I bought my first 240Z, a 1971 model.  A dealer in Mount Vernon, Virginia actually had one that you could sit in (no test drives though).  Every dealer had very long waiting lists and when a car came in, they usually loaded it with dealer options.  If your name was at the top, you were called and offered the car.  If you declined, your name stayed at the top waiting for the next delivery.  Each dealer was only getting a couple of cars a month to start with so not many people turned down an offer.  A new Datsun dealer had just opened up in Alexandria so I went over to see about getting a Z ordered.  No problem, only a $50 deposit (did I mention that other dealers wanted $500) and I was only 4th on the list.  They were getting two Zs in their initial shipment of cars.  Even at that it took 5 months before I was at the top of the list and a car came in.  It was yellow (no color choice remember), but I didn't hesitate in accepting it.  The only problem was that they wanted to keep it a day to do the dealer prep and I wanted to pick it up that afternoon.  Well, I also had to arrange a loan with the credit union, so it would have been the next day anyway.  I only owned the '71 for a year or so.  The transmissions in those models suffered from poor synchromesh systems.

By early 1972, Datsun has cranked out enough cars to satisfy the American market, so the wait times dropped to a few weeks.  So I ordered a red 1972 model (you could actually have a color choice).  Actually, the color is persimmon (110), so it looks orangey under certain lighting and red under others.  The day the dealer called to say that my car was in, I wasn't able to get there until they had closed.  So a friend and I wandered around the lot trying to find the car.  After skipping over several 'orange' cars, I decided to start checking the VIN and found it among those.

Living in Maryland, the land of the salted streets in winter, gave the Z several rusty places by 1978 when I moved to Seattle.  In 1980, I decided to take some autobody classes, fix the rust problems and repaint it.  Here I am working on the left rear quarter panel.

I bought a rear clip from the junk yard and sectioned out the quarter panels and outer fender wells.  I replaced those pieces in addition to fabricating pieces for the floor, front fenders and unibody near the front wheels.

It took two years of twice a week classes to complete the project, but I finally got it done.

I still own the Z.  It's now a daily driver (at least when I do have to go somewhere that day).