Some of you may already have seen there's a new member from Europe in the club. I'm originally from Finland but live in France. I do feel like a lesser member due to the fact that I don't own a Z yet In fact I've never had one. But I'm working hard on that and hope to be able to post some good news in the near future.

I was made a Datsun convert during my early years. The first Datsun memories I have are from the age of 3 when I asked my dad to bring some brochures from work.. He sold Datsuns and I was obsessed about the cars.

So I loved Datsuns and my first car, which I got when I was sixteen (the earliest age you can drive in Finland is eighteen) from my parents. It was a 2 door E10 (100A Cherry sedan) that came from my grandfather who was apparently the second owner and gave the car to my mom when it had only 55000 miles on the clock. My mom drove it for a while and then gave the car to me as a Xmas present. I was thrilled! 2 years to go before I could have my driver's license, I drove the car on our private strip of a tiny forest road, less than a mile long and on the lake nearby during the winters when it was all covered by a thick layer of ice.

I drove the car for a few years, eventually giving it up when I moved on to a slightly more fashionable Ford Escort MK2 2000 with tuned engine and beefed up suspension. It took me a few years to realize that I had given up an old car that was in immaculate condition, virtually rust free and all original with very low mileage. The fact that it wasn't considered as a cool car for a young guy to drive made me get rid of it but later I came to bitterly regret that stupidity. And I know for sure that the car was destroyed a few years later. In between I had another 100A for parts and the original Cherry's uglier big sister 120A, that I sold to my cousin who sold it to his friend who burnt the car or something.

Well, to speed up otherwise slow story, a couple of years back I came across the 100A I have now, it was the same year and the same color as my first car, and amazingly not in drastically worse condition than the first one. I didn't think twice, I bought it right away. And I felt like I was given a new chance, it was almost like I saw my old car resurrected and I decided I'll keep this one in its original state and just try to find good replacements for the odd broken parts that the car has.

Finally, 240z (or 260 and 280) was always THE car I wanted to have, and as I said, I'm working hard on making that happen sometime soon. Strangely for someone who's been in love with the Zs as long as I can remember, my Z story hasn't even begun yet. Apart from the toys and models and posters and brochures that I mentioned on another thread.. Ok, that's it folks for now. Happy to be a part of this community!

Tervetuloa Klubiin! Welcome to the club! Check out the dnsf.org and suomiz.net.

Looking forward to meet new Z member someday!

I'm already on dnsf.org and www.ncf.fi but didn't know about suomiz.net. tx!

Hi everyone! It's bee a while.. Don't know if this is the best thread to tell the good news but here we go: I got my 260z last week. It arrived to a port in Germany and I picked it up personally to drive it home. Great eh? Especially given that it was a mere 870 miles drive to get the baby home. Some have said I was foolish, some that I'm simply ignorant or out of my mind. I told them Mike told me the car is good so I thought there's no better way to start bonding with her than ride her home. Of course through weather I've never seen in June.. first 4 hours hot hot, then 11 hours rain rain rain rain and FOG. a few hours of something in between and finally the last 10 miles sun.
The car worked like it was new. I mean how could i not love it already SO MUCH!

While waiting for getting the car registered in France, I've given the interior of the car a real good clean and it looks almost like new! Programmed for today is cleaning and polishing the aluminum scuff plates


I haven't been to the forum recently as I've been extremely busy with so many things going on right now. But I haven't forgotten you guys. I'll be back soon with more stories. I just wanted to publicly thank Mike for an excellent transaction. He's a superb guy who was such a pleasure to buy a car from, 200% trustworthy and I'm simply amazed at how well he has kept the car. I would never had even dreamt of the engine running so nice and smooth as it does. The first time I started the engine I didn't have enough face for a smile. That car turns heads all the time. On my way back as I was driving in Italy, a -78 corvette owner came to me at a gas station and was simply drooling over the Z like crazy. He said his Vette is for sale and that he's always wanted a z and now he wants one even more. As he left he said: "your car is SO MUCH more beautiful than the Vette.."

Now I just want to drive the baby and I know it may take weeks before I can because of all the bureaucracy.. argh...

Great to hear good news, got to love it when other sport car drivers drool over your Z. So now you get to drive this on the Autobon, correct? That is something I would love to do, drive a Z on the Autobon. (spelling) I was on it once, but in a rental car my dad was driving. Well enjoy the ride..........well, you have I already see. it only gets better.

If you're referring to the german highway it's autobahn, but I like your Autobon better as bon in french is good I'm actually in France where max speed limit is usually 130km/h on "autoroute" but in the region where I am they recently dropped it to 110km/h to reduce accidents and increase the state's income from more speeding tickets that they now give..

