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wickhumble

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  • Location
    Chico, CA
  • Cars
    1971 240Z, 1965 NL 320 (2)
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    Author of How To Restore Your Datsun Z-Car, Restoration Editor of late Z-Car Magazine.

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  1. Time Left: 10 days and 8 hours

    • FOR SALE
    • USED

    First, RF insisted on a photo, and the one I had to submit isn't the N320 exactly, but a lot of it is included! 1965 N320 with CA title papers (not registered to me): all body and mechanical parts, NO engine-trans, frame/running gear, or seat. This is a project that at age 78 I'm not going to get to, but includes a 320 body and bed, doors and floor from another, and lots of parts including bumpers, grilles, chrome, and misc. parts. The '65 cab has rusted-out rockers, but the other unit is great, otherwise not bad tin. The windshield is toast, but other glass okay. A lot of dash parts, trim, etc. included. This was going to be a 'roadster pickup' because it hasn't the stock parts to restore, but... I think the stuff is worth $799.00. Prob. not shippable! I also have five pieces of a NL320 trim set, missing only the driver's door strip (not included in above, but we can negotiate) in very nice condition for sale. In searching for the yellow parts truck in the photo, I discovered the value of old 320 parts! Wow! PS/ I'd call this 'parts' but it does have the title! Wick Humble

