dotto@winston.UUCP (Kim Dotto) (11/20/85)
I dont own a 280Z. I do own a 240Z. I have had my 1972 240Z for 8 years (bought it second hand) and I now have over 182,000 miles on the odometer (over 100,000 of those are my own). I have driven many city and many, many highway miles with very few problems. I too am a reasonably good mechanic, and have maintained the car on my own. In 8 years I have had to replace a number of mufflers, brakes and sparkplugs (normal maint.), but the only major repairs have been: new rings and head gasket at 132,000 miles, a carb. rebuild (for performance reasons, no breakdown) a new clutch (only 1 in 100,000 miles), a new radiator (rusted out at about 170,000), and misc nickel and dimers (fuses, lights, wiper blades) that dont seem like much but get to be annoying after a while. I still get approx. 25 miles per canadian gallon in the city and 32-34 miles per canadian gallon on the highway (on a long drive (+6 hrs) just after tuning). My only complaint is that the body is falling apart (dying of cancer). What has this got to do with 280Zs ? Just to say that they come from good stock (if you ignore the 260Z series). The rusting problem has been corrected on the 280Z and a few more extras have been added but I know a number of people who own 280Zs and love them. Talk to anyone (almost) who has ever owned a 240 or 280 and they either still have them or are sorry they ever gave it up. I would be interested to hear from other 240Z owners if there is a +200,000 mile club for 240Zs (I have heard of ones for BMW bike owners but never for cars). Kim