Driving around Central Florida, I frequently see cars from all generations on the road in showroom conditions, and beater conditions. I’ve seen pickups from the 50s, cars from the 20s, and of course many muscle cars. What interests me the most however are the ones on the sides of the roads, the ones in the woods, and the ones in backyards. The cars that may run, and the cars that ran once upon a time.
This is where I run into the man known as Mr. Gabel. He has a collection of import cars that anyone into the automotive world can appreciate. One of his cars in “The Gabel Collection” is this 1974 Datsun 260z. At first sight, this car is pretty run down. At a closer look, it is really run down.
When I first saw this car from the road, my first thought was, “Wow! Look at that Fairlady! Daniel would be happy I found this.” Of course, “Daniel” refers to the one and only Daniel O’Grady from the YouTube channel Wasabi Cars. I had been watching his channel since the start, so the shape of this car jumped out at me when I first saw it from the road.
Mr. Gabel was able to shed some interesting light on this car to me. The 1974 260z was the only model year for this car in the United States. It was the only year for the 260z. This car came with a 2.6L inline six cylinder under the hood. Mr. Gabel was not please with the original carburetors that only allowed the car to get its stock 162 horse power, so, he replaced them with Webers.
He told me that this car ran up until he took the carburetors out. He was originally going to junk the car, but they offered him less money for the whole car then the Webers were worth by themselves. Needless to say, he decided to keep the car. Mr. Gabel wouldn’t mind selling it though, so offers are welcome, and yes, the Webers will come with it.
As for the car itself, it is rough, but if you are a fan of Wasabi Cars, you have seen worse. A little bit of love, and she can be running and looking just right once again. I never really had an appreciation of Japanese cars until recently. I have always been an American muscle car lover. While I still love them the most, I am starting to have an appreciation for anything that’s a classic. I do kind of like this car, but no, I will not start liking ’95 Honda Civics… Ever.
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