Perfection can be a dangerous thing to strive for, given its ever-elusive nature. But for car enthusiasts passionate (and crazy) enough to pursue perfection, the end results can be pretty astounding. The credit card bills are usually just as mind-blowing, though, because the type of craftsmanship required to build a flawless machine is only attainable from people who’ve dedicated their lives to their craft, and that type of work doesn’t come cheap.
Jared Cullop, a Tennessee native now living the dream in Northern California as a strategic marketing guru, has built what many in the Z community consider the finest 240Z on the planet, and it only took him 14 tries to get there. That’s right, Jared has owned 13 classic Zs prior to building this Lime Green beauty, having restored and sold or parted out all of them as part of his lifelong love affair with Z cars (not to mention as a way of putting himself through college).
Jared’s introduction to classic Zs started earlier than most: he rode home from the delivery ward in his parent’s 260Z. Sixteen years later, his parents further cemented Jared’s destiny with these timeless Japanese sports cars by buying him a 280Z 2+2 as a birthday present. Fast-forward to 2006 when Jared decided to go in search of the cleanest 240Z he could find as the basis for what would be his ultimate Z-car project.
According to Jared, “This one’s a no-expense-spared, best interpretation of what a classic Z can be. I wanted to honor the 240Z for all that it is, while bringing its performance up to date. I didn’t want to cram an engine in the car that doesn’t have the same priorities and personality as the original. I didn’t want to put flares on the fenders or do anything else that wasn’t true to the car. I didn’t even want to modify the interior at all. But I did want to make it perfect. Totally, undeniably perfect.”
Interior Miller Brothers Hot Rod Barn complete restoration (including brand-new OE dash);
Jared’s search for the cleanest possible Z took almost two years, which was made even more difficult given his desire to find one in the rare Lime Green color like his uncle had once owned. Having finally found, bought and shipped the car from San Francisco to North Carolina (where Jared was living at the time), the project really got rolling once he dropped it off at the Miller Brothers Hot Rod Barn in North Wilkesboro, NC. This shop is world famous for building mega-dollar hot rods of the absolute highest quality, so when they stripped the Z down to bare metal you shouldn’t be surprised to learn they laser-measured the chassis for straightness and ran magnets over every inch of it in search of even the smallest spot of rust.
As you’d expect from a shop like the Hot Rod Barn, the car was then sprayed with a flawless coat of the original Lime Green paint, brought to a mirror shine and then every single nut, bolt and trim piece was replaced with brand-new OE parts or refurbished by the Miller Brothers to higher than OE standards. “Every bolt that came out of the car was heated up until it was glowing and then cleaned and nickel-plated,” Jared explains. “Everything on the car was done to this level of detail, thanks to Guy Reid [the man at MBHRB responsible for the relentless pursuit of perfection on this project]. Even stuff you can’t see, like the mechanisms inside the doors, were stripped, dipped and plated.”
With the Concours-quality restoration complete, Jared met with Jordan at National Speed Inc. in nearby Wilmington, NC, and requested three separate proposals for the drivetrain. According to Jared, “The SR20DET swap was the cheapest of the options, but that didn’t influence my decision. I knew that it would be easy to overdo the power and weight of the drivetrain [and thus the decision to pass on the RB26 proposal], and I felt that the SR would give me the power I wanted while keeping the car much lighter.”
-
-
-
Exterior Miller Brothers Hot Rod Barn complete restoration, modified bumpers (converted f