    $799

    Chico, California - US

  2. It took a year to find the perfect buyer for my very nice NL320, but I got good money for it; Craigslist/word of mouth, no less! Also CL for my black project NL, not bad money for a rusty builder -- so ... market may be getting more solid. I'm out of NL's, but have a very sad L320 body/bed that's going on a custom chassis (too much trouble to mod the original; track so narrow!) to be a Datsun 320 Roadster Pickup. Lengthening the roofless cab ten inches, shortening the bed front equal, and bobbing the rear bed. Who can fit in a stock 320, besides a Geisha? Some fun, but slow going for almost 74 years old. I still have the five NL side trim s/s pieces (not driver's door; long lost when I pulled it from dismantlers in early 2000's; make offer? Wick Humble
  3. I have five pieces of stainless steel side trim for the NL320, if anyone knows someone who needs them. I'm missing the drivers door spear to make a full set; considering how long I looked for a decent one (about 7-in. lenghtier, of course, than other 320's) I think they've gotten rare! I need $500.00 for the set: all are straight (not warped and fit body well) have few miniscule dings, and even are fairly shiny. Need the resto treatment to be perfect. Front fender strips interchange with 320, but others are unique. No, I don't want the hassle of selling a few bits; buy the five pieces and sell them yourself; make some of your investment back on 'unobtanium' metal! Time permitting, I may true-up and polish, after which I'll need more for them. Wick Humble Author "How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car" coming out soon in revised edtion -- and it needed it!
  4. Gang, I'm going to put my NL320 on eBay, I think. The red driver is a real nice 'shop find', off the CA registrations for ten years (and did that cost me at the friendly DMV!) but I don't have indoor storage for it now, and it deserves it, even in Sacramento valley weather. I can't see selling it cheap, tho. I always intended to 'hot rod' my rather rough NL -- the factory black one -- but wasn't getting it done and wanted one to drive. As I said, it's too anemic and hard to shift to be a real fun 'sports truck' as they are often called, and now my '71 Z-Car is finished I have something quick and sexy to drive! I had to do interior work on the red bomb, and a few other things (brakes, some electrical, etc.) but otherwise it's pretty original and stoc. I don't know if one can say of any car "Zero rust" but this comes close; it is remarkable! The red was repainted quite some time back, and is shiny but awful; it think it might be Mustang Poppy Red? The tail-lites are great, and the rims are stock, with newish narrow whites. Stops and steers great, and is very quiet, believe it or else. It's a wonderful car to drive if one wants to make a lot of friends! I personally think that the number of NL320's extant is under 200, in N. America; take the usual attrition of automobiles (about 90%, leaving 10% surviving) and double the ten because it was so unusual -- seems reasonable. I also believe that most NL320, and a very large proportion of Japanese mini-trucks from the early days of importation, say 1958 until 1965, were sold on the left coast. Datsuns were imported through LA and Houston clear up into the '70s, but the prime beach-head was in CA, that old trend setter. Aside, back in the early 80's, I tried to engage SPECIAL INTEREST AUTOS, for whom I was writing historical stuff back then, in articles (driveReport features) on both the Japanese mini-trucks and the V-W bus/van/Kombi whatever cars, and I think because they were based (with Hemmings Motor News) in New England, they poo-poo'ed the interest in either. I had great examples lined up of both the V-W and an almost stock NL (Chevy chrome rims) to photograph, too. We did do a feature on the early Z,after my Z book came out, but it caught a flock of hate mail from Pacific War vets and assorted nuts... nobody much minded V-W, M-B, BMW, MG, A-H, R.R,Jag, Alfa, 'Rarr and 'Rati, or even the Sovietsky ZiL, and we were at war with all of them -- at some time. Wick
  5. Well, Datsunoholic, I don't know if the much-publicized "1,000 served" is correct or not; it has been quoted since the seventies, at least. I'd be willing to bet it is realistic, but how would we determine that? I wanted one back when they were in the dealerships -- but I personally never spotted one in Nor Cal back then with the sticker in the window. Norberg's Motor Center was the Datsun dealer in Redding, CA where I was in jaycee (it was a former McCulloch chainsaw dealer) and while they sold plenty of N320s, I didn't start finiding NL's until the were decidedly used cars, and then not too often. I've personally 'known' only about a dozen NL's in the natural state: some not for sale, some too poor and to expensive, and some priced right when I was short of fun coupons to make the deal. I got my red 'truck' from a Datsun roadster specialist; it had been a delivery vehicle for a furniture store (small furnishings, to be sure,) in Clear Lake CA, and my black project from a moribund wrecking yard in Orland CA back in the early '00s. I also have the cab and bed from a '63 N320 that I was going to make into a stretch cab, but... Anyhow, I do suspect that most of them were snapped up on the west coast, imported through LA, as most of the ones I've heard of are western cars. I find I don't much care for driving my NL; the engine is too anemic and spendy to fix, and the four-on-the-column is a trial to operate -- and I used to jam gears for a living (5+3 and splitter, Road Ranger 13 speed, etc.) though I dote on stick shifts. I may but the red '65 on Ebay because of that and the fact that I just don't have enough indoor storage, which it deserves. I was thinking of putting a racier undercarriage and engine/trans under the black '65, as it needs a lot of work anyhow. However, I'm now seventy young years old... and I do have my modified/restored '71 Z finished and on the road now. I'll put my 320's VIN's on the registry asap, maybe pictures. Wick
  6. I have two NL320s. one a great 'barn find' runner (red 1965) and a project truckette (black 1965) and have been fascinated by these little 'Cameo' trucks since the 'sixties. I can't tell you how many I missed buying due to lack of bread, or other concerns; all here in CA. Supposedly only 1,000 were made (or were imported to USA) and I wonder how many of these are still extant. Is there a registry of NL's, or does anyone know? Wick Humble, of "How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car", CA Bill's Automotive Handbooks, c. 1991 -- and still in print!
  7. I would like to find a 320 cab and doors (only) in N. California; I intend to make a king cab of my '63 320 to save a rusty bod. Have some stuff to trade, or ?? Wick
  8. I always call those things 'bumper guards', and the Brits call them 'bumper over-riders'. To me, bumperettes are those pipe-like things that they sold to protect the grille. What's in a name? I have two aluminum aftermarket guards with rubber faces that came on my NL320; they were too large and I replaced them with the stock chrome steel ones. Decenht shape. Anyone want them cheap? Wick
  9. A complete, unrestored barn-find type NL320 is a rarity in N Cal; esp if clean title, running and stopping well. I bought mine fairly cheaply two years ago, and socked another 33% $ into it; I think it would be worthe $7K plus; they are a finite quantity, and drying up rapidly. Q: anyone ever seen a factory black version? I have an example as a project truck. The old fellow who first began selling Datsuns locally said he couldn't recall a black Datsun. I've been chasing these things since the '70s, and all I've ever seen is red (mine is a repainted red), green, blue, and white. I'm primarily a Z-Car guy, having owned one in '70. I drove it, restored it (wrote How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car, and was Restoration Editor of Z Car Magazine while it lasted) and sold it back to Nissan USA in the late 'nineties. FYI: I hate the four-on-the-tree; it ruins the driveability of my NL. There, I said it. Give me my '71 resto-mod Z any time. Wick
  10. I have two NL320 truckettes, both '65s; one is a 'shop find' not driven since 1999 and is functional and decent to look at, the other black and rough; will be 'rodded' with Nissan parts, eventually. I am in need of one 'Sports Truck" windshield, wondering about availability -- I assumed there is none! Also restoring a '71 240 for street, some mods. Wick Humble How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car; in print since 1991!
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