| Short story: just picked up a completely stock Arctic White Pearl 1995 TT 5spd with 75,000 miles on it, from the original owner, in Ohio, drove it 2,232 miles back to CA. The End. Long story: About a month ago I was browsing around AutoTrader and came across a 1995 TT black on black 5spd in Springboro, OH. I e-mailed ali300zx about it since he was the first TT.net member I remembered off the top of my head who lives in Ohio. He directed me to Tim, SilverTwin(OH), since he is closer to Springboro. By this time, the AutoTrader ad was removed and according to the e-mail reply I got the car was sold. Fast forward to Friday 4/17. I was bored and once again browsing AutoTrader and came across a newly listed 1995 TT. It just had been posted with only 3 views. Coincidentally this one was also posted in Springboro OH. What are the odds of two low mileage 1995 TTs in the same city in Ohio? I guess all of them are hiding out there. Nonetheless, I e-mailed Tim and asked him if he knows the vehicle and if he is willing to inspect it for me. Tim got back to me and told me that surprisingly he does not know the vehicle personally but is willing to go out and inspect it. At this point I did not hesitate and called the seller. After speaking to the seller I found out that he is the original owner, car has never been modified and completely stock. No accidents, no major work done. Asked him if he is OK with a friend going and inspecting the car for me, and the seller was OK with it. Tim went above and beyond helping me with this, he met up with the seller and inspected the car for me thoroughly and even did a compression check for me. After an extensive report and a phone conversation he told me that "it is one of the cleanest Zs I have seen for sale in a long while". With the inspection Tim mentioned that the vehicle is in need of a timing belt replacement as it never had it done, a lot of cosmoline in the engine bay and while the tires look brand new, they are 12 years old and he highly recommends changing them if I plan on driving it back to CA. After this conversation, I promptly called the seller and informed him I would like to purchase the vehicle and informed him that I will fly to Ohio, purchase the vehicle in person and drive it back to CA. Decided to fly out on Friday 4/24 and get to Ohio Saturday 4/25. 
Before flying out, I started making arrangements to prepare the car for a cross country trip. I purchased tires for the stock wheels (Toyo Proxes) and had them drop shipped to a National Tire & Battery shop local to the seller. Purchased a full 120k kit and OEM spark plugs from ZSpeedPerformance (Joe Allison @ ZSpeedPerformance went above and beyond to make sure the parts arrive on time, great customer service, thanks Joe) and had the parts dropped ship to RameyZ so that Brett and Tim could change the timing belt. Ended up having oil, oil filter and painters tape also drop shipped to RameyZ in addition of everything else. Luckily I was able to talk a buddy of mine into volunteering to come out and drive the car back with me. Took a red eye flight out of LAX to Cincinnati Ohio on Friday 4/24 at 10:30 PM and got to Cincinnati at 8:00 AM. The seller was kind enough to drive an hour and half to the airport to pick us up. Drove to his house and got down to business. 
The transaction was completed around lunch time which gave my buddy and me enough time to meet up with Tim and his family for lunch. Met up with Tim and family for lunch then set out to get the tires changed. Well this particular Saturday it was raining all day which resulted in getting lost a lot a bunch of time trying to get to the tire shop. Eventually we found the shop and got the tires changed. Surprisingly, for the first time, the tires/wheels were mounted correctly and no wheel police were called. They were even nice enough to let me drive the car in and out and listened to me when I explained to them were the pads for the hoist should be mounted so that they didn’t crush the pinch weld on the frame. After a long day, it was time to get to the hotel and rest up since I hadn’t gotten much sleep during the flight. Sunday morning was set aside for the timing belt replacement. I had an appointment at RameyZ at 10:30 am. I was a little worried that the job would take too long since I wanted to be on the road by 3:00 PM. Tim assured me that “we have enough time to replace the engine if need be”. As I was driving to Ramey Z, I started reminiscing about seeing a picture of the shop back in 2004-2005 with all the Zs lined up in front of it and never thinking of actually ever being there in person. As we pulled up onto the driveway, we were in awe of Tim’s beautiful Z, while we were checking out Tims ‘s Z, Tim pulled the Z in and along with Brett they started tearing into it. 
