I sold my first Z car in 1990 if I remember correctly.  After that I went through a phase in my personal and college life which is a story meant for another blog so we’ll skip to 1993.  I had started to get my life back on track and after a stupid vehicle purchase (198X? Fiat X19) I decided it was time to search for another solid car.  The hardships that I briefly mentioned above ended with that Fiat getting repossessed by the bank so I was no longer in a situation where I could get a loan for a car from them.  I was still working with my Dad in the roofing business, my older cousin Brent was a partner of my Dad’s in this business and we got along pretty well.  My cousin always seemed to have some sort of blind faith in me for which I am forever grateful, he agreed to give me a loan for my next car and so the search was on.

I located a 1983 280ZX  in Dallas which was a couple of hours south of my hometown (Pauls Valley, OK).  I don’t recall how it was that I found this car but in 1993 there was no craigslist, ebay or cars.com to help with nationwide searches so it must have been in the Dallas Morning News classifieds.  Brent and I headed off to Dallas on a Saturday morning to check over this car.  The car was at a dealer and I remember it was in excellent condition so I knew I wanted it as soon as I saw it, the rest of the talk was between my cousin and the dealer so I don’t recall much else about getting the deal done.  I remember taking it on a test drive and Brent telling me to make sure not to rest my clutch foot on the clutch since it will lead to premature clutch wear.  I’m sure my Dad had also told me that years before while training to drive a 5 speed in the 1980 Datsun Pickup but for some reason that is one of the things I recall vividly about the purchase of this car.  We made the decision to move forward with buying the car so Brent cut them a check and we were on our way.

Brent and I set up a payment plan and he printed out an amortization sheet to help me keep track of payments.  This experience was about far more than buying a car, it was the start of  me getting back on my feet again.  I’ll always have fond memories of that car, it was reliable, sporty and led me through a very trying part of my life through to the other side.  I paid Brent back on schedule and kept the car until October 1996 when I traded it in on my next Z…