Thrill of the Ride

     In the first segment of E-Interview here at TOTR, we have Dave Irwin’s gorgeous red 1970 Datsun 240Z. The car has been highly modified, although still retains a daily driver appeal as evidenced by this truncated list of specs:

- KYB struts

- Eibach progressive rate lowering springs

- 23mm front and 19mm rear anti-roll bars

- 4 piston front calipers and all braided stainless hoses

- Beautiful Triple Weber DCOE carbs

- Mallory Unilite Optical dizzy with Mallory Promaster Supercoil

- 280ZX turbo R200 rear differential

- 280ZX 5 speed transmission

- Griffin 2-core aluminum radiator

- Power windows and locks

- Modern H4 style headlight conversion

- LED lights all around

- Two MTX 10” subs in the spare tire well

- 6 modern speakers all around

- 800 Watt Pioneer / Coustic Stereo system

     I asked Dave a series of questions about himself and his car. Here are some of the ones I thought you might enjoy.

     Q1: What is your favorite modification that you’ve added to your Z?

     A1: Call me crazy, but I gotta say that my power windows are my favorite modification. It adds such a convenience to the daily drive. So why do they call it a “Creature Comfort”? Never understood that one.

     Q2: What is your favorite location/road to drive your car on?

     A2: That’s an easy one. Me and my wife went on a driving tour with the local Zcar club ZCCW and ended up on the Columbia River, in both Washington and Oregon. That was the most beautiful drive we’ve ever been on. And to top it off, we (ZCCW) ended up renting the private road called Maryhill Loop Road, or something like that. Look it up on Youtube under “zccw maryhill” in the search box.

     Q3: What’s the most interesting thing/fact about your Z?

     A3: There are only 2 incandescent bulbs in my parking light circuit…  Everything else is LED. I could go on and on about power windows, power locks, numbers matching block, 800 watt stereo with 2 subs in the spare tire well, custom made aluminum grill or the fact that the Z was my first paint job and I did it in my garage.

     Now, I have to say that I disagree with Dave on his answer to question number 3. For those of you who have played Forza Motorsports 2, you probably already know what Dave’s car sounds like. The most interesting thing about his car, for me, is the exhaust note was recorded and used in the game. You can hear it once you acquire a modified 240Z in FM2. If you don’t have the game (or if you suck at it), you can just watch this video and be aurally pleased. (also, check out the sexy LED tail lights)

http://video.cardomain.com/VideoPlayer.aspx?id=653515

Stay tuned for part 2 of the E-Interview as I finish the question/answer segment and we learn the interesting story of the origins of Dave’s Z. (more pictures too!) It will be posted later today.