Bring a Trailer Sells Mascot 1973 Datsun 240Z for $124,240

• Online auction house Bring a Trailer is celebrating its 100,000th car sold with a special car: a 1973 Datsun 240Z.
• The Z has served as a mascot in the BaT headquarters since 2018.
• All of the proceeds of the sale went to the Piston Foundation, a nonprofit that provides scholarships and support for skilled trades programs in collector cars.

In the San Francisco-based headquarters of online auction house Bring a Trailer, a bright yellow 1973 Datsun 240Z has held court since 2018. As BaT approached the sale of its 100,000th car, the team wanted to commemorate the occasion in a special way, and that very 240Z was earmarked for a starring role.

Last week, BaT auctioned off the restored Datsun for a tidy sum: $124,240. But instead of keeping the profits, the team decided to pay it forward. One hundred percent of the proceeds, including the typical 5% buyer’s fee, were donated to the Piston Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds education in skilled trades programs for people who want to start a career in collector car restoration and services.

The Piston Foundation is a perfect match for the auction house, as many of Bring a Trailer's users (nearly a million at last count) and over 400,000 registered bidders are collectors themselves. BaT figured the 240Z would be a strong draw for this charity auction since it’s a symbol of both the culture of BaT and a celebration of how successful the site has become since its launch in 2007.

The Bring a Trailer team plucked the car from nearby Z Car Garage, which specializes in Datsun, Nissan and Infiniti Z, G and Q series cars. This 240Z has 44,000 miles on the clock, which includes a multi-city tour of rallies, displays, and meet-and-greet events for fans after the BaT team acquired the car. The Z was employed as an ambassador of sorts to bring the community together.

Finished in Lime Yellow, the Z is showing some signs of wear from its grand tour, but overall it's in beautiful shape. It rides on new Michelin tires wrapped around 16-inch Panasport wheels, and it’s powered by a 2.7-liter straight-six engine with Weber carburetors. The Z Car Garage measured the output in February of this year on a dynamometer, which showed 203 horsepower and 190 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels.

We hope whoever bought this gem is driving it, at least occasionally, and enjoying its charms.

Edmunds says

That six-figure price is well above what a typical 1973 240Z goes for in the current market, but the funds are going to a great cause: to help more young people learn how to restore collector cars. Bravo, Bring a Trailer!