I was wondering if you can find enthusiast car clubs in Europe which near the level of enthusiasm and commitment that we see here in the US. Can you fill us in regarding the European car scene? I know that Switzerland has or had a pretty large Z club. Here in the US there are car shows, meets, cruises, or club events EVERY single day of the driving season.

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-Dave
76Z Turbo'd
72 In Progress---DONE!

Dave, that's a good question. Yes there are plenty of clubs and meets, cruises and stuff. probably not nearly as much as in the states. Where I am, it usually revolves around either really historic cars or them more or less motor sports oriented events. often even cruises are filled with 70's and 80's rally cars.
It's just recently that I got back to old cars - due to too many reasons to be explained here and I'm still new to the local scene. in this particular region there aren't really that many clubs, especially for japanese cars as they are relatively rare. Most clubs are active online, and on areas with more cars there are meets and cruises. France has a strong car history and there are a lot of shows filled with mainly french cars. As I don't have lot of free time I don't often go to them as I'm not super keen on french cars, but every now and then I go to see events.

As for commitment and enthusiasm, yes there are some but my feeling is often - unfortunately - the clubs are small and there seems to be negativity among different groups of people, the reason why sometimes there are many small clubs or online communities and I personally have been told on those that "such and such is not getting along with such and such so you should be careful when talking to them.. " Luckily most people are great, but my feeling is we're not quite as lucky with the amount of events, clubs, enthusiasts and especially CARS as you guys are. The reason I really like to hang out on this club's forum is people here are always helpful, fun, down to earth and it just feels good to be here. This club has a healthy, positive attitude so it's a great place to discuss. Keep it that way!!

As for your second question....like I said, try front pads first. The rear brakes usually won't give you any problems at all; they don't do nearly as much work as the front brakes. The disc brake conversions for rear brakes have gotten very mixed reviews; you have no use for them. If you still think Hawk pads are not enough, you can bolt on the 4-piston caliper from a Toyota 4X4, or install the vented rotors from a later z-car and then also use a different Toyota caliper. Easy cheap improvements, and all these options are outlined very well on the Hybridz.com forums. And yes, try a better brake fluid, as well, but do NOT use Dot5 fluid...use a high performance DOT3 type.

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71 on a rotisserie, two more in pieces in my shed...and a 69 1600 waiting for me to get to it

for Cygnus: Im part of many car clubs in Finland and i can think of only one with such commitment as this club. The Volvo-club or Volvolandia as we call it (land of Volvos) For Z-cars there is Datsun-Nissan Sports Cars of Finland but its not even near the enthusiasm of CTZCC even it's nationwide club.

Up here car events are rare, mostly in summertime. There are thousands of classic car owners and i know that there is some classic car in every big barn or garage you'll find here. Just few days ago me and my cousin traded information about locations of old cars, he know that in there is VW kleinbus in some garage etc etc. I think that the Scandinavian state of mind is very humble "I have nice classic car wich i've been restoring for 10 years but i'll keep it in garage, i bet no one wants to see it" I know a guy who have 4 VERY rare Opels in his barn, yet he rarely takes them anywhere. I've been wondering am i crazy when taking part in every event that is available Also we need organisations to DO these kind of events.

This all is about Finnish car scene, i know that people are more active all around the europe, we have lot to improve here.

Mark, I'm going to get the hawk pads and also some good rear shoes as I'll have to replace them at some point anyway, might as well save on postage and get those at the same time. also I was going to get ATE racing dot 4 recommended by cygnusX1, I'm not sure if your recommended dot 3 is a necessity, I don't see why dot 4 wouldn't do? if you have any insight in to this could you please explain?

DOT3 is primarily for street use and absorbs moisture the quickest of all three types. Moisture is bad. It boils at a low temperature and it rusts the insides of your system. DOT4 has higher boiling points and absorbs water slower than DOT3. It's good for track use and street use. DOT5 is silicone based, good for show cars and museum cars, OK for street cars, not good for heavily used brakes. There is a bit more to it, but it has been well documented all over the www. I like the BAER brake website for information about brakes, maintenance, and performance.

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-Dave
76Z Turbo'd
72 In Progress---DONE!

Well I just learned something.

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1970 240Z

I know a guy in Central CT who used to think that same way for 30
years or more. As attrition of 240Z and 510 Datsuns set in by the late
1970's, he thought that interest in these types of cars had disappeared
along with the cars, and so he relegated his own cars to storage in case
there should ever be a revival of enthusiasm for them.

I think I remember seeing a thread about that somewhere on this and
several other 240Z websites..................
~Rick~

Anyone I know, Rick?

I heard about some guy who had a garage full of the very early 240Z carz, and a 510, and just stuffed them away in storage for 30 years. One of his cars was so important, the world had been searching for it for three decades, but this guy never said a word about having it.

One day his wife got tired of all the secrecy and told a couple of local Z nuts that he owned the very first 240Z Datsun ever sent to America for sale, and the whole world turned its attention onto this poor guy. The funny thing was that the guy had just retired and was looking fwd to a quiet undisturbed lifestyle. All that changed.

So see? There are dangers in owning old cars.

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1970 240Z

this story always puts a smile on my face