i don't know Frank 4,400 miles is pretty low. i am not good at telling years but that looks like a 70. so it may not be older than Rick's 69 but it has way less miles. i guess that's what they mean by oldest Z with fewest miles. this is of course just my opinion.

_________________
Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694

i am confused didn't Peter Brock die 4 years ago?

_________________
Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694

Okay, I'm back. I have some time before I have to go to my
"home away from home" (the VA hospital), so I'll try to describe
a few more of the views which precede this. Somehow I skipped
over page 6, Thor's pix, so I will do that first.

Now there is a picture worth having on the wall of your den. At
the left is Yoshihiko Matsuo, the designer of the 240-Z. In the
center, in the peach shirt, is our own Carl Beck. And at the far right,
enjoying the hot sun (as evidenced by the parasol and the closed
eyes) is none other than our man Jimbo (Jim Frederick). Three of
the luminaries of the Z World all in one picture. That's one which
is definitely worth keeping.

A couple of panorama shots of wall-to-wall Z Cars. Somebody
said it was about 400. I think it was more like 4000. In between
talking to people about their cars and trying to answer questions
about ours, I tried to see all of them. I failed, partly because there
were so many cars and partly because so many people stopped me
as I walked by saying, "Hey, aren't you the guy with Lucky 13?" I
guess it goes with the territory, but it does have its drawbacks.

There's another picture of Mr. Matsuo, which at least us with the older
cars have to print out and put in our Z scrapbooks. What a friendly
and outgoing guy. We were blessed to have him autograph Lucky
13's sunvisor, which instantly increased the value of the car by at
least $5000. And funny? At one session he had the crowd roaring.
The quip that I best remember is: "....so if Meesah K is fatha of
Zeecah, then I am mutha of Zeecah."

So then, there's Paul's tow truck, I mean white 72 Z, with the flags.
After the show I was driving Lucky 13 back to the trailer when she
conked out. (The gauge read 1/8 tank, but I figured that with the
electrical issues and/or age it was just an inaccurate reading. Or it
could be a clogged line and/or fuel filter. Even after cleaning the
tank we are still getting a lot of crud, so it could be either one.) But
would you believe when Paul went to get us a can of gas, his car
ran out of gas, too? Nonetheless Lucky 13 got a spanking and was
told to get in her trailer, stay there alone in the dark, and not come
back out again till she could behave in a more ladylike manner.

There's Bob Sharp's race car #33 which currently resides in Rochester.
How well I remember that car from "back in the day" when Bob had
the biggest cheering section at the racetrack (anybody in the Dealer-
ship who wanted to go got a free ticket, which means practically
everybody). I had hoped we could park Lucky 13 up beside her again
as we did at the Rochester show, but for some reason it didn't happen
and we ended up down among the vast throng of Z cars. It was my
most severe disappointment of the entire week. I am sure it was just
an oversight, but I desperately hope that it didn't cost us any votes in
the People's Choice competition.

Now there's a couple of yellow Z Cars that anyone would be proud of.
In the front is the gorgeous '72 of Jeff Mader from Boston (and he
sounds like it), which earned a well-deserved first in her class. And
just in front of Jeff's car is an equally gorgeous '70 from Ontario.
VIN# a little over 10,000. And all this time I thought Ontario was just
an extension of our Northeast Rust Belt. Please forgive, I forgot the
owner's name even though I chatted at length with him. (They tell me
the memory is the second thing to go, and I forgot what the first is.) I
thought it was grossly unfair for people to be exhibiting cars right out
of the showroom until I looked at their odometers. BIG OOPS!

Down a little with the one-piece fiberglass nose off is another Sharp
car which was driven by PLN. It is probably the most radical Z I
have ever seen (too bad you can't see the rear bodywork in the
picture). And powered by a charged Nissan V-8, the rough idle, the
sound, and the loud BLATT! when the accelerator is blipped, just give
you a slight hint of what the car could do on a racetrack. It's even
rougher and louder than Clive's red car, if that gives you some kind
of reference point.

I could go on forever. Maybe over the next few weeks, I will. I hope
you all will ask me a ton of questions so I can try my best to share
the experience with you.

All Z Best,.................................Kathy & Rick

_________________
All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

Hey Keith, do you still have that Double X T-shirt from the first show?
Put my name on it (not literally), I'll buy it. P.S., we bought a bunch of
stuff at the 40th Anniv. Convention which would be dynamite for either
raffle or general sale. Sorry the timing of our return was so tight that
we didn't have things sorted out to offer at last night's meeting.

