Well, I did not see this one coming. Others might have had an inkling I'd do something silly like buy a 45 year old sports car, but I was definitely taken by surprise.
My usual lunchtime craigslist search for cars I had no intention buying and no business looking at turned up an unexpected gem. A 1969 Datsun 1600 roadster, or a Fairlady as they're known overseas.* Datsun isn't even in my web browser's spelling dictionary. Shame on you, Google. Anyway, Datsun later became Nissan and in the early 60's they wanted a car to compete with the British and Italian roadsters of the time. Thus, one of Japan's first modern era sports cars was born...after someone at Datsun saw My Fair Lady and thought it was a good name for multiple generations of sports cars. The current 370Z and all previous "Z" cars are known as the Fairlady Z overseas.
Back to me, a 27 year old guy living in a small apartment in Baltimore City with limited free time, no garage space, and no experience with carburetors. In a search for a Datsun 240Z that I had no real intention of buying, I found a pretty little thing that looked fairly clean and complete at an attractive price. I had seen a few online before but never in person. This one looked good, had lots of recent mechanical maintenance, ran well, a nice removable hardtop, and the exterior had a fresh coat of paint. All rust had been taken care of. Only issues were the interior (with the exception of the very nice seats) wasn't in great shape. Also, the minor issue of me having no place to keep a 2nd car.
Logic be damned, I sent an email, set up a time to see it in person, paid some money, and spent several hours at the MVA. Then drove it home to Clarksburg so it could hide in my brother's garage until it's ready to pass inspection and I'm confident it's weatherproof.
*I will be referring to it as the Fairlady since it sounds much cooler than 4 numbers.
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