The wife and I decided that, instead of going to the Z national convention in San Diego this year, we'd be going to the Nostalgic Datsun Classic meet in Williams, AZ. This came from three reasons:
1) the Nostalgic Datsun people don't care if you take your toys out of the plastic and play with them (engine swaps, "stance", rust-bombs, etc).
2) the kids have never seen the Grand Canyon, so it would be a good stop-off on the way home.
3) my grandmother moved away from San Diego so we couldn't use her place in Cardiff by the Sea as a base of operations, and VRBOs were substantially more expensive in San Diego than in Williams.
Number 1 can be a drawback, in that you get participants voting in a geographical block, so in this case, the prizes all went to Phoenix-based dattos, but it's still more fun than being Hammond entering his Alfa with a hand-cranked water pump in a concours show (or when they had their drop-top 325i's critiqued by the BMW authorities).
So, with that in mind, we went ahead and booked this place for the weekend of 4 October.
The Albuquerque Z club caravanned out with the Duke City Datsuns, starting at the Route 66 Casino/Hotel
In order (left to right): A '65 1600 Roadster, a '78 280Z, a '69 2000 Roadster, my '71 240Z, a '72 B210, a '66 411 Bluebird wagon, and another '71 240Z. Not pictured: an '83 280ZX that was trailered and the wife's Infiniti M35x chase vehicle.
The trouble with traveling with the Duke City Datsuns is that the B210 comes with a 1200cc motor, and the 411 comes with a 1300cc motor. We topped out between 62 and 65MPH, but got miles of thumbs up and cell phone pics taken. I also got 38MPG between Albuquerque and Williams.
First stop was in Holbrook.
The kids on a petrified stump outside of our lunch stop.
Daughter and wife
Cell-potato pic of lunch stop
Second stop was at the meteor crater rest stop outside of Flagstaff
Cell-potato pic of the family minus the boy, who was off pinching a loaf.
We got into Williams at about 3PM local time. I cleaned up the car (a quick clay-bar over the front fascia, Optimum No-Rinse wash and shine wash, and some quick detailer on the interior), and went to the Meet-and-Greet at a local steakhouse.
The next morning, I abandoned the wife at the house (she had some chemistry homework to finish), and went into town for the show.
Main street, looking East.
Winner, Z car class, license plate "24TZ"
Manny's 280Z, mid-decoration. He left a bucket of chalk out for kids and kids-at-heart to draw all over his car with. He wrote his name/blood type over the door, so I added a gay pride flag next to it.
Sort-of-JDM-hotness. It's a 2000GT, which means it came with an L20, an L-gata 2.0L straight 6 SOHC counterflow head with dual SU carbs, kinda like the little brother of the Ls that came in Zs here in the states. The GTR came with an S20, a DOHC, crossflow-head straight 6 with triple Mikunis (also about as rare as chickens' teeth here in the states). To make the L palatable, he swapped in an L28 with weber carbs.
Want.
Main street, looking West
My 240Z and the trailered-out 280ZX
A wide-body, VG33E-swapped 510.
Will add pics on the way home when I get them off the camera.
1) the Nostalgic Datsun people don't care if you take your toys out of the plastic and play with them (engine swaps, "stance", rust-bombs, etc).
2) the kids have never seen the Grand Canyon, so it would be a good stop-off on the way home.
3) my grandmother moved away from San Diego so we couldn't use her place in Cardiff by the Sea as a base of operations, and VRBOs were substantially more expensive in San Diego than in Williams.
Number 1 can be a drawback, in that you get participants voting in a geographical block, so in this case, the prizes all went to Phoenix-based dattos, but it's still more fun than being Hammond entering his Alfa with a hand-cranked water pump in a concours show (or when they had their drop-top 325i's critiqued by the BMW authorities).
So, with that in mind, we went ahead and booked this place for the weekend of 4 October.
The Albuquerque Z club caravanned out with the Duke City Datsuns, starting at the Route 66 Casino/Hotel
In order (left to right): A '65 1600 Roadster, a '78 280Z, a '69 2000 Roadster, my '71 240Z, a '72 B210, a '66 411 Bluebird wagon, and another '71 240Z. Not pictured: an '83 280ZX that was trailered and the wife's Infiniti M35x chase vehicle.
The trouble with traveling with the Duke City Datsuns is that the B210 comes with a 1200cc motor, and the 411 comes with a 1300cc motor. We topped out between 62 and 65MPH, but got miles of thumbs up and cell phone pics taken. I also got 38MPG between Albuquerque and Williams.
First stop was in Holbrook.
The kids on a petrified stump outside of our lunch stop.
Daughter and wife
Cell-potato pic of lunch stop
Second stop was at the meteor crater rest stop outside of Flagstaff
Cell-potato pic of the family minus the boy, who was off pinching a loaf.
We got into Williams at about 3PM local time. I cleaned up the car (a quick clay-bar over the front fascia, Optimum No-Rinse wash and shine wash, and some quick detailer on the interior), and went to the Meet-and-Greet at a local steakhouse.
The next morning, I abandoned the wife at the house (she had some chemistry homework to finish), and went into town for the show.
Main street, looking East.
Winner, Z car class, license plate "24TZ"
Manny's 280Z, mid-decoration. He left a bucket of chalk out for kids and kids-at-heart to draw all over his car with. He wrote his name/blood type over the door, so I added a gay pride flag next to it.
Sort-of-JDM-hotness. It's a 2000GT, which means it came with an L20, an L-gata 2.0L straight 6 SOHC counterflow head with dual SU carbs, kinda like the little brother of the Ls that came in Zs here in the states. The GTR came with an S20, a DOHC, crossflow-head straight 6 with triple Mikunis (also about as rare as chickens' teeth here in the states). To make the L palatable, he swapped in an L28 with weber carbs.
Want.
Main street, looking West
My 240Z and the trailered-out 280ZX
A wide-body, VG33E-swapped 510.
Will add pics on the way home when I get them off the camera.
Last edited: