The Saturday before Thanksgiving, I had an early morning appointment for a teeth cleaning at my dental office in Torrance. Upon walking out, I spotted this lovely Far East-machine.
The 1979 280ZX was the second incarnation of Nissan’s legendary Z-car. When the ZX first appeared, enthusiasts and critics panned it for being too heavy and too “soft”. There was some truth to this. By the end of the disco era, the Z’s weight had ballooned nearly 500 pounds thanks to both increasing federal safety standards and buyers’ demand for creature comforts.
Where the original Z was a pure driver’s car, the ZX was more of a luxurious GT. The old 240 that was this car’s early ancestor was the car that you’d select for a day at the track, or bombing through a twisty canyon road. The ZX was more the type of ride that some hair-shirted John Holmes wannabe would take himself and his floozy in on the long drive to Vegas for a weekend of debauchery.
Being a fatter and softer Z-car wasn’t entirely bad. This generation of Z reached a level of comfort and refinement that its fast but primitive predecessor could only dream of. Build quality was significantly better, as well as rust resistance. These Zs were a much more pleasant companion on a long trip than their cramped, bumpy, noisy, tinny, and rust-prone predecessors. They aren’t the raw, elemental thrill machines that the earlier Zs were, but on the daily slog to work or a weekend highway jaunt to Big Bear, they really shine.
The horizontally striped taillights and 8-spoke wheels mark this one as one of the later versions, either an ’82 or an ’83. In 1984 a whole new Z would appear, with crisp angular lines replacing the previous Zs’ gentle rounded curves. A potent new turbocharged 3.0 liter V6 would replace the old Z’s tried-and true inline 6. I briefly owned an ’85 two-seater 5-speed, and unfortunately it was a disaster from day one. But that’s a story for another time.
I have always liked the Datsun 280ZX, probably more so than the 240Z-280Z.
Black Gooooold!
That TV ad cracks me up, classic 70s-disco glitz.
+1 “Black Gold!” I was ROFLMAO when they showed the guy with the mustache!
That was a Pronstache if I ever saw one!
Amazingly, former baseball pitcher Dennis Eckersley can still pull off that look 40 years later, because he’s such a likeable goofball.
The other notable 280ZX commercial featured Steve Wozniak of Apple —
They went from Fairlady to Fatlady rapidly.
To be honest, they often do.
Nissan had varying degrees of success differentiating the 2+2 and 2-seater bodystyles. In most generations I preferred the 2-seater and thought it was a good looking car, especially in ’70 and ’90.
For the 280ZX generation I thought both bodystyles were unattractive and actually have a slight preference for the 2+2. I thought the bright B-pillar trim, among other things, made the 280ZX the least attractive 2-seater. The black-out trim on the feature car helps a lot.
Giving up on the idea of having two bodystyles was a good move with the 350Z. It never really worked, design-wise, and muddied the image of the car
I don’t give a hoot about this car’s image. This was the car I wanted when I was in High School from 78 – 82 – and still lust after.
While I definitely prefer the original 240/260/280Z through 1977, this is a very nice car. I would have no problem owning or driving one. I also was disappointed when I first saw this car in ’78. I thought it looked clunky and tacky compared to the pure, clean, and simple lines of the original. But things change. Usually for the worse. This is a truly beautiful car compared the the current 350/370Z. I doubt I will ever like that car. It may be a 2 door sport coupe, but the lines IMO are horrible. Sadly, any Z car with 280 in the name is almost impossible to find in decent condition these days. There is a guy about half a mile away that is into the early Z cars through ’77. He currently has 3, and they are all in pretty bad shape cosmetically.
I the early 80s I had a boss who drove a 260Z., chocolate brown. About 1983? 1984? He traded the 260 for a 280ZX (again, chocolate brown) even though the 1st 300ZXs were hitting the showrooms. We asked him why he bought the 280ZX instead of the 300ZX. He said he didn’t care for the newer car.
The 350 and even more the 370 were designed to bring the styling in line with a modern idea of the original 240.