All Z Best,...............................Kathy & Rick

_________________
All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

Mark Lambert's 1972 Gold Medallion Z has 4,400 original miles. That's the oldest Z with the lowest mileage. Of course there are older Z-cars but nothing with that kind of low mileage. Mark's car is quite well known in the Z world and Mark has attended all 23 ZCCA conventions. That's his wife Barbara.

The oldest Z at Nashville was HLS30U-00006.

Glad to hear you made it home, Rick.

_________________
Her Majesty the 26th HLS30U-00026
Princess Ziesta HLS30U-00027
Enjoy the Ride

Friends, above you have read a couple of posts by CTZCC member and
ZCCA Vice PreZ, Chris Wenzel of Sarasota, FL. I want y'all to know
that it would be difficult to find a harder-working, more accommodating,
more affable and helpful guy than Chris Wenzel. We of CTZCC are
blessed to have him in two roles, namely CTZCC member and ZCCA VP.

Kathy and I are even more blessed than that, because this week we
developed a personal friendship with Chris which I am sure will be a
lifelong, ongoing relationship. I am counting on that happening.

I'm only sorry that many of you couldn't attend the Convention this year
so that you could say the same. MAYBE NEXT YEAR IN SAVANNAH.

All Z Best,...........................Kathy & Rick

_________________
All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

[quote="theZman"]i am confused didn't Peter Brock die 4 years ago?[/quote]

Good memory, Mike.
But wrong Pete Brock.

I was confused about this too. Two years ago I saw a news clip showing a smashed Cobra Coupe and the headline reading something like, "racer Pete Brock killed in crash". I assumed it was THE Peter Brock, of BRE fame, who designed the Cobra Daytona Coupe and who had founded Brock Racing EnterpriZes in the 1970s. BRE was the chief competitor for BSR ~ our Bob Sharp Racing heros. BRE lead driver Morton (car #46) always battled BSR lead driver Sharp (car#33) for the C-Production championships.

Wrong Peter Brock. The dead guy was Australian rally racer Pete Brock, who happened to be killed while driving a Daytona Coupe kit car (not an original Cobra) in a rally near Perth, Australia.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=110748

http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/pet ... 20&from=39

The Pete Brock we know is alive and well, appearing just last weekend at the 40th anniversary National Z Convention in Nashville.

Our member Mark RIF sent us a photo of the BRE Peter Brock, signing autographs in Nashville just this past weekend.

Same name, same age, same sport. Different guy.

Yea, 26th, (Chris?) that's what I mean. Wow, all 23 shows, that's wild, Mark was very helpful to me at the show, and his help for my small issue will go unforgotten, great people they are, well, everyone that ran the show and volunteered, round of applause. Good to hear from you Rick......well, not about the gas issue......well alright, we ran out of gas, sure that's lucky 13, or I just have the luck of the Irish, bad luck that is. Yea, it's not the 83 that tells me I'm low on gas, and has a double gauge where my good side can see it, so have to get used to that, almost got me again on the way home, had a close call, but all was good. So thanks to a fellow that got me gas, I was able to get back and make sure Rick was all set.....one Z brother helpin another Z brother, helpin another Z brother, and we all made it to the reception on time..................still huffin tryin to catch my breath. Had a great time and already plannin for Georgia....................I'll take the 83 so I don't run out of gas.............or go deaf... Here's my tow truck.

You're right, Chris, that is one seriously nice Z. And she rode in style, in
her color-matched truck and enclosed trailer. Mark is even more of a
purist than I am: he pulled his trailer with a NISSAN TITAN! Amazing,
some people put 4400 miles on their Z in 2 months, not 28 years!

I was razzing Mark a little. I told him that he had our #171 (28,700 mi.)
beat, but not by much. Then I told him that was nothing, our #13 had a
little over 1000 mi. on it, all he had to do was go over and look. Finally
I asked him how he kept the mileage so low, by disconnecting the speedo
cable? Which he accepted very good-naturedly, saying no, they just
never drive it. When I saw his trailer rig, I understood clearly.

Mark is just another of the many really nice guys that bring great credit
to the Z World. The kind of guy you want to hang out with, just like our
guys. (And soon, girls also, right?) A real ambassador for the Z.

