The First Z: 84 NA 5-Spd
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Pictures on this page show state of car upon purchase (as seen on AutoTrader)

This Z was a surprise. I was in school at the time, really with not enough money to even be looking at a hobby car and newly married. At Christmas time, we took a trip back to San Diego in our yellow '77 Toyota Corolla, busting incredible speeds of 45 up the long hills in Utah and past Primm, Nevada. One day in San Diego, we took a trip to the local Rite-Aid to get some Thrifty's Ice Cream. As we walked into the store I saw a newly painted red Z, and I commented to my Dad and Brother how nice it was. They agreed. As we walked back out of the store, my brother said we should go look at it more closely. He got up the car and opened the door, which really surprised me as my brother would never do something like this. Then he pulled out the keys and started it up. Then they said, "It's yours." I couldn't believe it. What an amazing gift. I had never received a gift like this.

It was a real blessing. The trip back to Utah would be much nicer with a car that could actually muster the hills. My Dad picked the Z up in pretty bad shape, but the engine, clutch, and transmission were good. The car ran well. It had just had the injector recall done. He replaced the driveshaft and catalytic converter. He had the car painted, replaced all the carpet and cieling headliner, and stripped the awful, bubbled purple (faded) tinting from the windows. I was excited and thankful to have my first Z.

I slowly starter working on this Z. The '77 Corolla was the only car I'd ever really worked on, and this Z was a LOT more complicated. I did little things like replacing the passenger side cam cover (it was leaking). Soon little became large. Plenum pulls, suspension upgrades, modifications, and other major fixes. Through it's life I ended up having the engine rebuilt, transmission/clutch replaced, painted (again), and more. This website, thumper300zx.com, was developed based on ownership of this 84 NA. The main links above (Modifications, Fixes, Sharpen Up) were once completely designed from experience with this car. Since then I purchased a 91 TT, sold the 84 NA, and then bought an 86 T.

eBAY Listing Webpage I wrote to Sell the 84 NA

I learned a lot working on this car and became familiar with just about everything on it: from dash replacement to engine rebuild to electric fan --- you name it. I never touched the differential, but that's about it. I'm sure we racked up at least $10K getting this car to where it was before we sold it. I was ready to move on : ) Please refer to the main links on thumper300zx.com for more information on this car.