Gerry40

This was the first type of topic I read before purchasing my Zed in October last year and sure enough one of the key fobs had a flat battery. I'd prepared myself for the worst after buying 2 new Duracell replacements ( a re-sync of both fobs ), changed the dead fob first and to my pleasant surprise it worked without any re-programming etc, the battery had been removed for a few days as well. I then replaced the other one and was chuffed I'd avoided any of the problems associated with replacing the batteries, maybe I was just lucky.

Passed my test at 17 and including my first car which was used to familiarise myself with driving on my grans farm, here's my list in order of purchase. 1980 : 1958 Singer Gazelle £40 ( scrapped ) ( -£40 ) 1980 : 1969 Vauxhall Viva HB £295 sold 1982 for £250 ( -£45 ) 1982 : 1979 Vauxhall Cavalier MK1 £1795 sold 1985 for £725 ( -£1070 ) 1985 : 1972 Hillman Hunter £650 sold 1991 for £300 ( -£350 ) 1989 : 1961 Triumph TR4 £750 Still own after full body off resto, owes me £8500, agreed value insurance for £30,000 1991 : 1982 Vauxhall Carlton Estate £750 sold 1992 for £850 ( +£100 ) 1992 : 1982 VW Golf GTI MK1 £1350 sold 2010 for £1000 ( -£350 ) 1996 : 1979 MG Midget £500 sold 2000 for £1625 after resto costs ( £0 ) 1998 : 1966 A35 Van £800 Still own after resto, owes me £4500, agreed value insurance for £10,000 2001 : 2000 Jeep Wrangler £11700 sold 2014 for £3500 ( -£8200 ) 2009 : 1979 VW Camper T2 £4000 sold 2013 for £5500 after resto costs ( £0 ) 2013 : 1997 TVR Cerbera £15500 sold 2014 for £12750 ( -£2750 ) 2013 : 2005 VW Beetle £4300 sold 2015 for £2500 ( -£1800 ) 2015 : 2004 Nissan 350Z £7950 Still own used as my daily runner. I make that +£20,445 thanks to the increase in value of the classic's and valuing the Nissan at what I paid for last year. Obviously the restoration costs do not include my time ( hundreds of hours ) and the TR4 labour costs from my mate doing the body off restoration were @ £5 per hour in 1989 to 1992 ( 470 hours ).

Just an update to say the first 6 months of ownership have been everything I expected and more, I've had all the wheels off and cleaned and re-painted under the arches using Bilt Hambers Hydrate80 followed by a couple of coats of black Smoothrite. The infamous ' M ' brace was removed cleaned and given the same treatment with only one bolt giving me a bit of grief to remove, wont be a problem if I ever have to remove it again as all the bolts received a liberal coating of copper grease in the process, including the ones holding the plastic guards at each end of the brace. Other than regular cleaning of both the exterior and interior using some leather conditioner, not much more to report although I did clay the car last week which brought the paintwork back to as new condition to be fair.

Well done.

http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/103143-350z-joins-the-fleet/

Used to have mine connected 24/7 to a TVR Cerbera and can't remember ever seeing the 8 led lit when I disconnected it before starting, reading the instructions I just assumed because it stated a pulse then that could mean for a split second. I tend to connect it to my classics every couple of months because of their infrequent use, I've had my 350Z just over a month and will probably give the battery a charge every month during the winter months as I can go a week sometimes without taking it out.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/131604437562?adgroupid=13936810266&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=kwd-124296827826&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&ff19=0&device=c&chn=ps&campaignid=220881786&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80

I've always been called Gez by my mates and family so was well chuffed when I found this NI plate for sale GEZ 212 to put on my recently purchased Zed. The 212 is loosely significant as I got made redundant in 2012 and started working for myself, the last three years have worked out better than I could have dreamed of ( especially this year ) in fact enabling me to treat myself to the Zed.

Good point. If you see one that you would buy, let me know. 10k max. I bought it, I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Well done on getting what you wanted and especially with that mileage as well, I initially saw mine on Piston Heads and it was priced at £8950. I then noticed it was reduced to £7950 on there and arranged with the owner to view and he asked me where I'd seen it advertised, I then noticed he had put the price back up to £8450 and then I looked at it on Auto Trader where there were a few more photo's and the number plate wasn't blanked out. I ended up paying the £7950.

I must admit although I'd been looking on and off for a while as I'd always liked them and fancied one, when I did go to see this I went in all honesty to use it as a benchmark as it was the first I'd actually viewed. When I arrived I was hoping that I would be able to find something wrong or I didn't like and had it in my mind that I certainly wasn't going to buy the first I looked at.....or was I? Well after the initial inspection and being taken on a test drive ( I wasn't insured ), it was clear that this car was a little special to be fair and had all the supporting history to boot. I couldn't fault it on looks as the bodywork and interior was immaculate, together with the recently refurbished wheels and such low mileage. I did walk away at this stage and did a little more homework on the car including speaking to the garage who had serviced and mot'd it for the past few years. So to summerise the benchmark was set so high and I was so taken back with this car I deliberated over the weekend and knew that if I let it go I would probably regret it, the deal was struck on the Monday lunchtime and I picked it up later that afternoon.

Thank's for the welcome's all. Only subtle one's to be fair, after a body off restoration where I did most of the donkey work ( 1989 > 1992 ) and everything apart from the outer panels was shotblasted, cleaned and refurbished I had a full leather interior fitted, fitted a spin on oil filter conversion and things like TR6 quick release fuel cap and 4A steering wheel were retained. I also found out just after buying the car ( via a Heritage trace ) that the car was a very early RHD TR4 ( 286th built ) and that it was used as a press vehicle including the first owner being Donald Stokes ( Director of Standard Triumph ) at the time 1961, who later became Lord Stokes the British Leyland supremo.

Just got my first Z ( 2 weeks ago ), seeing the mileages achieved and relatively problem free makes me think I'll probably never change it now. It's a 2004 with the GT pack and 26K with supporting paperwork / history, the previous owner had bought it from Sturgess in Leicester when it was 3 years old and apart from routine maintenance, wheels re-furbished and front end resprayed due to stone chips it's had no other work. It will be used as my daily hack but as I mostly work from home I will probably only cover about 3 to 4K a year, it also joins my two classics, a 1961 TR4 which I've owned for half of my life ( 26yrs ) and a 1966 A35 van which again I've had for over 17 years. Definitely see me keeping the Z for a long time, as long as I last anyway LOL.

Great thread, just got my first Z ( 2 weeks ago ), seeing the mileages achieved and relatively problem free makes me think I'll probably never change it now. It's a 2004 with the GT pack and 26K with supporting paperwork / history, the previous owner had bought it from Sturgess in Leicester when it was 3 years old and apart from routine maintenance, wheels re-furbished and front end resprayed due to stone chips it's had no other work. It will be used as my daily hack but as I mostly work from home I will probably only cover about 3 to 4K a year, it also joins my two classics, a 1961 TR4 which I've owned for half of my life ( 26yrs ) and a 1966 A35 van which again I've had for over 17 years. Definitely see me keeping the Z for a long time, as long as I last anyway LOL.

Thank's for posting this, picked up my first 350Z earlier this week after looking for quite some time and finding a 2004 with only 26K on the clock but expecting to have to re-sync as one of the key fobs didn't work and I'm not sure how long the battery had been flat for. I ordered a couple of replacement batteries which came this morning and replaced the dead battery expecting the key fob to not work, luckily it did so I changed the other battery as well so well chuffed.