Lost my '72 Datsun to a bad tarp decision last winter

I stored my 240Z in my brother's barn in Vermont for six months, thinking a cheap blue tarp was good enough. Came back in April and moisture had gotten trapped underneath, rusted out the whole driver side floor pan. The repair quote from a shop in Burlington was $1,800. Anybody else had a storage cover fail on them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

river19027d ago

$1,800? That sounds like someone saw you coming from a mile away. I've patched floor boards in old cars with sheet metal and a rivet gun for like 40 bucks in materials. Maybe the floor is really gone, maybe its just surface rust that looks worse than it is. I'd crawl under there with a screwdriver and poke around before I paid anybody that much money. A lot of body shops jack up the price when they see a classic car, they think you've got deep pockets. Plus that little Z car is basically a tin can anyway, a little rust never hurt nobody as long as the frame rails are solid.

finley77726d ago

Is the Z car really unibody though? I thought those old Datsuns still had proper frame rails running underneath, not like a full unibody car. You're right that a lot of shops see an old 240Z and figure you've got money to burn, but sometimes the floor pans are just gone from decades of moisture trapped in the carpet. I would definitely do the screwdriver test before committing to anything. That said, $1800 seems high for just floor pans, but not crazy if they're welding in new metal and doing it right. Rust repair is one of those things where you get what you pay for.

simonmoore26d ago

Nah, the old Z cars are actually unibody, no separate frame rails underneath.