My friend soon realized why he can’t take me out anywhere.
I am somewhat of a shutterbug. I have the habit of taking pictures of any old car, sign, or antique that catches my eye. Often, I will disregard warning signs and good common sense to do so. On this particular outing, he and I had taken a break from playing games at a local arcade to spend time walking the neighborhood. As we went walking down the street, I saw something that I hadn’t seen in years…
A Zenith and RCA sign! The building looked as if it hadn’t been open in decades. My friend warned me not to get too close, because this wasn’t the best part of town. He suggested I stand farther back to take the picture of the show room clean Mercury Zephyr you see below:
The subject of today’s article was found down the road from a place we decided to eat at that next day. This 1969 Datsun 1600 Roadster was found sitting behind a small lube shop, parked between a minivan and SUV from the mid 2000’s. It’s candy apple red paint glinted in the sun. I am such a sucker for old red cars, that I ducked under the guardrail and made my way to where it sat as my friend jogged behind me to keep up.
I asked the shop if I could take pictures and happily snapped away while my friend laughed and waited, saying all this walking we’d been doing was good for cardio if nothing else.
Seeing it sparked a memory about my great grandmother. In the 1960’s, she used to race a car she had called a “little yellow Honda”. When she’d tell me about her racing days, I would always have a hard time believing her, because it sounded too incredible. Yet, seeing this Datsun reminded of the time I found her old racing helmet in a bowling bag after she had passed away. I could never be sure exactly what she had driven, but I’d like to think it might have been something like this.
Of course, I can’t find anything with online VIN decoders, but I’d love to hear what light the readers of this article can shed on this car. Perhaps you or someone you know owned one?
Wow, an old television store? I love the old signs, and they sure bring back the days when shopping for a new TV was a genuine event.
Those Datsun 1600 roadsters were so appealing. I was always kind of amazed that they didn’t sell better than they did. And also curious why it couldn’t be updated to provide some showroom company to the 240-Z.
They did overlap, but briefly. After 5 months on sale, Nissan really needed extra capacity for Z car demand, so the roadster was dropped in April 1970.
These 1600 Roadsters sold quite well, I think. At least in California, perhaps not Indiana. They were very common for a while, certainly compared to the higher performance but near-lookalike 2000 Roadsters. But they did seem to disappear faster than the MGB, though not as fast as the Sunbeam Alpine. It’s very nice to see one now, though.
Vin decoder. SPL is a 1600. SRL is a 2000. 311 is the model number, means roadster. The rest of the numbers are the sequential production number. This one would be the 24,304 th 1600 produced.
When the 240z came along they were built in the same factory as the roadster. Since less than 55,000 or so roadsters were built over 9 years and nearly 80,000 240’s in it’s first year alone. One of them had to go.
Yes I do have one, a 67 1600, and no it is not a copy of the mgb.
Longroof, have you ever seen these in the wild? I can’t remember having ever seen one in the Hamilton area.
Nice little roadster though 🙂
I do recall some here in the New Orleans area….but not nearly as many as the later 240Z models.
There’s at least two around here; one I’ve written up. But I need to redo that CC as I was very wrong in falling for the common line that these were influenced stylistically by the MGB. Not so; they came out about the same time, and it was a Japanese designer that gets the credit.
The 1600 and 2000 were reasonably common in CA back in the day.
Very rare to see them in Ontario. Unless you happen to drop in on Z-fest, the annual car show put on by Ontario Zcar Owners Association, then you may see one or two. Other that the project in my garage and the one and a half totally disassembled parts cars in my basement there’s one in Smithville, two in Grimsby, one in Ancaster 3 or 4 in Kitchener/Waterloo and Guelph and a half dozen or so in the Toronto area.
About 7 years ago I saw a caravan of these cars driving down US 680 through Alamo. About 20 cars all together in the morning around 9:00 am. No doubt headed to some show or a simple outing. Lots of great colors. My brother had two of them himself years ago. I assume he got rid of them but I’m not sure since he does rent a warehouse to store all his automotive/motorcycle stash.
Friend in the Navy had a 2000 and we had lots of fun in it. I do recall that it was not all that durable or it could just be that Tony was too hard on it. This would have been in San Diego in 1969/1970.
Before the Miata, this was the MGB inspired Japanese sports car that actually started, ran well and didn’t bork up it’s internal fluids all over your driveway.
