Datsun 240Z: The Japanese Classic That Got Expensive Fast

The 240Z did everything right — perfect proportions, an inline six that loved to rev, and handling that embarrassed cars costing twice as much in 1970. For fifty years that got you a nice blue-collar sports car. Then the internet decided it was art, and the prices did the thing the internet does to everything it loves.

The Money Timeline

• 2016: $10-15k bought a running 240Z with some honest miles and a clear title.
• 2020: $20k bought the same car, and auctions pushed mint ones to $30k.
• 2024-2026: driver-quality 240Zs list in the $35-50k range. Documented, rust-free examples with proper repaints clear $55k and keep climbing.

Every five years, the price doubled. That's not a normal market correction; that's a generation discovering the car their father's generation already knew was good.

What Pushed It (Besides Desire)

• **Scarcity is now real.** The Z, like most 70s cars, rusted from the factory into the parking lots of the rust belt. Survivors are fewer each year.
• **Rust repairs are brutal.** The 240Z loves to rot at the frame rails, the floors, the doglegs, and the rear hatch area. There are reproduction panels, but full body repairs quickly surpass what a "bargain" Z ever cost new.
• **The six is easy to love.** The L-series engine is dead simple, well-supported, and genuinely good.

The Problem With Buying One Now

The cheap car isn't cheap anymore. A "$20k project" is often a $45k reality once you count rust repair, interior, and a proper paint job. The gap between project price and finished value has collapsed because so many people had the same idea of "buy the project, do it right, cash in."

That works for exactly one person in ten, and it's never the first one with the idea.

What I'd Actually Do

Buy the best, most solid-shell Z you can afford — shell first, engine second. A rust-free car with a tired engine is a cheaper, safer path than a "cheap" car with cancer hiding under wax. Budget $15k for the drivetrain and brakes you'll want anyway.

The 240Z is one of the greats. Just don't buy it expecting a discount. The discount packed its bags in 2019.