| Hello TT.net, I am Curtis N, son of Dave N. Here is the story of how I bought my TT. It’s an elaboration on a post by Dave N . [ http://www.twinturbo.net/nissan/300zx/forums/general/view/2611047/Positive-feedback-for-darkwithn-and-welcoming-a-new-Z-owner.html ]
Background Story
I’ve always kept an eye out for a nice Z since I have been around Dave N working on them in the garage. always a spectator, my tastes jumped around from the newer 370 and 350 to the 300zx. It all depended on what I was around most. ever since my dad showed me how to drive a manual transmission on his 370z (new at the time and very easy to stall). I was really starting to consider a 350z since my current car is a 07 Maxima and they were very similar with the prices falling into an achievable range. When Dave went through the rebuilding of Bondztt’s car I had an opportunity to really drive a twin turbo. The thing that really stuck with me was that ear-piercing turbo noise and the immense surge that came with it. Seeing that car leave was bittersweet since I watched it go from a shell to something great over the course of a couple years. Every chance I had I would drive my dad’s 370z. from market runs to daily drives when Dad was out on business, I finally conquered my fear of stalling on a small incline. (we have a lot of small inclines in CA). I've been to a few of the ZCONs local to us but I've never had a car of my own to drive to the convention. 1st attempt at buying a car A month and a half back my dad nonchalantly sent an eBay listing for a pearl glow yellow twin turbo. The color piqued my interest since it was different than all the black and red cars I’ve seen. I researched the color and find This listing [ http://cvluxurycars.com/1990-Nissan-300ZX-Twin-Turbo-Yellow-Pearl-glow.htm ] to me, THAT was the best car to buy but since the listing was from 2011 I knew it was long gone. The listing made me fall in love with the pearlglow color. The eBay seller wanted 9k for their car and on paper everything was mint. I contacted the seller in Las Vegas and we went through texting. after some back and forth we settled on a price. Since it was an eBay listing I requested the seller remove it but they wanted to see what bids they would receive. Every day I would refresh the listing multiple times and pray for no bidding. Eventually the listing ended with no bids! (red flag much?) I arranged for a rental car and planned out the trip. We left early morning for the 4 hour drive out to the seller. Long story short the car was not as good as its exterior made it out to be. I instantly knew that the car was not worth what was being asked. The engine would not rev freely, it sputtered and surged. Only the 3rd brake light illuminated with the pedal. The sellers were extremely kind and actually bought my dad and I lunch for the trouble of making it out. We did make most of the trip however by driving through the Vegas strip and hitting Speed Vegas (highly recommended!) for some laps in a couple of supercars. I bought laps in the GTR and Cayman and it was a blast. The GTR was a little soft and slow feeling while the Cayman was direct and sharp (300zx is better). We got back and I benched the idea of a Z indefinitely. 2nd times the charm Jump forward to the beginning of August and I get another email from my dad (this time with a "don't tell mom I sent this". it’s a TT.net listing of a car all the way in Tennessee. Everything on the car looks amazing and was leagues better than the Vegas car. I consider the thought of being able to cross off one of my bucket list items, but quickly wrote it off as a pipe dream, Tennessee is worlds away. the following day I begin to then think “if I don’t at least call and get more info I will never forgive myself for losing a car like what this.” I call darkwithn and spend a good hour on the phone geeking out over the car. I chat up the car to my mom and she thinks I should really check it out (shocking since she was against the Vegas car) I then really start working out the logistics of flying out and driving back this car. The next day I email Darkwithn and make a flat out offer. We haggle a bit over a couple hundred dollars and we have a deal. I arrange a flight for my dad and I and set a date that works for everyone. Over the coming weeks before the trip I rediscover the listing for the car that I used to get a feel for what the pearl glow looks like. [ http://cvluxurycars.com/1990-Nissan-300ZX-Twin-Turbo-Yellow-Pearl-glow.htm ] . Immediately I noticed that all the info is IDENTICAL to the description from darkwithn. The car that I had drooled over in the beginning was within my grasp! The Trip 
I got very little sleep the night before our flight out. We were picked up and dropped by my grandfather (another z owner). We packed light since we knew space would be at a premium in the trunk area. Our flight consisted of being packed in like sardines. With my height I was not able to sit straight up in the plane. When we arrived in Chicago we started off to our connection to Knoxville. Alarmingly we found our flight was cancelled due to air traffic. We were to be routed to Charlotte and then to Knoxville. This meant that the timeline I had planned for was pushed back an entire day since we lost 12 hours of travel/drive time.
