

There was clear emphasis on comfort and "style", rather than what lay beneath. Nissan was smothering the Z's sporty character in layers of velour and sound deadening.
Still, the car was a handler. I'd had a couple Z-cars by then and knew what to expect, and the 280ZX pleased me greatly.
The motor was Datsun's powerful inline 6, 2.8 litres, 160 HP. It powered a still-light car--even in the heavier 2+2 format-- from stop to 60 in the six-second range, it had a butter-smooth five speed with an easy clutch and it handled like a sportscar. It was a real hot rod, a tough competition car that could easily drive like a Daily Driver Family Man's car. ( Paul Newman drove Z-cars in SCCA races and won a lot!!).
I taught my kids how to drive in it, and they both are skilled stick shift drivers today, thanks be to Z.

I had the Z for seven years, trading it Datsun-for-Nissan to get an '87 200SX-- a CLOSE cousin. For most of those years it was my only car.
Owning the z, with its' passable rear seat, it meant that I could haul parts of my family to our place in N Carolina, I could carry friends to NASCAR races, could move air conditioners and kegs of beer, that I could street-race the thing against Mustangs and Mazdas and Camaros and emerge triumphant at the next stoplight as The Winner!!
I could do all that and still own a genuine sportscar.

It meant that I could tear down twisty Alabama roads with kegs in the hatch and friends in the back, going home from a NASCAR race while teaching someone how to shift at sixty in the rain. It meant that street capitalists could shatter the driver's window to steal the radar detector and that no amount of duct tape can stop a sunroof from leaking.

Still, I had very little trouble with it as time passed, just the usual--a water pump, a fuel pump, brakes, power windows, etc.
At about 160,000 the radiator failed while I was on a long bridge in a traffic jam and the engine squealed and screamed and overheated and the head warped and the car was suddenly good for nothing.
I changed the radiator and pulled the top end of the motor myself in my garage at home. After great effort and expense, when I turned the key the head gasket blew out, so I traded it off the next day. Suddenly, I was without a Z-car.

(...here's a photo of BOTH cars, the SX and the ZX at the dealership, swapping out the tags, and here's one on the beach, under a palm tree...)
Down the road there were future Zs, and I still drive a pseudo-Z, the G35 coupe.

There have been quite a few sportscars and semi-sports from the great minds at
Nissan/ Datsun parked in my garage, a bunch from the Z's first "golden years" series of ZX sportscars, but my hot rod 1979 280 ZX (2+2) was one of the very best.