All Z Best,.............................Kathy & Rick

_________________
All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

We just got the email that the results are posted on the ZCON2010
site, which each of you can access to see if there are any names you
recognize. I'm very sad to say, Lucky 13 wasn't so lucky. She
didn't even get an honorable mention. It seems like the more
time, effort, and money we expend to prepare her for the public, the
worse she fares. Maybe it's true: just like back when she was sent to
the scrap yard to get crushed, she is still just another unrestored, high
mileage, used car.

I'm just trying to assess why that might be. I'm sure Chris was
right, every Z owner thinks his particular Z is special, and that's the
way it should be. But if that held true consistently amid a field of 400
cars, there would be a 400-way tie for first place. Assuming that there
were no voters other than the entrants, that is.

I can only conclude that the various voters must have different concepts
of what the term "Peoples Choice" is supposed to mean.
To one, the highest-wattage, loudest sound system.
To another, the nicest interior.
To another, the glossiest paint job and shiniest wheels.
To another, the most beefed up engine.
To another, the wildest paint scheme.
To another, the most radical modifications.
To another, the best job of detailing for the show.
To another, the hottest woman seated in or standing beside the car.
To another,...................................?

Anything but considering one of the most significant of all Z Cars.
I guess the average show-goer nowadays is not looking for an example
of a very original, even down to the paint, bone stock, plain jane, unmod-
ified, bland color, unrestored car for his/her Peoples Choice. Even if it
has been refreshed and detailed for the show.

Maybe I just set my expectations too high. I thought she would be a
very popular car, but apparently not. Not even a third place. I wish
there was a way to canvass the voters to see how they were thinking,
so that appropriate adjustments can be made for next time. Somebody
must know the formula: there were those who got enough votes to earn
a trophy!

It is hard for me to express my thoughts without thinking that I must
be coming across as "sour grapes" or "a sore loser." I admit to being
disappointed, discouraged, maybe even crushed. We didn't go to all
that effort and expense to lose. But I would feel better if I knew why.
Did we get any votes at all? Did we miss third place by one vote? Did
people consider the car a joke: a total original, 41-year-old, 101,000
mile car among all those beauties? I suppose we'll never know.........


Kathy & Rick

_________________
All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

I think this is terrible.

To my way of thinking, his car is the single-most-significant Z in American history. This is the car which started it all, the tip of the spear, the clarion which signaled the landslide which followed. Z aficionados searched for car #13 for decades, speculating about its whereabouts and condition. Most had long ago given it up for dead.

Now it's been found in wonderful condition, and a Convention of national Z enthusiasts don't even applaud it???

When Lucky#13 was found (and found in time for Katayama's 100th birthday, during the 40th Anniversary of its manufacture), I considered it a small miracle. Just locating a rusty hulk with the VIN plates would have been significant enough for many of us.

But when we discovered that you had kept it PRESERVED, INTACT, and in nearly roadworthy condition, I was astounded. The rediscovery of this single car sent a shockwave all around the world, thru Z channels. The minute (My-NUTE) chance of this car resurfacing after 30 years was so unbelievable, it drew skeptics from all over the country to its unveiling, just to see for themselves if it really could be true.

The chances against it being genuine (and INTACT! ) were so incredibly huge, that the declaration caused disbelief, scorn, derision and contention among rational-thinking Z nuts, who refused to believe that the first American Z car could actually have survived and re-emerged after such a long period of time.

I suspect that time itself (in copious quantities) will be necessary to make the world realiZe how incredible this Find is. Hindsight is always sharper than real-time perception. The most popular and successful Sports/GT car of all time, with a terrible record for rust, suddenly produces its very first copy, in amaZingly good condition, exactly in time for its 40th birthday? Preposterous! And after that car had gone missing for more than 30 years??? Simply impossible.

I suspect, given enough time, the realiZation of their missed chance to vote for this car will hit everyone involved. I don't suspect any skulduggery or subversive act; a Peoples' Choice vote would be really hard to subvert. I even question whether being parked in the 'Back 40' had anything to do with the vote (unless not expecting to find it there, nobody bothered to look for it). I think, instead, that *perhaps* the caliber of voters in the Z world today are more daZZled by glitz and eye-candy than they are by significance and quality.

If that's true, I am sadly dismayed and, frankly, ashamed of us.

This car is simply a stand-alone miracle, which survived for some Providential reason. While literally MILLIONS of its brother Zs died and rusted to death all around it for four decades, this FIRST CAR survived in incredibly drivable condition. And it emerged with near-Biblical timing, in such a casual manner that any single change in the circumstances could have left it stored out of sight for yet another decade. Face it Rick ~ if we hadn't begged you for permission to tell the world the car was found, it would still be gathering dust, unseen, on your back 40.

