Portfolio

Jeff Jaguish  

Pat Baxter's 1977 280 Z In the summer of 1977, I spotted this beautiful racing green 280Z with dark brown interior sitting at the Datsun dealer in Beaufort, SC. I was 16 at the time and absolutely loved Z’s. I talked my parents into going to look at the car that evening and they decided to buy it on the spot. For 35 years, they babied it, kept it covered and used it only for special occasions. In 2011, they gave it to me as my 50th birthday present. When I got the car, it was bone stock. The interior and paint are most all original and in excellent shape…not a spec of rust. I’ve spent the last two years restoring and modifying the car to be a high performance street car that I occasionally take to track days to have a little fun. My intent was to change all the late 70’s junk they added to meet US emissions and safety bumper requirements and to modify it to be more of a Grand Touring car with some JDM styling. Cool looking, comfortable on long drives and really fun to drive on twisty mountain roads. The engine has over 100,000 miles on it and has never been out of the car. I wanted more power, but didn’t want to rebuild the engine if it didn’t need it. I met John Tyler (see his Customer Ride story too) and he took me for a spin in his car. I was shocked by how much power he had…I was hooked! I stopped by Rallye-Sport to talk to Jeff Winter, and was pleased to learn that I could get a lot [...]

Larry Morris It will compete in World Land Speed attempts at Bonneville  Pictured is the 1960 Ford falcon- Ranchero that I built an engine for. It will compete in World Land Speed attempts at Bonneville in an attempt to set a new class record.  It is an all-out L-28 that is laid over at a 20 angle.

SCCA GT2 Vintage Racing Series Click here to see the video of Dave Fenton's Motor Dave Fenton's Motor Video

Jeff has been instrumental in helping me live out a dream that started with a Z car when I was sixteen years old. I am not a racer. I do not plan to be one. However, I love Z cars and I always wanted to build a classic Z car the way Datsun could have but never did off the track. Jeff took his time teaching me the ins and outs of suspension, braking, engines and how to build a true high performance street vehicle that I could drive every day. He is a master technician, a superb mentor, an incredible driver and I recommend him to anyone looking to add performance to a street car or planning to campaign a full blown racing machine. He will tell you what you need to hear and make sure you succeed! We started with a 1978 280Z with 63,000 original miles that I purchased from the original owner's estate attorney in Loveland, CO.  The car was in almost perfect original condition.  I toyed with the idea of keeping it bone stock but after many discussions with Jeff and because it was not an original 1970 240Z with innate collector value, we laid out a plan of action that fit my budget and time frame.  Phase 1 involved upgrading the brakes with stainless steel lines and vented Wilwood discs with four piston calipers all around.  The brakes were supported by Eibach springs, Tokico Illumina adjustable struts, Suspension Techniques sway bars front and back, urethane bushings, a urethane steering coupler, Panasport racing wheels with Yokohama S-Drive tires, Momo pedals and a Momo Competition steering wheel. Once the car handled and stopped correctly [...]