Restoring a car often involves guesswork. Those who want to avoid winging it seek out reference cars, perfect time-capsule examples that, ideally, no one really ever drove. Nissan's subterranean lair at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, has several such specimens. A couple times a year, tours arrive, seeking to solve the countless mysteries of their own classics. "People come in and say, 'Oh, so that's how that emissions-control hose is supposed to be routed,'" says Nissan's Jonathan Buhler. With just 714 miles, the 1980 Datsun 280ZX pictured here solves that mystery and many more.
What does a Datsun 280ZX interior look like without sun damage? Nissan's reference car, having spent its life almost entirely indoors, can tell you.
Its engine still has the original factory coatings, unblemished by heat cycling. The sole non-original part: the battery.
You wouldn't want to drive far on 45-year-old Goodyear Wingfoots, but this is what the factory-fresh OEM rubber looks like.
What's the freezing point of the 280ZX's factory antifreeze? This sticker tells you—in Japanese too.
Labels, especially near touch points, can wear away. But not in a car that's had very few ungloved fingers poking around its pristine interior.
"Stereos almost always get changed at some point over the years," Buhler says. The Z's Hitachi hi-fi looks as handsome now as it did in 1980.
Virtually unused vehicles like this one serve as an irreplaceable historical record of how things were. And how, in the right hands, other cars might be again.
Cracked leather and frayed bolsters? Not here.
May 1980 was a prime time for Z cars.
Gold and tan: a color scheme bridging the 1970s and '80s.
Sun visor, unfaded.
Most of the steering wheels on this car's contemporaries are either grime-covered or were replaced by Momos in 1991.
That's right: 714 miles.
It's kind of sad that this Z's five-speed has barely ever been rowed.
We're sure the other 2999 of these aren't quite as nice.
Nissan's trove of low-mileage treasures is hidden at an undisclosed location (it's the Lane Museum).
No using a stick as a prop on this 280Z.
All the intact labels are amazing. This probably never got hot enough to scorch your hand.
Keep going to check out way more pictures of this factory-fresh Z.
This 1984 Nissan 300ZX Turbo 50th Anniversary Edition commemorated Nissan's founding in 1933.
The 50th Edition got special embroidered logos on the seats, and these are as unscuffed as they were in 1984.
Steering wheel audio controls and a digital dash were novel in 1984. What's novel now is that they still work.
What did that decal say? Something about motor oil? Oh, the torment!
The Anniversary Edition was available with a manual or automatic transmission.
The multi-LED tachometer and G-force indicator were heady stuff.
The Bodysonic Amplifer used bass shakers on the front seats to imply powerful speakers. Perfect for playing 1984's top single, "When Doves Cry."
The 3.0-liter V-6 made 200 hp and 227 pound-feet of torque. But this one probably isn't quite broken in yet.
Keep going to see more photos of Nissan's pristine reference Zs.
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