What’s the story on this one? That’s what I asked myself when I left a customer in Dallas, TX, in route to my next stop. As soon as I exited the parking lot, low and behold there she was, a 1980 Datsun 280ZX sitting on a flatbed in a random parking lot across the street. There were other businesses in the complex but this one sat alone parked near some vacant offices.
When I pulled in the lot and jumped out of my van, I actually looked for someone to get more info but nobody was there.
Normally I try to keep my high-powered Nikon DSLR with me for special occasions like this but on this day, I rushed out leaving it behind. Therefore my phone had the job of capturing this awesome car.
I took a closer look and captured a few shots and noticed that the paint was a mist metallic burgundy which appeared to be all original.
There were some sporadic faded areas on the hood and drivers side rear. The pinstripe was gold with matching color original factory spoked wheels wrapped in Faulken Ziex ZE-502 rubber; if you look closely you can actually see the Z logo on the center caps. This car did not have the T-tops but did have the rear window louver.
The body was straight and did not appear to have been in any wrecks. Unfortunately, since the car was on a flatbed I could not see the interior.
Back in the day, about the mid 1980’s the 280ZX was definitely in my top 5. Years later my ultimate dream machine was the Nissan 300ZX but that was out of budget; fortunately, some time later I was blessed with a 91′ Eagle Talon TSi AWD Turbo, man I wish that I still had that ride but I digress.
The Datsun 280ZX was a game changer, they were fast, reliable and the price was right. It was also known as the Nissan Fairlady Z and Nissan Fairlady 280Z, depending where the car was being marketed whether Japan or the US. It’s pretty cool because you can actually see the ‘by Nissan’ subscript next to the Datsun logo. The 280ZX was eventually replaced by the Nissan 300ZX in 1984.
I might just go back tomorrow to see if I am lucky enough to meet the owner and perhaps make an offer, in the meantime enjoy the pics and tell me about your favorite car find.
You guys come across anything interesting out there?