I got tired of the Lotus very quickly. Perhaps, if it wasn't so damned temperamental and unreliable I might have kept it longer, but it seemed like every week something else would go wrong. After a while I decided that "enuf waz enuf" and sold it.
Ahhh... what to buy?? Well, that was easy! Datsun (now called Nissan of course) had introduced their famous Z Car, the 240Z. For about $5000 bucks the "Z" was blowing everything off the road... it came fully equipped, with AM-FM Stereo radio, Black Leather Seats, automatic antenna (don't laugh, this was 1971!!), Air Conditioning (YEAH!!!!), power steering and power brakes! What a car...
She hummed down the road. As soon as I saw my first Z on the road I knew that this was the car I had to have. I ran over to the local Datsun dealer in Philadelphia, and selected a silver, 1971 240Z with 5 speed, and black leather interior. I put down my deposit... and waited for the call to let me know the car had arrived.
Three weeks later... RINGGGGG!!! "Your car is here... come on in!" Well, I couldn't get there quick enough, but when I pulled into the dealer's lot, there she was... beautifully waxed, polished, scrubbed and dubbed.. GORGEOUS hunk of metal... and an hour later I was cruising down the highway.
I remember that first drive. She was incredibly stable, smooth as silk, and the air conditioning worked perfectly in the Philadelphia summer heat. I had to keep the car under 2000 RPM for the first 500 miles, then 4000 for the next 1000 miles to properly break in the engine so I wasn't setting any land speed records with her, but it was one sweet ride!
I drove all the way down to Atlantic City and back that first weekend, just to enjoy the ride. I was so comfortable in those leather bucket seats. I can still recall how wonderful that new car smell was... the leather, the new air-con smell.. the roar of the engine as I accelerated, and the pure enjoyment of driving that car.
Thinking back, it was one of my very favorite cars... Datsun really produced a beautiful machine, and I was in car heaven! I loved just looking at it. The "Z" had such beautiful, pure lines. Almost like a sculpture.
And the scooped out head lite detail, the hood that popped up to expose the engine (very easy to work on... very smart design). the rear hatch that swung straight up so you could put all sorts of stuff back there...and the color... I remember the silver paint. It had lottsa metal flakes in it so it really sparkled when the sun hit it, and at night is had a lovely silver sheen to it.
But, the best was just the pure enjoyment of driving it. Shifting gears so smoothly, the throttle response, the quick braking, and the very precise steering.. all that combined made for an incredibly pleasurable ride.
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