Motorsport Z Car National Weekend April 24-25, 2004

The 9th Annual Motorsport West Coast Z Car Nationals

Orange, CA

April 25, 2004

Created: 4/25/2004
Last updated: 4/26/2004

This is always one of the big Z events in Northern California every year. Every year, we make this one of the Ultimate Z Weekend trips for Club Z but since this year's ZCON is going to be in Torrance, CA at the Nissan headquarters, we didn't commit to this event as a club. We had several club members in attendance though, that being Scott Smith, Rob Fuller, his girlfriend Donna, Glenn Nakata, Jon Fung, and myself. There were over 600 cars in attendance with Zs of every year from the early 240Zs, 260Zs, 280Zs, 280ZXs, 300ZX Z31s, 300ZX Z32s, and 350Zs, in addition to some other miscellaneous Datsun and Nissan cars. This year though had to be one of the hottest temperature shows that I can remember. It was about 92 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I am glad that I brought an EZ-Up Canopy this year. We were able to seek some shady refuge under the mercilessly pounding sun.

I arrived at 5:30 AM thinking that only Ryan aka SeedyRom would be there. Boy was I wrong as there were already 9 cars ahead of me. Usually Ryan is the first one in line as tradition would have it but he was held up by some people that he was waiting for. No worries, we all gave him grief telling him that he lost his touch, LOL.

Some pictures of my car and Harry's NA. His was a 1996 Ultra Red NA with 4600 original miles and number 246 of the last 300. He was the original owner as am I. It was cool to see 2 ultra red Zs next to each other each with their original owners. IMHO, he should have won the award for best OEM Z32. His car was pristine and it still smelled new. This was his first event. Sorry for the lighting conditions.

Some more pictures of the cars while we were waiting in line to get in.

Parade of cars.

I was lucky enough to be the first car at the front of the line. Before they officially opened up the lines for us to drive in, many people were taking pictures and Motorsport's official photographers were snapping pictures and they got a ton of my car ;-) I am sure that there will be pictures of my Z in their catalog or something. I am glad that I put on my Japanese plate in front and my cool JDM Nissan Fairlady replica plate in the back.

Henry's pristine 1996 ultra red NA. It looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor. What do you expect, there are only 4600 original miles. He paid $41,000 for his NA. My TT cost me $38,500 with sticker price at $43,500. Guess who got the better deal although we both got raped pretty much.

This was the fully restored to stock 240Z that was featured in Sport Z Magazine. He even has the original window sticker.

Some pictures while we started piling into the exhibition area.

Glenn used my digicam to snap these pics. The head honchos at Motorsport decided that my car was cool enough to be featured on their 1st DVD highlighting the Motorsport show. They interviewed me at length about my car and took a great deal of footage of my car. Glenn will never let me hear the end of it. This in itself was worth the trip to the show. It's not about trophies or awards but about recognition for hard work in modifying my car and hearing the compliments from all of the people who attended the show. I can't wait to get this DVD. My car may not be the prettiest girl at the ball but she'll still turn a head or two.

Scott's beautiful black TT with Skyline R34 rims.

Dean's HKS 2530 BB turbo powered TT.

Ryan aka SeedyRom's Cherry Red Pearl TT. His car is very clean and it has to be seen to believe how good the condition of the paint is. I know that Ryan doesn't half-ass anything. Simply beautiful.

Jon's TT with custom sprayed headlight housings.

Matt's TT with custom sprayed headlight housings.

Jo's Chromallusion TT.

This guy won best modified Z 2 years ago. It's a black NA with all of the Stillen staged upgrades and NOS. He actually counted up all the horsepower and posted it. He needs to have a dyno sheet to back up all the claims. It's still a looker though.

This car has won 4-5 best OEM 1990-1996 Z awards at Motorsport. It is a clean car with very low miles.

240Z Cobra replica

Another 240Z Cobra replica.

Nice yellow Z that was featured in a Japanese magazine.

350Z with gullwing doors. I only like Lamborghini style doors on real Lamborghinis. That's my personal opinion.

V-8 powered 240Z.

This guy was trying to advertise his auto mural painting business. I don't know what to say but if you are going to show off your murals and paint jobs, at least clean the engine bay.