At the moment I'm in the process of registering the car and can not drive it. Initially I could only obtain a 5-day temporary plates to drive it home. There are so many papers I need to get before it's all set and done. first: join a classic car club, so now I must wait for membership papers. send those with pictures of the car to a official classic car organization that will send me papers to fill to get classic car status. I'll fill them in send them back and wait for more papers from them.. (no, of course you can not download the forms online, or fill them in online. that would be too fast and easy). meanwhile I get documents from tax office proving that the car has cleared customs and whatnot and then, get e temporary technical control in order to get the registration papers, then with those go and get the plates and then do the final technical control and with the classic car status there shouldn't be too many things that I need to change to make the car conform to the european conformity...... I'll be lucky if it's all done before august.. smelly cheese slows 'em down..

Lindburger cheese? (speeling again) So Bon is good. Yea, thought that didn't look right. Well I understand the excitment, I just put my 240 on the road a couple months ago after being on jack stands for 3 years. The last time I even had a 240 was back in the late 80's, yea, my very first car. Then had alot of 280zx models after that. So o yea, what a thrill. You chose a good car for sure. oui

in france there are about 10000 different types of cheese and most of them are smelly and the names unpronouncable..
wow you've had many z's! cool!
actually the first car I really really ever wanted to have in my life was a 2-seater 280zx back when I was just a few years old. It was before I had even seen a s30 in any photos. How I came across the first zx I ever saw was when a red 280zx passed us on a small country road in Finland. we were driving a bluebird sss with my family and this zx flew by, so my dad started racing with him and it was awesome. I was on the back seat all excited and thought one day I'll have one of those. until i saw a 240z for the first time and then I new THAT's what I'm gonna have. But i like them both!
enjoy yourZ must be great to drive it again after all those yearz. what did you do to it during that time?

Congratulations, King! Now you know why we're all fanatics of the Z car here in this Club. Tell your French officials you are a member of the CT Z Car Club, there are more than 400 of us, and we tell them to leave you alone and let you DRIVE!

Your life will now never be the same. You have bonded with a Z car and slowly, slowly, the process has begun ~ soon enough the car will own you, instead of you owning the car.

You'll see.

I'm so glad Mike's beautiful Z is getting some attention over there!

Frank

hey jarno, thanks for the good feedback. it is always good to make someone happy and content. good luck with your new ride. contact me anytime with questions about the car, as it does have its' own personality like all old cars!i do know that car inside and out and can probably trouble shoot most questions you will have.the beauty of this club is the amount of knowledge you will find in this membership. someone will be able to talk you thru any problem that arises.i cringed when i read you had the car in rain, as it was not in rain very offen, i hope it stayed dry inside?! the only thing to remember is to turn the choke switch off after each use, as this will kill the battery if left on. miles of smiles to our new brother, jarno!!!!

Thanks for offering to come for a rescue, I know 400 Z owners is quite an army, but that is going to be needed as in any french tax office there are at least 400 people to circulate every single piece of paper that goes through..

I think the car own me already. As I go home I kiss my wife, get the keys and spend the next 3 hours polishing a button or a screw head in the car..
Today at work i've used my lunch break and coffee breaks to clean and polish the door sill scuff plates. Nice job to do but surprisingly stubborn stuff whatever dirt they have on them. And Mike I don't want to give an impression that the car left you dirty, really, it was already clean but as it is so good there aren't much to fix at the moment I must just try and make it even cleaner to have an excuse to sit in it and adore it!!

Mike, when I realised it's gonna rain and I just had to drive it through that, the first thing I thought was "I will never tell Mike, he's gonna have a stroke when he hears the car's been in rain!"
And I don't intend to drive it in a bad weather, it's too precious for that but I knew it can take it if need be. It stayed surprisingly dry. yes there was a little bit water somewhere but surprisingly little. But my bad luck with weather continued when I got home and on the last day the temporary plates were still valid, I wanted to drive the car to a friend's place to show him the car, and as soon as I hit the road it started raining (and it NEVER rain here in June!). And as I got there it stopped at the moment I got out of the car. That time there was a bit more coming in from the passenger's side window, maybe it wasn't properly closed although it seemed to be. anyway I took all the carpets out and made sure they're dry before putting them back.

In fact the shipping company had left the choke button on and the battery was flat as I went to get the car but yeah we got her started fine.

It's funny how even people who NEVER talk about cars suddenly find great interest in this Z and compliment it's beautiful stance, body lines etc. I met an old friend from Texas who was on holiday in this region and he and his wife just loved the car.

Jarno, please write to us after the FIRST time you get up in the night, simply to go look at the Z!

haha
it's 4.30 in the afternoon.. but yes I do wake up regularly in the night to look at the Z

Hahaha! You're already 'hooked' !!!

Welcome to the Brotherhood!

There is no known cure.