Luckily I had my computer to watch tv online with while we waited:  Wearily, we arrived and picked up the rental and got a head start on our trip east to the seller’s location. Our first hotel was rated ok online and was right off the interstate. We were welcomed by a very friendly man. He gave us our key and we shuffled into the room. We picked dinner from a local Domino's and got to experience the after midnight crowd……it was like an episode of cops. We woke up the next morning, ate breakfast, and set off to check out the car. Day 2 travel: 
The seller Darkwithn was a pleasure to do business with. Everything was PERFECT I was so excited when I saw and drove the car! We had budgeted only 2 hours to spend at his house, but we got lost in talking and found that 4 hours had elapsed. He showed us the service history and even had pictures from the first owner. Fun Fact: the second owner was also named Curtis! We said our goodbyes and made our way back to Knoxville to return the rental. On the drive back I instantly learned that I did not like the z1 short shifter, it was too notchy and hard to shift. I also found that there was a vibration that came in and out of existence (wheel balancing) we gassed up with 93 octane and made our way west. we visited family after getting the wheels balance and finally started home. We played chicken with the low fuel light after I missed a few rest stops in the pitch black countryside. It was just past 1:30 when we finally ended up stopping just east of Memphis. The hotel was fine since we needed a place to sleep.
We woke up to a wet morning and set off again. After a day of driving, fueling up, and enjoying the roads. It was surprisingly difficult to decide on a time to eat because of the time zone changes and the continuing urge to drive just one more mile, we were always starving when we stopped. We chatted about future mods to put on the car for over an hour in Oklahoma. For dinner we stopped in Amarillo at the Texas Roadhouse. We got lost since we accidentally selected the center of Amarillo to navigate through. once we arrived, we ordered a steak, snacked on some peanuts, and I somehow chatted up a server that was into cars. (she had a turbo supra). We hopped back on the road for a while and blasted our way to Albuquerque. We even managed to get some pulls on the open highway in the cool desert air. We then stopped at the best/final hotel of the trip in Albuquerque, passed out and recharged our batteries. Day 3 travel: 
We ate breakfast before heading out on our last leg of the trip. Since we hadn’t done any touristy things we decided to stop at a mining museum (it was ok…) there was a great place for some pictures of the car right next to it though. Once we arrived in Arizona I swear we saw the Vegas car on a transport going east, we didn’t realize it to get the phones out. What are the odds that the Vegas car gets sold and shipped back while we are on our way back? (I want to believe it….) Hands down one of my favorite roads has got to be the I-40 near flagstaff, it’s beautiful. Day 4 Travel: 
I am now hypervigilant of other yellow cars on the road, this was at a gas station in Arizona. (friend has an Xterra) 
We enjoyed some desert storms on the drive back. I tucked behind some slow moving trucks and removed the ttop covers. The post Dave N made has more pictures of the rain. Nature put on quite a show for us. We avoided the worst of the storms thankfully since all of our phones went off multiple times with emergency alerts for flooding. We finally made it home after midnight, 2 hours later than expected due to the blue cut fire and CA-91 construction. we were delayed more than 30 minutes and had to deal with the worst execution of a detour I have ever experienced.
I took the following day to recover and get the car situated. Got the tires aligned and Found a hand wash that would take the car and got it all cleaned up, the car was a shade darker due to the road dust!
Waxed the z after we got back. 
It’s amazing that there were never any issues with the car. My greatest fear was to have to rent a U-Haul for a 1-way trip due to the car being older than me. We just sat in the car and let it eat up the miles. We encountered some redneck trucks that wanted to prove their size but other than that the traffic was pretty courteous and attentive. I found that Tennesee drivers are crazy fast drivers, all other states are pretty mellow, and Californians are clueless left lane hogs! My next challenge is to get the car registered and smogged (just had to replace o2 sensors since it kept failing). With the help of my dad we were able to even get the oem shifter back in. Everyday I wake up and drive the car, I have a huge smile on my face! its a real head turner even when you're driving next to a bunch of exotics! I once again want to thank darkwitn for keeping such a pristine car.
I hope to see you guys at the coming conventions so I can tell my story in more detail. I'm sure I left out some details since this is such a long post.
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I can check this off my bucket list - 
