Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. How about a nice early Datsun Z?

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Here's one of the nicest street-driven 280Zs I've seen in a while.

Tom Cruise’s $30,000 toy Indy racer for his kid? Please. Consider this: an all-platinum Datsun Fairlady Z created by a Japanese jeweller to mark the 40th anniversary of model maker Tomica and the Fairlady Z itself.

It's a real head-scratcher: the Datsun/Nissan Z has plenty of six-banger power, independent rear suspension, four-wheel discs, good build quality… yet so far none has placed better than eighth in LeMons. Why is that?