When I was little my dad had a 1972 Datsun 240Z and I remember riding around in it with him. He eventually had to sell it because my sister and I got too big. He really liked the car and hated to see it go.

I have always wanted a 240Z of my own, so my wife and I decided to seriously start looking for one. Most of what we went to see was rusted out garbage. I could actually put my finger through the floor boards anywhere I chose on one I looked at. We also saw a couple of jewels that were beyond our price range first of all, second of all I would have felt terrible setting them up for autocrossing.

One night before going to bed I did one last check of all the web sites I had been watching, and found nothing. The next day I decided to check them again at 11:00 AM even though I was sure nothing had been added. When I did, I found a brief add for a very affordable 1972 Datsun 240Z! I immediately called the owner to set up a time to meet with him that night.

When I got home I debated on whether I should really go or just wait until Friday night. It was raining and there was a concert in the Tacoma dome, so traffic was awful! My wife convinced me that I should go because if someone else got there first I would be mad at myself.

So, I hauled my sorry self out to my Jeep and fought the traffic all the way to Redmond. Once there I checked out the car and took it for a test drive. My wife couldn't be there because she had gone to the opera. I really liked the car but didn't want to make such a major purchase without discussing it with her first. I gave the guy $100 and he agreed to hold it for me until Friday.

That night we decided to buy it and I called the owner the next morning. He was very glad that I wanted to buy it because he had quite a few people over looking at it. I could even hear a guy asking him questions about it while I was talking to him!

We were busy the next night, so I was in agony knowing I finally had the '72 240Z I had always wanted, but I couldn't put my hands on it yet.

Finally on Friday we went up and picked it up. The now previous owner gave me a shop manual and various tools to go along with it. It was dark out, so my wife still hadn't got a good look at it yet. It wasn't until we got it into our garage that she really saw it for the first time and she was really excited and impressed that it was so nice.

The previous owner had owned a 240Z when he was younger, so he decided that he wanted to relive a part of his youth. That is why he bought this particular car about 10 years ago. When he got it, the car had been painted a different color of blue. Whenever the doors, hood, or trunk were opened though the stock color could be seen. He didn't like this, so he had it pained back to the original color. He even used authentic Nissan paint. He also had the seats recovered with original style coverings and cleaned up the interior a bit. His son was in charge of keeping it running and he seemed to do a great job. This car seems to be in pretty good shape inside and out.

We have been cruising around and tinkering with the car ever since we got it. It is fun to work on because everything is so easy to get to, and a blast to drive. While performance parts are already on their way for the car, it will always keep its classic qualities.

Cindy and Pete Sprenger