I can maybe accept that people who came to the Convention to see Lucky#13 for themselves, probably expected it to be displayed with some prominence. I wasn't there, but I undrstnd the car was parked at the front entrance of the hotel? That should have given it ample exposure. Did it have a number on it then? Could voters who wanted to vote for this car due to its individual significance, vote then?

If the car was parked out of sight AFTER it got a number, maybe voters (expecting to see it prominently displayed during the show itself) thought it had already left? I'm guessing.

What I can't accept is that so many Z enthusiasts, gathered at one place, didn't vote for #13 because they failed to recogniZe the significance of this car. I can't accept that.

Even ZCCA recognized the importance of having #13 there, and paid to have it trucked 2,000 miles. I can't fathom why its significance would be lost on 700 Z enthusiasts.

I'm crushed, Rick. You must be beyond words. You sank a bundle of cash into this trip and arranged your life around your duty to present #13 to the Z community during this time-significant event. You went to great personal lengths to run this flag up the pole.....and nobody saluted??

For what it's worth, your car and #0006 are the two most-significant 240Zs I have ever had the honor of seeing and touching. I remain proud of you for all you have done for #13 over the years, and especially during this past year.

For the remainder of my lifetime, I will remain immensely proud to have played any small part in the Renaissance of Lucky#13, and I will continue to consider you one of my life's heros for preserving it.

Lucky #13 still gets my vote, and always will.

Frank T

_________________
1970 240Z

I'm considered one of the young guys and I also agree with you Frank. Couldn't say it better myself. In my eyes #13 is the most significant because this was the first Z people in America saw and when they saw it they said "I need one" any other Z made after that was because of #13. period.

_________________
Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694

Thanks, Frank, thanks, Mike, I really appreciate the support.
I'm still trying to process this and none of it seems to make any sense.
Maybe it's because my own perspective is wrong?

Chris is right: the car was displayed right across from the main
entrance of the main hotel all week with other significant ZCars, with the
showboard in place on its tripod and the 8.5x11" entry number page in
the windshield (actually outside under the wiper until some kind soul
suggested that inside might be better in case of rain or high wind). I
tried to stay by the car as much as possible to answer questions and
discuss the car with interested persons, consistent with getting around
to meet Z people from around the US and Canada, talk about their cars,
and help out the ZCCA staff where possible. So no doubt that she had
exposure, not like she was locked up in the trailer out of sight all week.

On the Great Lawn (as I called the show site), same thing, complete
with a trophy display, owners manuals and registrations, and old
original showroom literature. Everything open for viewing: windows,
doors, hood, hatch, inspection doors. Even had two pretty ladies
(Kathy and her sister Laurie) sitting there to beautify the area.

Yeah, that's probably where we fell short, they weren't wearing bikinis!

FWIW,..........~Rick~

_________________
All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

Rick,

Please do not take the results of the Convention's People's Choice voting personally. You and Kathy have represented Lucky #13 well, as she deserves. The Z experts and connoisseurs of the world certainly appreciate the importance of being the lowest vin number 240 sold to the general public. I would have thought that she deserved a more fitting throne on show day and how easily she could have been buried among the 400+ show entries. However, when it is all said and done, you and Kathy are the ones that get to bring #13 home. I'm sure there are many envious people out there that wish they could do that!

_________________
Phil
1981 280zxt - Now in the care my son!
2014 370Z Sports Touring Roadster

Rick,

I am sorry to hear of your disappointment. It saddens me because you are such a fine ambassador and representative of the "Z" car, its history, and the "Z" car community at large. There is certainly no shame in losing, you absolutely did you part by presenting her, and doing it well.

In my very humble opinion, the placement of "Lucky 13" may have cost her some votes. For her not to be displayed prominently, in the front with the other "important" Z cars, is disheartening. I, like Frank, was not there so it is hard for me to say but, maybe, it was not prominently displayed because of the appearance of # 6, the Bob Sharp Racing 240Z (see sandwich board). Once again, I was not there and this is mere conjecture on my part. That being said, if this was the case, that is where the shame lies.

I personally do not believe that there is a finer way to present an automobile for judging: all original and without modifications.

As Phil has stated before me, you are the real winner. You are the very proud owner of a very big piece of Z history. Peace.

_________________
Tommy Sullivan
1978 280Z
1977 Celica GT
1990 Mazda Miata