Craigslist Crapshoot

By Robert Emslie Mar 2, 2016

The World’s Worst Car Is For Sale On Craigslist
Welcome to Craigslist Crapshoot, our weekly search for the most bizarre, awesome, and/or terrible vehicles that the online classifieds has to offer. 
I always liked how the three stooges on Top Gear would refer to Nissan’s brand-defining sports car as the ‘Zed.’ I found it particularly amusing after watching Pulp Fiction and hearing Bruce Willis’ character announce that “Zed’s dead, baby.’  The Nissan (or Datsun) Zed isn’t dead, and last week you all went looking  for the best Z-cars the used car market has to offer. We’ll see which is the best Zed is a sec, but first this week’s contest.
They say two wrongs don’t make a right, and that’s why this week we’re looking for only one wrong—the wrong engine. That’s right, what we want are great cars for sale, that are spoiled by having the wrong engine under the hood.
As always, we want your finds to go down in infamy and not in the site’s spam filter. Since we’ve changed commenting systems, you may need to update your commenter account. Make sure you have a Disqus account – they’re free and easy to get – and then comment away.

Got that? Good, now let’s Zee what’s up.


When the 240Z hit the market in late 1969 it was as though a bomb was dropped on the traditional sports car sector. It possessed the great looks and six-cylinder sound of Jaguar’s XKE with the price positioning and size of the MGB, and was a thoroughly modern Millie of a car to boot.
As the proud owner of an S30 240Z I must say it freaks me out a little to see the collection from which this week’s winner is being culled. This white over copious quantities of mold ’72 was found by mdharrel and is featured in a somewhat misleading ad that includes pictures of some of the seller’s 50 other Zs. That’s ostensibly to demonstrate what the non-runner could eventually turn into, I guess.
Congrats to mdharrel, and thank you all for participating. Now, let’s go looking for love in all the wrong places.
 
1972 240 Z

38 thoughts on “Craigslist Crapshoot”
    1. I’d say replacing the engine might have been the least egregious of the the offenses he committed against that car. Blech.

      1. Eh, the body kit can be borne — it just looks unfinished to me.
        The engine, however, is blasphemy!

    1. Clearly you’re being a bit of a Maverick given the rules of today’s Craigslist Crapshoot.

      1. I’m not sure, but I think so. I’ve seen one, a former diplomat’s car here in Norway, but that might have been tempered with.

  1. I know the place with the Zs — right off of Highway 9. I used to drive past it on the way to my Dad’s house. I’ve always wanted to stop in but never seemed to have the time.

    1. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the word Nikasil had something to do with the backstory.

    1. They basically went from a newer 4 cylinder to an older 4 cylinder. I’m not sure why they’d do that though.

    2. This is the 4 door sedan version of my 318ti. I think his $5K ask is ambitious to say the least, even given all the work and new parts.
      It does make me feel good about the $500 pplus $900 in parts that I spent on mine.

      1. I had a similar feeling when I bought my first E30 (which was quite clean and rust-free) for $300 and then looked on message boards and saw some of the ridiculous prices people paid for theirs.

    1. “aircraft engine”
      Sure, in that EA81s are usually removed from an actual Subaru & installed in homebrewed aircraft. By that measure, a 1600cc Beetle engine is also an aircraft engine.
      Nice looking Fiat!

    1. That is pretty awesome, with scope for improvement to the engine too. Much better than buying a new Ferrari, as a toy at least rather than for normal transport

  2. There was a 944 article on PistonHeads, about a V8 swap. There are several(!) companies offering kits to put an LSn in there, so they are somewhat common, but in this case, “[t]he heart of the matter was acquired for a very good price from a friend
    and is an ex TWR Rover 4.3 V8, built to what is described as a medium
    fast road spec. ”
    No photos online anymore (it’s from 2004), nonetheless: http://www.pistonheads.com/road-tests/porsche/porsche-944-v8/7895
    Two wrongs are one right, right?

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