Well that’s a super feature for the .000001% of buyers who haul anything with their precious mall-crawlers.

Also turning the big 30 this year is the Nissan 2nd generation 300ZX (Z32).

as opposed to the safety and reliability of a vintage car?

Oh, the replacement struts you get on RockAuto for $10 for the Z31 assume you’re already equipped to do what Jason did - grind off the bracket and put a ball joint in.

FYI, this isn’t unique to the Pao in Nissan’s lineup. They did the exact same shit to the hood struts for the Z31.

I’m actually a huge fan of the way the modern transition to 18 and 20" tires have made the 17" tires on my Z32 comparatively inexpensive.

I ride my cars until they’re rust held together with paint, on fire, and upside down.

I’m still on engine #1 in my ‘67 (Tyrol blue on parchment no-post coupe). It’s actually the original 400 block, but when I built it, I opted for the stroker kit (yeah, yeah, I know, it’s not as strong as an actual 455 with the smaller crank journals).

Oh.

I love the 455 in my GTO, even as compared to other GTOs with 400 and 389 motors. I can’t compare to the 428, as I’ve never driven one, but the 455 feels just like a 400, but “more”. I’m sure it’s probably about 250HP (with about 400 lb-ft torque), but that 455 through a 3.55 rear end is just magical around town.

Oof. I’ve never seen a high RPM Pontiac end well. A 455 makes up for its long stroke (4.2") with huge bore and strong pistons, because at 5000RPM, each of those 8 pistons are moving a kilometer every minute (compare that to a 2L square bore/stroke setup that’s moving that same speed a whole 2000 RPM later).

That’s not that uncommon.  My ‘92 300ZX pairs blue tint with the charcoal interior, while the tan interiors (common in cars with diamond white and green exterior paint) get bronze tint.

It was a ton of fun, and I’d recommend it for anyone who gets the opportunity.

almost 9MPG.

Yep. Here’s mine after a full day of flogging it through the SoCal canyons on the JNC Touge California 2016.  Couldn’t have asked for a better time driving an old Z.

You don’t have to have a beater to use it, y’know. I drove my ‘67 GTO out to Tucumcari to meet up with ~30 other Pontiac GTO enthusiasts, a single Ford Fairlane driver, and an Elvis impersonator in a pink ‘vert Cadillac so that we could cruise Route 66 through New Mexico. In the 3 days I was on the tour (with my dad),…

There would have to be some redeeming reason to buy a new one, and I just don’t see it.

Is it “estimated” because they can’t find the nuclear reactor it’ll take to get enough juice to run that fat bastard down the strip, or what?

I estimate my waist at 32", but my trips to the department store for pants put the lie to that :p

Why not?  My Zs are 26 and 47 years old, and I keep driving them around...

A Datsun 620.  It’s all the truck, with none of the frills, and good gas mileage for all the times you’re not hauling a bed full of garden.