I've been on here participating for a couple months now. I really like this club and feel it's about time I introduce myself as I'm here to stay. My name is Rob Olejniczak, I live in Jamestown, RI. I moved to Jamestown a little over a year ago, coming from Cape Cod. I have been working in Newport for a little over 10 years and finally convinced my wife to move. The long drive everyday was starting to take it's toll.

Anyway I was out driving my 71 240z last spring and I stopped at a sandwich shop in Jamestown to pick up lunch. I noticed a pretty cool 350z with a tribute style paint job, BSR I think, parked close to me. After coming back to my car Ross Williams approached me. He introduced himself and we had a nice conversation. He told me about this club, gave me his contact info and suggested I check out the club and possibly join. I looked it up online and spent a few hours reading through a bunch of threads. I didn't join at the time, but was thinking about coming to some of the meetings.

Shortly after that I responded to an ad Paul (from Middletown) had on Craigslist for Datsun parts. Visiting his garage was a treat, man does he have a lot of parts. I bought an f54 block, n42 intake and head, r200, T5, and a lot of other related parts for cheap. During the visit he told me about this club too with only great things to say. Paul really is a genuine great guy and I've been to his house a couple times now. He's a great asset to the Z community here.

I was swamped with work all summer but still browsed the club website from time to time. During the summer I managed to upgrade my suspension, get new wheels and tires, install a front spook and bre style rear spoiler. At this point I was really happy with how the car looked and brought it to a couple local car shows for fun. It's not a show winner, just a driver, but that is what I prefer.

During the spring and summer I sent out the motor to Dave Rebello to have all the machine work done and supply the rest of the parts I didn't have yet. I also acquired a 240sx tranny, custom intake manifold, 280zxt cv axels and flanges, rotrex supercharger, as well as a lot of other related parts.

My goal for the car is a street legal weekend toy that I can have fun on the streets safely, but do autocross and track days as much as possible. I have 2 kids ages 7 and 4 so I don't have a lot of time for it, but they both love the car and are budding car nuts. They love to go for rides in it and sometimes I wish it had back seats so they didn't fight about who's turn it is. I've been looking into making one of those rare jump seats for the back, but I'm not sure it would be looked upon highly by my wife.

I stopped riding rice rockets about 7 years ago when I was in a bad accident. At the time I had a Honda RC51. I was cut off and smashed into the metal barrier on the Sekonnet bridge. I smashed my knée up really bad, broke my foot, dislocated my shoulder and needed a few skin grafts. I'm really lucky it wasn't worse or killed. My wife and I decided it was time to give up street bikes. She was pregnant with our first and the risks weren't worth it. Luckily after a lot of physical therapy I am almost back to normal. My knee actually works very well considering there are no tendons or ligaments left in it. It is actually held together by scar tissue instead that has been strategically cut in places to allow it to move almost normally. When you meet me in person you wouldn't be able to tell by the way I walk. It's pretty amazing what they can do now. I do miss the rush of that speed though from the bikes and that is what I'm building my car to replace. But safely doing it on a track inside a vehicle instead of on top of it. Even just cruising around in it is lots of fun too.

My history of z cars started out when I was 16 and cars in general when I was born. My dad was a mechanic, welder, and metal fabricator. He loved cars, hot rods and muscle cars especially, but he really liked every car he could modify or just work on. He had so many different cars and was always working on them. Some of the cars i remember him having were: 41 Willy's, 66 Flat Black Nova (scary fast), 67 Mustang Fastback, 69 Yenko Camaro, Monza, 68 Triumph TR6 with 350 Chevy, 71 Vega, Jeep CJ5, 80 Trans Am, and so many more it's kind of crazy. Growing up, If I wanted to spend a lot of time with him I was going to help out. My dad is no longer here, but he passed his passion to me. He used to read car mags to me when I was learning to read! I like all kinds of cars from rat rods, muscle cars, race cars, modern European, cobra's. Almost any kind of sports or classic car for the most part. I'm in heaven when I go to the vintage festival at Lime Rock every year. My absolute favorites are my 240z of course, classic 911 Porsches, 1967 Shelby and Bullet Mustang, Porsche 928, and Cobra's. My daily driver is my work van. It can't be a normal work van though. It's a 1995 GMC Cargo Van that has a 454 and is a 4x4 conversion. It sucks down fuel, but I don't have a payment which offsets that. It feels like driving around a big block Chevelle everyday. Makes me smile a lot. It's a close 2nd to my 240z in how many conversations it starts with total strangers.

I bought my first z when I was 17. It was a 1982 280zx NA, black with tan interior. It was in good condition but had just been in a minor accident that dented the rear quarter. I bought it for $600, fixed the dent and drove it for about a year. It was a lot of fun for a 1st car. When I was finishing high school a saw a 240z for the 1st time. I loved the lines of the body and when I looked at the interior I just loved it. The inset gauges and seats were my favorite. It looked a lot like a Ferrari Daytona to me on the outside, and the inside looked vintage but not old, slightly more modern than you would think for the age. I had to have one and was on the hunt. Back then, about 1994 (I'm 36 now), it wasn't as easy as it is now. I eventually found a 1972 in the want advertiser for $1000 located in Woonsocket, RI. It had an l28 and a 5-speed installed. It was flat black, had an MSA front spoiler and grafted-in rear spoiler. It had the 6 spoke 280zx wheels. It must have been lowered too. I wanted it so bad I overlooked all it's problems (rust) and bought it. I drove it daily for 2 years into college. That was the worst car I've ever driven in snow. I learned to drive a car with no slave cylinder in that car. You have to start in up in gear, perfectly match the shifts to rpms, and stall it whenever you have to stop. I guess you could just turn it off to stop, but my car dieseled when you shut it off, so that didn't work to well. Kills starters too. I learned to tune multiple carbs and was getting pretty good at it after a couple years. I've got the SU tuning down now. I can't count how many times I changed the plugs in that car. That car taught me how to read plugs too. Eventually that car fell apart underneath from rot and I couldn't afford to fix it at the time. I parked it behind my Mom's house and a couple years later she called a junk yard to come and get it. At the time I was really pissed, but I can understand now. I have a lot of great memories of that car and it taught me a lot in regards to working on these cars.