It actually wasn’t inspired by the MGB. It was designed by a Japanese stylist and was shown at the 1961 Tokyo auto show before the MGB was ever released.
Your description of the MGB is grossly stereotyped, but I know it’s convenient to fall back to that. Less work than a more nuanced description. But no “Prince of Darkness” in your comment, so you get a partial pass. 🙂
My MGB comparison was supplied by various car magazines of the 1960’s.
Always pleased & flattered that you notice what I post here, Paul, even if we don’t always agree. Often we do agree on a car; but not every time.
Tank Gawd that Lucas did not infect Japanese cars!
Your ggma could have driven a Honda S800. A few of them made it to the states semi-legally. I had the privilege of driving one, belonging to a rich friend. Loads of fun and FAST.
It would be interesting if you could trace her story. She might have been mentioned in some newspaper articles?
I realize the “MGB rip off” thing has been debunked, but given (not ancient at the time) history between Datsun and BMC, isn’t it possible that certain current or former staff members at both companies had a clue as to what each other was up to?
What if (shock horror) the MGB project took a few hints from the Datsun?
Certainly the engine bays look very British, with the Hitachi/SU carbs and BMC-like engine.
There is a possible common connection: Pininfarina. The Italian design firm had a contract with BMC, and styled many of their cars during this period. Apparently not the MGB directly, but they consulted on it, and it has a very decided PF vibe.
PF also had a consulting contract with Nissan about this time, and the 410 sedan/wagon was clearly a product of that. And perhaps they played a similar role with the Fairlady roadster.
Maybe our expert Don Andreina knows.
The “PF Connection” is indeed an intriguing one and quite possible!
I was wondering if Micholetti might have had a hand in it. The treatment of the headlights intersected by the crease line and that bonnet scoop in particular only just pre-date similar features on his Triumph 2000 and the kick-up over the rear wheels is a bit like that on the Spitfire, albeit without the dropping line.
Certainly prettier than an MGB.
People tend to underestimate the engineering abilities of Japanese car companies in the 1960s because they weren’t producing any cars for export, and the domestic market was all about small cars because gasoline costs, taxes, and other regulations made large cars prohibitively expensive. However, there were some amazing cars made. You’ll remember the Toyota 2000, but less known are the Mid 60’s Honda Formula One cars, including the Honda RA272 which won the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix, leading from start to finish. Least known of all may be the Prince R380 which set several speed records in 1965 and succeeded in beating the reigning Porsche 906s at the Japanese Grand Prix in 1966.
You are also probably not familiar with the Prince company but you know the descendants of the cars they made, and for which Nissan bought the company: the Skyline.
Show in attached picture is the Prince R380 as it appeared at Amelia Island two years age….it looks similar to a Ford GT but, once again, the Japanese developed the R380 prior prior to Ford’s development of the GT
Not car related.
Where I spent most of my childhood, just west of Chicago, was the last US picture tube plant. It was a Zenith plant and, as such, had the giant Z+lightning bolt logo on a sign off the road. That was a point of pride around there. My grandfather worked for a local restaurant. They shut themselves down for his 80th birthday for a private party and his big present was a Zenith TV, the old wooden console kind that sat on the floor with a swivel. After he and my grandmother died, it sat until I got back from college and I used the heck out of that old Zenith till it died.
I’m also an old ham radio guy, so the same way some of you see Packard and Pontiac, I get on Hallicrafters and Zenith.
Edit: I remembered it was the Rauland plant. Here’s an article:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-10-06-9810080004-story,amp.html
Saw this 2000 at a show a few years ago.
Nice Datsun!! prefer the 510. I’ll take that Zephyr!
I had one – a silver 1967. I bought it for $1,000 in 1974. It went through a clutch and a transmission in the year I had it. Sold it for $800 when I left to go to graduate school in 1975.
Funny story… these little convertibles weren’t all that uncommon in Seattle in the mid 70’s. One time I was driving home from Portland doing about 70 just after the speed limit was lowered to 55. I ran through a radar check point, so I quickly got off the interstate and tooled around for a bit. I got back on the freeway and resumed my trip north. There I saw an identical silver Datsun 1600 pulled over and a very irate driver yelling at the state trooper.
These didn’t last very long in the St. Louis environment of snow and salt, but I always had an eye for them.
More to my taste: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_S_series