You know what?? According to your description of her, she's a great girl and you're a lucky father. So if you are giving her the car, stop fretting about any possible monetary value of it in the future. When you give the car to her, it will be her car. Even with the most careful people things happen - or not. You have no ultimate control over that or the car while it's in her possession, so don't fret about it. If you get the car back in the condition you wish for, so much for the good. If it's not quite in the condition you wished for, that's life. Just let her enjoy the car.

Sound advice.

I've thought about buying another one after giving her this one...because I know I'm gonna miss the car! lol

No. It's a mass produced rather unremarkable Japanese car. The Datsun 240Z was considered to be groundbreaking when new, today (40+ years later) you can get a nice one for $10k.

Thread over.

Ya hurt me, Matt! A few who would disagree with your "unremarkable" comment:

Japanese Performance Car of the Year 2007 TopSpeed Magazine[36]
10 Best Cars 2003 Car and Driver[37]
Most Significant Vehicle of the Year. Two years running Edmunds.com[38]
Editors' Most Wanted 2003 Edmunds.com[39]
International Car of the Year: Most Sex Appeal Award 2003 Road and Travel[40]
Canadian Car of the Year 2003 Automobile Journalists Association of Canada[41]
Best New Design 2003 Automobile Journalists Association of Canada[42]
Driver's Choice Best Performance Car 2003 MotorWeek[43]
Winner 12 Best Cars Under 30K Road & Track[44]
Car of the Year 2004 Top Gear Magazine[33]
Automobile of the Year 2003 Automobile Magazine

Ok. I will correct Matt: It's a remarkable Japanese car that won't be worth much.

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;)

I have calibrated my crystal ball, so I have no clue.

But I'll also add that in HS I still did some stupid things with cars, despite being a 'gifted' kid that was treated as and carried the expectations of an adult in the family. Fortunately I had a 1970 beetle with a big motor. Fun enough to keep me interested, small and slow enough to keep a limited number of my friends and I alive.

Isn't someone on the board selling a Boxster? I think you can get it for $8500. Or maybe $15K. Or maybe $5K.

As somebody said above it is not a good first car for your daughter. Sits too low and has too much power. I gave my daughter our old Xtrail(like a Rav4). It sits high and has 4wd. Touch wood no accident in 9 years of driving. Sounds like you like the Z. Keep it for yourself and get her something more suitable......G.

Production numbers:
Year - U.S. Sales
2002 13,253
2003 36,728
2004 30,690
2005 27,278
2006 24,635
2007 18,957
2008 10,337

For a total of 161,878 350z's.

I'm going to say no to a major increase in value.

According to Z Design, 240Z production numbers are:
1969 = 3
1970 = 17,005
1971 = 40,219
1972 = 60,025
1973 = 51,332
------ Total 168,584

Pretty similar numbers on 240Z's. While they aren't bringing longhood $$, Hagerty has them around $15k currently - I would think that would have to be a REALLY good one. Compared to a sub-$4k MSRP in 1970 that's pretty good.

However - I think the 240Z was a lot more revolutionary than the 350Z. It's a good car, but isn't the car with a ton of race victories that helped establish Japanese sports cars as a whole, much less Nissan as a brand.

Now, performance Korean cars, if they start winning GT races... could be a different story there.

No offense to the Z guys, I personally like the cars. I think the only V6 that makes better noises than the Nissan VQ is made by Alfa-Romeo. My point was that there wasn't anything about them that made them stand out as special, especially in a historical context. They are a good car in an established segment, offering competitive performance at a competitive price. 40 years from now, what will make them stand out?

Contrast that with the original Z, one of the first mainstream Japanese sports cars that offered Porsche performance at significantly cheaper prices. It was considered the common man's 911, and a pretty big deal at the time. It was a much more significant car than the modern 350Z, yet can still be had for a very reasonable price today. That doesn't bode well for 350Z collector appeal.

I really wonder how many of our modern cars will be collector's items. Not only because they made so many of them, but also because of their running cost in 40 years. The thought of maintaining a car with 10+ ECUs and miles of wiring after 40 years is scary. My Mustang sat for about 7 years, after rebuilding the rear brakes, carburetor, replacing the ignition switch, a leaky coolant hose, and the tires it should be road worthy. All simple mechanical stuff.

Maintainability issues 40 years down the road is actually a really good point.

And that Mustang is gorgeous, btw.

I had 2 Starions, well one black Conquest and one Fiji Blue Starion.

They only made that car for 3 years.

I basically gave them away.

They were great little cars. Would not mind having one back.

Not mine but it's what my garage looked like.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...f/SAM_0076.jpg

Give it to your daughter to enjoy and get rid of it like a hot potato when she's through.

We all have our tastes and I'm with Clarkson on Nissan 350s:

"The head of a project was an indian and the engine is french. we have had fusion food before, but its the first fusion car. Think of it as being a raw hamburger curry served in a disinterested way in a bed of garlic ajuis. If your the sort of person that likes to cruise the stsreet annoying everyone with the stereo this car is for you.
it doesnt take very long to work out that this car has many weak links and the weakest link of all is the engine. first there is the noise and its just a noise and annoying drone and it gets on yoru nerves. Then there is the perfomance. they say it will do 0 to 60 in six seconds ...but it never feels that fast. when you look at the 350Z you expect it to be light, sporty and agile, but its not. I was expecting it to be like a mx-5 fun...but its not. not even a little.

What it is is a ton and a half of iron mongry. its just a muscle car and muscle cars should be fun but its not. The noise is driving me mad. The hard ride and the effort it takes to drive this car makes it one of the most exhausting cars I have ever come across. The look of the interior is fine, but what is not so good is this (showing the flimpsy build quality) I've seen better build quality in an allotment share. There no practicality. The 350 is a 3 out of 10, it could do better."

Those look...umm, peppy ;)

Sounds like a great kid, congratulations!
Having said that... what car does she want?
If she wants dad's old sports car great... but as others have said there may be other/better choices for a first car.
Just my two cents...
And if you think you are going to limit how many friends she will load into her car... think of how many teenagers could fit into a old VW bug ;)

They were stupid fun little cars.

Rear wheel drive 4 banger Turbos. Super simple and cheap to mod. Lot's of cool features that were unusual back in the mid 80's.

And looked like nothing else at the time.

The Fiji Blue was one of the hottest colors ever put on a car.

Starion / Conquest > 350Z