I was Z-less from about 1997 until I bought my current 240z in 2001. I was just getting started in my career and entering into the real world. I was looking for one the whole time though. I was going to be patient this time and find one with no rust and saving money for a toy is hard when your just starting out. In 2001 good cars were still really cheap though. I found my car in Colorado for $3000. It was basically a rust free car (If they even exist). I flew into Chicago to pick it up. The previous owner offered to bring it half way. It was and still is a great car. I drove it as is for the most part until last year when I started to turn it into my dream 240z. A few years ago I sold it to a friend, bought a 928 and was moving on. I really regretted it and it turned out he lost the registration so RI wouldn't let him register it. It sat in his garage the whole time. I talked to him and told him I would like to buy it back. He said that's great because I'm the only person he could actually sell it to since it's still technically mine. The funny part is when I went to pick the car up I was looking through it and my old registration was still in the glove box. I guess it was meant to be. This winter was real tough for my business financially. I didn't want to sell my car, but I felt I had to, just to get by. Luckily I made it through without selling the car and things are getting better again. I guess it was meant to be.

One of the cool outcomes of this was during the process of selling my car on this forum started my participation here. I put it up on Hybridz and Zcar too, but I didn't get the reception you guys give. I'm glad I found this forum and am really looking forward to meeting you all this year. Don't get me wrong, I love reading over on those forums too and I have doing it for years, it's just different here. This place has a more local feel to me.

I have a lot of pictures and some more description of my car in my for sale ad here. http://forums.ctzcc.com/viewtopic.php?t=7202

Below are a few pictures of my car with more in the above link. I've also included a picture of my van too.

Take care,
Rob

_________________
Rob
1971 240z

I really like this. What a cool introduction!

WELCOME, Rob ~ however long it took you to decide to join us and participate in our discussions, that's fine. You're here now, and we're very glad you are.

And you've met Ross! Perfect! He's probably the very best representative our Club has to offer, so your intro to us came from the best possible source.

And I know you love Paul for the same reaZons we all do ~ he's a certified Z nut with a garage full of toys. He loves to work on every kind of car and, if he had to go back and change a single 'career turn' in his lifetime, he would have become a race driver instead of a mechanic.

I suspect he reminds you of your Dad. They sound a bit alike.

You now have only about 549 other names and faces to learn! The CTZCC is full of characters you just HAVE to meet! Most of us are from around here, but we have members from Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany and Puerto Rico and have met some of them, too. Members fly in from other states as far away as Washington and Florida to enjoy our events. You'll fit right in here very comfortably.

We're a Club, not a gang. We don't allow dogs, drugs or alcohol at any of our events, we've never had a fight or had the cops called on us, and everyplace we hold meetings invites us back. We don't cuss or swear at our events or on the Club website and we strive to keep it 'family clean'. A lot of us bring our spouses and kids to the events and we like that ~ we're kinda like a big (weird) family. We try to watch out for each other. It's a good thing, here, and you'll enjoy it.

Your Z is STUNNING. What month was it made, if I may ask? I think it's so cool that you sold it and it 'waited' for you! Remind me to tell you about me and my Z, someday.

For some reaZon, I am familiar with your work (your job). Somehow, about a year ago, I had to do some research which led me to you. Very small world. I admire the level of professionalism you're known for ~ I can't cut a straight board in half with a band saw so you have my admiration.

Welcome aboard, again.
Looking fwd to meeting you in person and drooling on that beautiful Z.
We move our monthly meetings around the state to make ourselves more accessible to members in every corner. When we get down to Groton area, I sure hope you make a point to ride in with the other RI Z guyz.

Frank

PS ~ Datsun made some 2+2s back in the day; your kids don't have to stay home. Remember, they will inherit your Z someday ~ the sooner you start teaching them how to go 'Clubbing' with it, the better their Z experience will be.

_________________
1970 240Z

Thank you for the very kind welcome Frank.

It's funny you say that about Paul and my Dad. I didn't notice it before, but from the little bit I have gotten to know Paul I would say they are very similar in a lot of ways. It's amazing you can pick something like that up from just reading the little bit I wrote about him.

I'm sure my wife and kids will be joining in on some 'clubbing'. I'm glad to hear it's a family friendly atmosphere too. Combining my car hobby with a family outing is about as good as it gets for me. My wife has agreed to go to zcon with me this year. It will be nice for us to get some alone time together. Our kids will be at my wife's parents and we will be going up Tuesday through Thursday.

Rob

_________________
Rob
1971 240z

Well Rob you picked a good club, a great bunch of guys, and the gals too. Alot of Different knowledge here, and lots to learn about various things besides just Z cars. Frank is very good on the info part, has tought me alot about the outside world. There is also alot of fun Z things to do, events and fun drives and such. Never bordom, even through the winter this club has kept me sane. This club is also a conduit to other great clubs, and is an ever growing community all based on one simple denominator........the love for one letter, "Z" Thanks for joining, thanks guys for the kind words........and someday I'll be a racecar driver.

Thanks Paul!

Frank, I had to look up my build date because I wasn't sure. The door plate says 3/71. It's HLS3025007. I think it's an early series II car that includes a few series I parts that were still leftover at the factory.

_________________
Rob
1971 240z