I don’t care for the 350 or 370, nor the 1st gen 300ZX.
Yeah, I’m biased too, I had a 76 280Z.
In 1980 I bought a one owner 1,500 mile 280ZX from a local enthusiast. (He had a barn full of various sports cars for his personal pleasure).
I had never owned such a refined, well engineered automobile. Smooooth, precise and pretty fast for the times.
My car was a base 280ZX. (Crank windows, etc.) I always felt it was a much more honest and pure sports car than some of the plush, tarted-up 280ZXs I’d see around town.
I really wish I had kept this car.
Compared to its predecessor, this looks like a bloated Elvis Presley after he “pigged out” before his death. Possibly the ultimate “end of the disco era” ride.If I`m not mistaken,isn`t the one with the synthesized speech warning device? At least it has a pleasant woman`s voice unlike the Chrysler vocal system that sounds like a disembodied John Houseman. Never really did it for me, can`t understand all the fuss this car got when it was new. I just can picture some middle aged guy with Travolta like gold chains cruising around on a Saturday night blasting a Bee Gees tape in the casette-or 8 track tape deck. A cliche on wheels.
No, that guy was driving a used Corvette.
As a teenager and not actually buying cars, I hated the 280ZX as a perversion of a perfect design, this of course being the original 240Z, which was wildly popular in Canada as cheap go fast. Nissan couldn`t have made a lot of money on each car, as they appealed to a pretty small group, kind of like the BRZ does now.
Then I drove a 280ZX and I realised why the cars were so popular. The fit, finish and materials were way beyond the older cars. The fuel injected six and automatic worked beautifully together and the cars were peppy for their day. They drove, handled and rode well, too, making them very popular with middle aged buyers, ie, the ones who have the coin to spring for a nice ride. At my age, I would never drive a car that wasn`t loaded with leather to boot, and there were quite a few of these around then, too. The ZX made a great grown up GT car and no doubt Nissan sold loads of them and made lots of nice profits, too.
However, some packages and colour schemes were pretty disco.
When I was growing up in the 80’s, these were still everywhere, whereas older 240/260/280Z were starting to get kind of rare. How the tables have turned now! Much easier to find an original Z than a ZX in the wild…seems like not too many people kept them. Kind of a shame–while it certainly doesn’t have the purity of the original, it’s still a very good-looking car.
The only one I’ve ever ridden in was driven by my boss at my high school summer job. This was in ’96-’97, and it was already a rustbucket than. Perforation on the arches and sills, and spots appearing on the hood and roof. You could tell it was a nice machine once upon a time, but the passage of 15+ years had not been kind to that particular ZX. Interior was pretty rough too. Still had a nice engine note though…
IMO I find the Datsun 280ZX to be some of the best looking vehicles built in the early 1980’s (never thought much on cars builts in the early 80’s) and it’s one of the rare vehicles built in this era I would like to own, I also thought these were the last great era of the Z-cars (never cared much for the mid/late 80’s Nissan Z cars), I still see a decent number of the Datsun Z cars around today.
I saw a mint-condition red on black one in the Costco parking lot last summer. It looked like it had been show-prepared; obviously a well-loved car.
A friend of mine’s sister bought a Silver 280 for her first new car. The first year, it was great, but soon after it hit about 15K, the weird problems began. Major oil leaks, electrical, weird noises from the rear end that required a lot of $$$ to fix, and a head gasket, all before it was paid off, at 3 years. Almost as soon as the last payment went off in the mail, she went car shopping and soon she was driving a Mustang LX. She had that car a very long time, it seemed to be bulletproof. She kept buying Mustangs afterward, and currently drives a modded 2013 GT. She went to the LA area a couple years ago, and nearly bought a 280 with a small block Chevy engine in it, but passed. It looked really well done.
I have always preferred the 280zx to the s30 series from the simple fact that in a 280zx you don’t get carbon monoxide poisoning like you are likely to on a 240z or 260z.