Hi From Maine:
I am a long time Z owner, and recently a '78 Black Pearl entered my life. It was sold to the Skowhegan Maine Dealership and has had 3 owners. It was stored in a barn under a tarp (no, I'm not joking) for several years by an elderly owner who found it somewhat difficult to drive in Maine winters. He gave it to his daugher, her husband works here. He brought it in one day to show me what he found. I almost became incontenant. He felt bad, and sold me the car. It still has all the origional stuff. I only need to figure out why it has no high beams and why the voltage seems to run high. It had rust treatment at the dealer and has almost no rust at all.

Nice Find! and Welcome to the Club. Feel free to post some of your technical questions in the Tech Talk forum. You'll find Z guys here very helpful and knowledgable.

Looking forward to see the Black Pearl in person.....

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Keith Hultmark
2009 370Z Touring - Sold (5 years owned)
1993 300ZX - Sold (5 years owned)
1976 Porsche 912E. #163 of 2200 - SOLD (3 years owned)
2018 BMW 330i GT xdrive daily driver
2004 BMW Z4 3.0i ….it is a Z

Welcome Ronald. Holy Cow - that is one nice looking Black Pearl! I hope to zee it one day in person at one of our events. Glad to have you aboard! Ross

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Ross Williams
1978 280Z Black Pearl Edition 38k Original Miles

WOW. What a remarkable car!

For those few readers who might still not be familiar with the Black Pearl, they are among the very rarest Z cars ever made.

In 1978 Datsun wondered if an all-black sportscar would sell in America. They decided to try an experimental car to test the market. Black had not been offered on previous Z cars.

To entice the public, Datsun offered a Special Appearance Package which included aluminum wheels, an elaborate 3-M pinstripe decal kit, rear window louvers and special (lead-based) Pearlescent Black Metalic paint.

The cars were offered in 1978 only. Each Datsun dealership received one car (some got two), to show, not to sell. Customers who loved the car ordered their own, and Datsun then made it for them.

The BP cars were created from cars already on the assembly line, so the VIN numbers of BPs are not sequential. There is no 'block of VIN numbers' which designate a Black Pearl. That has posed a problem for folks who try to figure out how many of them were made, since their VINs were shuffled in among the "common" 280Zs of 1978. Best guesses are btwn 600-1200 cars.

The success of the BP project meant we could buy black Z cars from 1978 onward. These cars are the MOST counterfeited Z cars ever made ~ but they are NOT duplicatable. Even if you stuck louvers and wheels on a black 280Z, you could spend your lifetime searching for the special 3M decal kit (which was issued only to dealers), and since the Black Pearlescent Metallic paint was lead-based (hated by the EPA), it's no longer available. If the car doesn't have a paint code sticker indicating it's the real deal, prospective buyers should be HIGHLY suspicious.

These cars bring top dollar in today's market, especially if they look like Ronald's!!!

Nice car, Ron ~ we're very proud to have you among us!
WELCOME ABOARD!

Z ya soon~
Frank T
Membership Director/CTZCC
Apr/70 240Z

Welcome, another Mainiac!! I hail from Maine originally and I'm impressed that any Maine Z's have survived the winters, let only be in as good a shape as yours!!

Congratulations and welcome!!

Phil

Hey Frank,
You forgot to mention that one of our own members has run the only known Black Pearl registry for nine years and is a point of contact for this community of owners!

The Special Appearance Package also included dual racing mirrors (metal). The aluminum wheels were a dealer option - not standard. Many of the Black Pearls in the database have the standard wheel covers as pictured above on Ron's car.

There are probably only about 200 of these cars left in varying degrees of condition. The database accounts for about 125 of them.

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Ross Williams
1978 280Z Black Pearl Edition 38k Original Miles

Shucks Ross ~ I thought he was one of your recruits! Apologies to both of you; I figured you knew each other and that was how Ronald found us. DUH!

Ronald, meet PreZident Ross Williams, the hardest-corps Black Pearl owner you're likely to ever meet. He knows where all the BPs are hidden. Ross, meet Rowland, owner of one of the missing BPs you didn't know about!

And how could I forget the mirrors????!! I even have a set of them on my own '70 240Z!

D-U-HHHH.

Frank T

Yes, Ronald was one of my recruits along with Jim Stephens in Boston. It's good to have some Black Pearls represented in the club!

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Ross Williams
1978 280Z Black Pearl Edition 38k Original Miles

I thought so!

See? I only LOOK stupid!

The high beams are on again, I am blaming a balky switch which worked when I toook it out and put it back in.

Dontcha just love it when you can fix something for free?