It was amazing seeing Tim and Brett work; they truly make a great team. During the work we talked to them about past Z work and their personal Zs. As time went by other Z32 owners showed up to hang out, or drop their cars off which added to the experience since it is always a treat to hang out with Z enthusiasts and shoot the shit. There were some clean 300ZXs there, and we got to see an immaculate 1995 Arctic White Pearl who is owned by a gentleman named Chris. Hopefully as I start cleaning up mine it will eventually be as clean as his Z. Long story short, Brett and Tim changed the timing belt, changed out the spark plugs (at some points NA plugs were installed when previous owner had maintenance done), changed the oil and filter, and flushed the clutch fluid since it was extremely dirty. We also installed the first modification on the car, a set of K&N air filters for the stock air box. Tim removed the air box cover so we could check out the filters, and while the filters seemed OK we found some garbage left over by a squirrel, that got cleaned up and a set of K&N filters installed for the long drive home. I guess the Z is now at stage 0.25. Tim promptly congratulated me on the first modification on my Z. Next up was my attempt to tape up the front of the Z, well my attempt to tape the front end was futile as it was my first time doing it, Brett threw in some pointers but Tim soon took over and taped the front end up. We took the car out of a test drive; everything checked out and was good to go. We said our farewells and headed out. After grabbing lunch, filling the car up with fuel, our official departure time was Sunday 4/26 @ 3:30 PM. The drive overall was uneventful. Going through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois was calm, relaxing and scenic. I was a bit bummed out since I had a GoPro to take time lapse pictures during our trip, but sadly I goofed and forgot the car charger so I was unable to use it. At times we had to make stops to patch up the tape but it held up well for the most of the trip until it got wet. 
It was awesome driving over the Mississippi and driving by the Gateway Arch. Sadly we passed by it roughly around 9:00 PM so other than driving by it and checking out the landscape there wasn't much else to do. Our first stop ended up being in Springfield MO around roughly 1:00 AM Monday.
The next day we set out and quickly made our way into Oklahoma. This is when things started going south. Firstly, we had no idea that there are tolls to get on and off the freeway in OK. We exited the freeway for a bathroom stop and that is when we realized it. Also, never knew there were drive thru Pizza Huts. 
Right about Oklahoma City things got pretty bad. The weather decided not to co-operate and it started raining hard. At one point I thought it was hail since the drops were hitting the car so hard. At this point my buddy was driving so he hit the hazard lights and started driving extremely cautiously. As we are paying attention and making sure everything is going well, this new orange Camero blasts by us going extremely fast, we thought nothing of it and kept continuing on, but 5 miles ahead while transitioning from one freeway to another we saw him in a ditch with mud all the way up to the side windows. He/she should have slowed down. We had some close calls, almost saw a big rig jack knife, got lost and barely avoided some big puddles on exit ramps and luckily did not hydro lock the engine. Finally we got on the correct freeway and made our way into Texas. I soon found out there is almost NOTHING in northern part of Texas. 
At this point Dave N was kind enough to start texting me and checking up on us to make sure we are still alive and well. He had done this trip with his father previously, towing his Z from MA to CA. He recommended that we stop at Texas Roadhouse for dinner and that if we make it to Tucumcari New Mexico then we will be set for one day drive back home. We decided to do just that. Since it was still raining we drove slow and ended up getting to Texas Roadhouse at about 8:00 PM, ate food like we have never ate before, then decided to hit up AutoZone for some new wiper blades and a gas station. We made it to Tucumcari at about 10:00 PM. After checking into a hotel, and a little encounter with some hostile locals in the parking lot, ended up calling it a night. The next morning, Tuesday 4/28, we partially pulled the tape that was peeling off from the car and re-taped the front end. I am so glad we re-taped it. Luckily back in MO we stopped at a Walmart and bought more tape which came in handy. Since the rain had stopped we set off and blasted through NM. It was a long stretch and by the time we got to Arizona we felt like kings. 
Arizona for the most part ended up being beautiful and scenic. Was uneventful until we hit random rain halfway through, and had to avoid a small little tornado carrying tumbleweeds through the freeway. Luckily I managed to avoid the tumbleweeds masterfully; I coughed it up to luck, being able to avoid the tumbleweeds. Our next stop was at Flagstaff AZ. By the time we made it to CA, we were in shock that we had managed to drive this long of a distance, and how the Z performed phenomenally. Other than having to fill it up with gasoline, and changing the wiper blades, we did not have to do anything else. 
For the most part of the trip, gasoline was priced extremely reasonably and we were able to get 91-93 octane for roughly $2.50 a gallon. As soon as we hit CA, we had to make a gas stop by Needles CA. Almost no gas stations, so we were forced to pull into this spot called High Sahara Oasis, this place was random and this is how much “91” octane cost us: 
Ended up getting 5 gallons, and waiting till we got to a legitimate gas station. At this point we were home free, about 150 miles from home and cruising. Ended up getting home on Tuesday 4/28 at 11:00 PM, said farewells to my buddy and tucked the Z in the garage for the night. Next morning I removed the painters tape, thanked the lord we decided to put the tape on based on the number of bugs on the tape, and washed the vehicle. Wednesday consisted of getting the car smogged, registered and insured. Passed smog with flying colors. 
Overall it was a fantastic adventure and experience. Never imagined I would purchase a vehicle 2,000 miles away from home. I am grateful and thankful for Tim going above and beyond helping me during this purchase. If he had not offered to go and inspect the car, then work around his and Brett’s busy schedule to change the timing belt, this would have not happened. Of course, cannot forget that all of this wouldn't have been possible if it was not for TT.net I tell this story to family and friends and get asked "how did you know someone in Ohio?" which I reply "TT.net, a Z forum".
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Z Addiction - 
