Heres a restoration challenge for someone!

[old_datto_fan]

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It is such a shame to see such a rare car in that state.

There are two of these in NZ that I know about - for some reason their owners are not too keen to advertise the fact that they have them! Running gear is the same as my Datsun Roadster.

The first NISSAN SILVIA (CSP311) was a hand-built coupe based on the Fairlady 1500 (SP310) chassis, manufactured between 1964 and 1968. Designed by Kazuo Kimura, with later assistance and influence from Albrecht Goertz, the prototypes, including one left hand drive version, featured the Fairlady's 1500 engine. The 1964 Tokyo Motor Show car was badged the Datsun Coupe 1500. The production Silvia however, benefited from the 1595cc unit later used in the Fairlady 1600 (SP311), released in 1965. The Silvia featured bodywork built and assembled by Yamaha, and it was only built in small numbers. A total of just 554 were built, with the majority being sold in Japan, as well as 49 to Australia. She was originally sold in Japan alongside the Fairlady 1600 - see the Japanese full line brochure from 1966.
One right hand drive car was shipped from Tokyo to the New York Auto Show in April 1965. Because Nissan sold cars as Datsuns in the USA, it was badged a "Datsun 1600 Coupe". It received rave reviews for its styling, to a level that no other Japanese car had ever ever received. Albrecht Goertz added his logo to the car and used it as his personal transport for a short time. The coupe was then given to Datsun race driver Bob Sharp for him to trial for a period of 6 weeks. Although Bob described her as a 'nifty car', he concuded that the coupe was too small for the US market. The car was shipped directly back to Japan and the decision was made not to build a left hand drive production car. It would not succeed, but it had paved the way for the later - and larger - 240Z.

[dirtyleppa]

wow, thats really sad to see. would make one hell of a cool ratsun though

[datsunboy]

haha, that is a bit buggered!
but someone will fix it no doubt.

I know of a guy in Chch with one of them.....not sure if he's one of the 2 people you know? (he also doesnt like to advertise his ownership of it)