Build Spotlight: Ace’s home-restored 1971 Datsun 240Z is driving to JCCS
September 28, 2026 · Build Spotlight
Some restorations become trailer queens. Ace’s 1971 Datsun 240Z is about to do the opposite.
In a September 24 update, the owner behind Ace240Z.com said his home-restored Z had been accepted as an exhibitor at the Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach. His plan is the part we like most: drive it from the Denver area, roughly 15 hours, with no trailer and plenty of tools. JCCS is scheduled for Saturday, October 3 at Marina Green Park in Long Beach.
A long way from the $1,800 starting point
Ace’s relationship with the S30 goes back decades. He owned a 1972 240Z in the 1990s, rebuilt and modified it, then sold it—and later regretted the decision. Years afterward, that regret eventually turned into another project.
According to his project history, he bought the current 1971 car for $1,800. It was rough, wore an aftermarket sunroof, lacked a title and needed substantial work, but it also had relatively little rust for an early Z. Rather than keep it barely roadworthy and chase failures one at a time, he chose a ground-up approach.
Modernized without trying to turn it into something else
The interesting thing about the build is how often the decisions favor usability over maximum specification-sheet drama.
The engine is now based around an L26 block rather than a wild swap, while the transmission is a five-speed from a later 280Z. Those choices keep the car squarely in the old-school Datsun family while making highway driving a little easier.
The same philosophy shows up underneath. Ace originally chose rubber suspension bushings because he preferred a more compliant street ride. When a persistent rear suspension clank was eventually traced to incorrectly positioned inner control-arm bushings, he switched those inner positions to polyurethane. In his March 11, 2026 update, he reported a stiffer feel over small bumps, but not enough to make him want to switch back to rubber.
His project notes read less like a shopping list and more like the sort of iterative troubleshooting that defines a real long-term build: install something, drive it, find the next weak point, learn something mildly annoying, fix it, repeat.
The road trip is the payoff
The car is not presented as finished in the museum-piece sense. Ace still describes it as a work in progress.
That makes the JCCS trip more interesting, not less.
A classic restored in a home garage, improved over years, debugged on the road and then asked to cover hundreds of highway miles is doing exactly what a sports car was built to do.
For readers who prize originality and careful preservation, the road-trip plan raises a useful question: how much modernization makes a classic more enjoyable without erasing what drew its owner to it? Preservation does not have to mean inactivity. Ace’s car keeps the recognizable mechanical character of an early Z while accepting changes intended to make an old car easier to live with.
If the drive goes according to plan, the 1971 Z will arrive in Long Beach under its own power and park among the polished machinery at JCCS.
Frankly, the bugs on the nose should count as documentation.
This showcase is based on the owner’s published project documentation, not a new interview or an independent inspection of the car.
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