This week we are excited to feature a gentleman that has spent a lifetime in the driver's seat.
I'd introduce Bill Davis but he's done a mighty fine job of it without me.
The Red Car
I grew up in Idaho living on the “first bench” in Boise. When I was about 12 I read a book titled, “The Red Car” by Don Stanford. It was published in 1954 and was about a young man in a small town who fell in love with a bright red MG TC that was badly damaged. He worked to earn enough to buy it, restore it and eventually win a race with it. The sports car bug bit right there. In Boise I attended McKinley and Koelsch grade schools, West Jr High, and Borah and Capital High Schools and was in the first graduating class from Capital. While attending Capital I got my first car, a 1949 4-door Cadillac. It was definitely not a sports car but it had wheels. From there I went to the University of Idaho on a Naval ROTC scholarship living as a member of Lambda Chi Alpha and majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Naval Science. While at the U of I I was part owner of a ’51 Cadillac hearse, then a ’55 Plymouth 4-dr, and finally in my last year got a brand new 1970 Plymouth 340 ‘Cuda. I'd say it was definitely a step in the right direction.
I graduated from the U of I with a BSME, was commissioned in the Navy and left for Pensacola, Florida for naval flight training. Six months later I met a young lady at a dance at the Mustin Beach officers club. Eight months after that I graduated as a designated Naval Aviator.
A Taste for Z
I had my first encounter with the Z car in 1971. I was in Pensacola, Florida for Naval Flight Training and a buddy, who later was my best man at my wedding, asked me to drive his ’71 240Z while he was out of town. Even though I was driving a 340 ‘Cuda at the time, his car had intrigued me. One drive was all it took. It was years later before the bug truly took me.
After that first drive I met and married the true love of my life in Pensacola. As time progressed we moved from Florida to Virginia where my two sons were born, then to New York and then in 1983 we moved to Texas and I dedicated my time to my family, my church, and my career as an engineer in the plastics industry.
In 1985 my wife let me know she had been planning on surprising me with a Z for Christmas but then decided it would be better to ask me about it to ensure I got what I really wanted. In early December that year we bought my first Z, a brown on brown ’77 280Z coupe. It was with me until I woke up Monday morning, January 9th, 1989 and it was gone. The car had been painted Porsche Royal Guardsman Red. It had 8 coats of red and three clear coats and looked like it had been dipped in plastic. It was so bright the garage door glowed pink at night from the reflection from the house lights. We never found it.
It was March of ’92 before I finally got the garage where I could get another car into it and I acquired Zack, a white with brown interior ’77 280Z Coupe. I drove him stock for nearly five years before the upgrades started with the new Cadillac Pearl Red paint job. It is the only car that has been selected as Z-car of the month three times, once in Feb. ’99, again in August 2003 and then in July of 2005. It has also had write-ups in Classic Motorsports magazine, Sport Compact Car Magazine, and Street Thunder Magazine.
Chrissy and I left Texas in 2006 for Yakima, WA so I could accept a new job. We were there 15 years before we were able to final return to Idaho in December of 2021.
Below is a listing of what all (other than the paint job) has been done to my Z in the past 31 years of ownership:
This car is the first professional LS1 installation in the US and is the prototype used by John’s Cars, Inc in Dallas, TX to develop the conversion components he markets and sells worldwide.
My guidelines throughout the development were for the installation to have OEM appearance and daily driver reliability. The nod was always given toward reliability and ease of maintenance rather than extreme performance. The development took 14 months back in 2002/3 and resulted with this car road legal in June 2003 and a full range of kit components.
One difference in this car versus the offered kit components is that this car has no transmission mount. Instead, it has a modified “torque tube” set-up that uses a pair of channel beams to link the tailshaft of the T56 transmission to the input shaft of the R200 LSD. It is unique, completely functional, and has been absolutely reliable for 20 years now.
The car has a total of 251,000 miles on it; 51,000 with the LS1, and about 100,000 miles on the current paint.
The car has been competed at Texas Motor Speedway, Texas Motorplex, Motorsport Ranch, and Renegade raceway along with hillclimbs and autocross events.
Not Just Fun to Look At
Drivetrain:
- 1998 Camaro LS1. Dyno’d 325 HP/ 326 torque. Custom intake, custom headers, 2 ½” dual exhaust to a dual inlet/single outlet Dynomax valved muffler.
- 1999 T56 6-spd transmission with Hurst billet shifter and JCI custom shift lever.
- Torque tube system connecting transmission and differential.
- 1987 Nissan 300ZXT 3.70:1 R200 LSD.
- Soon to have Z Car Garage CV conversion half-shafts.
- Centerline “Trident II” 16x7 aluminum wheels with Continental Extreme Contact 225/50-16 performance tires.
Exterior:
- Motorsport Auto Type 2 ground effects including front air dam, side skirts, and rear valance.
- Motorsport Auto one piece rear, hatch mount spoiler.
- Motorsport Auto Sentra window frame mount rearview mirror kit.
- Chrome front grill.
- 1997 Cadillac Eldorado pearl red paint with white racing stripe and pin stripes
- Tinted windows by D&D auto tint.
Interior:
- Katzskin leather seats, door panels, head liner, sun visors, A pillars, face of rear deck and rear strut towers.
- Wavemaker “Chivas Regal” residential carpet bordered in Katzskin leather.
- Autopower 4-point roll bar coated in black bedliner.
- Ashtray chrome plated and then the inside coated in black bed liner.
- Motorsport Auto center console pad & cup holders.
- R-134b air conditioning.
- Motorsport Auto white face gauge conversion w/green lenses removed and higher wattage illumination bulbs.
- Interior fully dynomat lined and spare tire well covered in black vinyl.
- Skillard “Datsun” door sill covers.
Sound System:
- Alpine CDA 9851 CD/MP3/WMA receiver
- Alpine CHA-S634 CD/MP3 changer
- Alpine SDR-17LS 6 ½” Component speakers in custom enclosures on each door,
- Alpine 1” soft dome tweeters custom mounted on each “A” pillar.
- Alpine SPS 130A 5 ¼” side panel mounted speakers.
- Alpine SWR-1042D subwoofer in custom, ported, enclosure tuned at 32 Hz.
- Alpine MRV-F545 500 watt amplifier.
- Rockford Fosgate CPC-1003 capacitor.
Lighting:
- Dapper Lightings HID headlight conversion
- ZLEDslights LED conversions on front & rear turn signals, side marker lights and back-up lights. Turn signals are sequential.
Suspension:
- Techno Toy Tuning sourced Eibach performance coilovers, 250 front/300 rear
- Techno Toy Tuning sourced Koni adjustable gas struts
- Urethane bushing throughout entire suspension/steering.
- Nissan stock original front & rear sway bars w/urethane bushings.
- Racetep multi-point front and rear strut tower braces.
Brakes:
- 1981 280ZX master cylinder.
- Wilwood forged Superlite calipers with 12.2 x 1.25” Spec 37 vented & slotted rotors.
- 240SX calipers in back with 300ZX 11.4 x .81” solid rotors
- Stock 280Z emergency brake.
