Mike's 300ZXTT
OK, It's not quite THAT fast, but it's the fastest thing I have ever owned!
Always a Sports Car
My love of sports cars started early on. I never wanted a new Camaro or Mustang, I wanted an old Ferarri (hey, if you're gonna dream, dream big)!
What I got in reality was a 1971 VW Squareback (man, what a chick magnet...).
The First Taste
The first real sports car I owned was a gold 1969 Opel GT with 60,000 original miles. It was a beautiful car, asthetically and mechanically. It wasn't a rocketship by any means, but it was decently quick, handled great and was pretty reliable. I totalled it when I put a set of bias ply tires on it and it slid out on a corner I had previously taken at MUCH higher speed with a skinny set of old radials. First hard lesson in sidewall flex.
Another!
After a few months of VW driving, my dad helped me get another Opel, a 1970 GT with a red interior. It had been white, then painted silver, and had some body damage and needed other work. I agreed to do all the work and then we could get it painted. I chose black. The result was one hot looking car (hot, too in Alabama!). A set of 205-60-13 Goodyear Eagle STs finished it off into a real head turner.
Then a girl in a big Cadillac finished it off for real. A nice lady in a white Olds stationwagon, with requisite wood grain panels, motioned her out into traffic just as I arrived. The front bumper hit the Opel in the right wheelwell and ran all the way down the side of the little car to the rear wheel. Second GT in two years totalled, but at least this one wasn't my fault.
The Courier
My next vehicle, bought with insurance money for the black GT, was a canary yellow 1979 Ford Courier pickup. I hated that thing. It was slow, underpowered and handled like a dirty diaper.
A Z for Me
In late 1991, I heard through a friend that one of his co-workers had an old Datsun he was trying to get rid of, so I went to see him in hopes that I might get another sports car. It had been several years with the old Courier and I was itching.
Guy and I became good friends before and even after I bought the old orange 1972 240Z. It took us all day on January 2, 1992 to get it running and I drove it home, wondering if I had made a $200 mistake (hahaha! I would soon learn!). It ran well, handled like a dream and would easily do about 80mph, so it was already far better than the old Ford.
One day I had cleaned the carbs and was tinkering with it. For some reason I revved the engine and put my hand over the carburetor inlets a couple of times just to see if there was anything hanging up. Suddenly the engine revved up and sounded different! It sounded like a motorcycle engine. I took off out of the old unpaved driveway where I lived and almost hit both sides of the gate on the way out! I had just unleashed the beast. I soon found the car would easily keep up with about everything on the road, including the brand new 5.0L Mustang GTs! The best part was that the car looked awful, faded paint, dents and dings on the hood, but it was absolutely blisteringly fast. It would easily break 140mph. I really don't know how I lived through it. It had no seat belts. I guess God watches out for children and fools.
Yard Sale Rotary
I was getting scared of the Z by now, having no seat belts. I was waLking home by a garage sale when I noticed they had an old Mazda RX-2 for sale. I had always loved rotaries, but never owned one. I checked the engine and it turned by hand (no battery in it), so I bought it for $50. When I picked it up, I learned that it was one of the first 1971 RX-2s sold in Birmingham. It needed a brake master cylinder, so I limped it home on the parking brake. It had 65,000 original miles on it and had been sitting under a tree so long that SERIOUS rust had set in. There were grapefruit sized holes in the roof, trunk and hood, but it ran, handled and had the interior of a brand new car.
I patched the holes with fiberglass and managed to salvage a headers and alloy wheels off a 1977 RX-7 to put on it. Whoa!! That thing was QUICK. It would only do about 125mph, but it would jump all over the Mustangs and Camaros in the short stretches. I finally sold it for $100 after driving it for almost three years.
Honda Civic
A co-worker of my mom's was trying to unload an 87 Honda Civic (1300 4-speed), so I bit. It was a great little car, A/C, stereo, and I think it manufactured it's own gasoline. 40+mpg. It's life was cut short by a little old lady (with no insurance) in a 4-door Buick who turned left in front of me on the main drag through Anniston, AL. Just enough time to think awww ----....!
F ast Car Find
I needed another car fast. I wanted a hatchback, preferably rear-wheel drive, and something reliable. I ran across a 1987 Nissan 200SX in a local parking lot with a "FOR SALE" sign on it so I gave the owner a holler. When I met him, I was pleasantly surprized to find it was a 3.0 V6, hmm, same engine as the V6 pickup... WRONG!! it was a 300ZX engine with multiport FI! We eased out of the parking lot for a test drive and hit the closest interstate entrance ramp. On the way up the ramp, I knew I was buying that car. I had found a FAST CAR, FAST. It had 154,000 miles on it, so I figured I might get a couple of years out of it. It was a very sophisticated car, so one by one little things stopped working, A/C, low fuel light, rear wiper, alarm system, but the engine just kept on going. Finally at 240,000 miles, I have decided to retire it. And Oh, mama, what a REPLACEMENT.
The 300XZTT
I needed a new car. It was going to cost WAY more than the old 200SX was worth to fix everything that was wrong and it would still have almost a quarter-million miles on it. OK, time for a sports car.
I wanted a convertible RX-7, but I was VERY concerned about finding one in good shape. The rotary engine has some critical quirks, so if the owner isn't a real gearhead, the engine can be ruined while the car has low miles and still looks good. I finally found the RX-7 I wanted in South Carolina, but it got away.
I REALLY wanted a third generation RX-7 twin turbo, but every one I saw for sale had a new engine, or needed one. It seemed to be a beautiful car, but it obviously doesn't last very long.
Then I found this ad for a 300ZXTT locally, but it had pretty high miles. I was pretty skeptical, but called to go have a look. I knew how long the old 200SX had lasted, so I figured it would be pretty reliable.
The house was in the EXTREMELY expensive part of town and I was met by a young guy in scrubs. I had already been online gathering info on the type, so I was armed with a checklist of items to ask and look at.
First off...have the turbo's been replaced? "Oh yeah, we did that and it has a new timing belt and new clutch, too."
How long have you owned it? "I bought it new."
Are you a smoker? "Are you kidding? I'm an orthopedic surgeon!"
Has it been wrecked? "Oh no, never! (laughing)"
Any performance mods? "Nope. Bone stock. Still fast as ----!"
Who has maintained it? "Well for the first 50,000 miles it was dealer serviced and from there it has been maintained at HESCO." (If you haven't heard of HESCO, go to the link at the bottom)
The interior was nearly mint, there were a few scratches and light door dings, but it looked REALLY good. The car was already sold as far as I was concerned; and I had never even driven it!
The rest of the week was heavy rain. I was not at all comfortable learning to drive this thing in the rain (those fears proved unfounded, it is rediculously docile off the turbos). I only hoped nobody else would get there until Monday with a check. They didn't and I did!
It is the smoothest car I have ever driven. The power is amazing when the turbos hit, but out of them it is a real pussycat. My girlfriend even likes to drive it! Handling is "stick your face to the window" grippy and the "sport" and "touring" selector is very effective. It has an AIR CONDITIONER!! (been almost five years without one!), the stereo plays CDs, and everything works. Life is GOOD!
My mom asked where I got it...I told her I carjacked Darth Vader.
The most often seen view of a 300ZXTT!
HESCO
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