Oh no....buying another Japmobile.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Been offered a Nissan 300ZX. Red, auto, NA, 1988. Some minor rust around rear arches, damaged drivers seat bolster, mileage about 125k. Runs and drives, will have mot (hopefully) soon.

Anyone know much about these? Despite its slush box I quite like the idea of it in a mullet/medallion/chest wig '80s style.

[MrDuke]

Z31 or Z32?

[HMC]

I presume being an '88 this is the last of the 80s tastic ones that came with a factory option perm, in which case why not!

 

Edit - apologies for giving you no useful buying advice whatsoever

[skattrd]

Didn't David/station have one of these a year or three back? Blue springs to mind, as well as filler.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Z31- which are better looking but low on powah.

[PiperCub]

A former colleague of mine had the Fairlady - the JDM-spec 300ZX, his was N/A too as IIRC he reckoned they were way more reliable than the twin-turbo ones due to the fact the latter tended to attract the hard-case type owners who beat the shit out of them.

 

Overall I think they are pretty reliable and tough old things. I've always had a sneaking regard for them, while I do like the Silvia/SX200, the 300's look a bit more purposeful IMO. They are a bit 'heavy' to drive if that's the right word but I enjoyed several runs in Colin's example which wasn't exactly in A1 condition. I'd consider owning one still but would go for a manual personally as I'm not a self-shifter man.

[Jim Bell]

Surely there are no bad ones.

[Station]

Yes I had a Z31, they're really good cars. The engines are really unbreakable. It was a manual.

Turning the key every morning just gave this immense instant satisfying booming surge, it always started as soon as you switched it on. Everything was screwed together well and solid and the seats are superb.

 

 

It was a little bit rusty, with a comically repaired front wing, but it is the only car I've owned that has gone through an MOT first time. The rust was surface rust mostly on the rear arches. The underside was solid, I think these were really built to last with zero maintenance. My previous owner used it to take two muddy Alsations out for walks. She had service records back to early 90's, but after that I doubt it had an oil change at all. The belts were all original. I should not have sold it, but I got a mk1 MR2.

 

 

 

 

 

I'd deffo love another one. They got slated when they came out I think?

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/10624-nissan-300zx/

 

You can get decent ones for under £1000. There's people selling them for up to 8 grand on ebay. Le Belle Endes.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Read up a bit more now and the Z31 is highly regarded by those who've actually owned one....and slagged off by the usual suspects. I used to own a Lotus Excel which suffers similarly; reliable, well built, easy to work on...cheap!!!

[Noel Tidybeard]

how cool is an aerial switch