This 1967 Datsun 1600 Roadster was known as a Fairlady in some other markets, a name that probably wouldn’t have worked in the US. It checks a lot of boxes for me, being a one-owner car, an Arizona car, and I’ve always wanted one. This example can be found here on eBay in Gilbert, Arizona with less than a day left on the auction, no reserve, and a current bid price of $7,200.
I can do without the slotted mags and white walls, but other than that I wouldn’t change a thing on this great looking car. One myth is that Nissan copied the MGB, but that car came out a few months after the Fairlady hit the market in Japan. The 1600 version came between the 1500 and 2000 cars and they were on the market from 1965 to 1970. At least in the US, both the 1600 and 2000 models were made at the same time from 1967 until 1970 when Nissan came out with the famous 240Z.
This car looks great to me, not perfect by any means but a great car to get your feet wet on the Sports/Fairlady roadsters. It also comes with a hardtop as you can see in the above photo, which adds some value. Hagerty is at $7,400 for a #4 fair condition car and $13,700 for a #3 good condition car so this one could be a good deal.
Other than a cracked padded dash, the interior looks good. Arizona is tough on interiors and they say that the carpets are in ok condition but there is a small rip in the driver’s seat. They also mention that the clock doesn’t work but the other gauges work and the soft top is need of replacement. They show us the underside and surface rust rears its ugly head, even in Arizona.
The engine should be Nissan’s 1.6L inline-four with just under 100 hp. It has somewhere over 67,000 miles on it and it gets used a couple of times a month and has always had premium gas in it. It’s “grumpy” when cold but runs good once it warms up. It could use a nice detailing and that air cleaner doesn’t look real clean. Have any of you owned a Datsun roadster?
The same car is on craigslist for $14,500! Will be interesting to see what happens with the auction.
https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/cto/d/san-tan-valley-1967-datsun-1600/7102725098.html
The Craigslist ad has been deleted by the author.
Steve R
I have a ’66 numbers matching 1600. I think I am second owner, have owned it since 1972. I bought a new ’66 out of high school but sold it when I enlisted. I wish I had my first one, it was babied. Putting my ’73 240Z on the road first, then the ’66.Fun cars for sure!
I’m jealous! Enjoy both of them!
I owned one as my first car in 1971 at 15 years old. I rebuilt the engine unfortunately was unfamiliar with a torque wrench at that young age, which led to premature failure. I believe I purchased the car from a school mates sister for $25.00. A great start on my journey with automobiles.
It will check a lot of boxes until you go looking for parts. The two or three sources for new parts work only when they feel like it, have bad websites, terrible customer service, and Ferrari prices. The one or two hoarders with the used parts are just as reprehensible. The only saving grace of this one is that it doesn’t have the 2000 OHC motor. Timing sets for those can reach north of $2500. For a Datsun.
All that said. This is the better MGB. Hands down.
It may be considered a myth but the resemblance to the mgb is too close to ignore.
Ebay says it sold for 7600.00
I would love to own one like this. Swell looking car.
The Japanese automobile industry was quasi a daughter of the British since its inception in the early 1920´s and those who knew this car called it tongue-in-cheek the best ¨english¨ sports car ever produced. Too bad i live in Chile, or I would be badly tempted to buy this beauty.
My sister had one of these in 1970 and drove it from PA to OK for college. She told me she had it up to 125 mph on the flat roads out there. She said the lights started blinking, lol.
My brother bought a 67 1/2 1600 when he was 15 in about ’75. non-running, Rusty. He rebuilt the engine, fixed much of the rust and painted it. He had it until he was 24-25. I think it went to a junk yard when the Navy sent him to Okinawa.
As a senior in college he bought a 2000 with Solexes race car. Great fun to drive, parts were hard to come by back then too. Though Datsun dealerships did still have some parts. The early 67s had the 3 main engine, 67 1/2 came out with the 5-main, as I recall. 68s had the higher windshield.
Datsun originally had a license to make its own version of Austin cars, as I understand it, and they patterned the first several years of cars coming here after their BMC counterparts. However, lest we fall into the “just a copy” trap, I remember our Alaska Sports Car Club president, whose job included selling MGs, coming in from his first drive in one of these roadsters shaking his head and muttering, “How can they DO it for the price?” At $2500 F.O.B. Port of Anchorage, the 1600 roadster was about $1000 less than the current MGB, with a much better top and heater and a more comfortable interior, and about the same performance. It also started better from cold … As a car dealer, Rudy’s only “advantage” was his nice big showroom vs. the Datsun guy’s gravel corner lot … and lower overhead!
I’ve driven several of these, and the 2000s as well, and they are extremely nice cars that not only hold together well but punch well above their bracket. Body-on-frame, yes, but you’d never know it from the driver’s seat, and any rust is less likely to be fatal.
True story! Austin was a great make – the first BMW, the ¨Dixi¨ way back 90 years ago was an Austin.
The VERY basic design of the Austin 7 was cheap and easy to make, and while Austin did not make massive amounts of money on each one they quickly became even more of an Everyman’s car than the Model T, at least in the British market. But Mr. Austin made even more by selling licenses to manufacture it elsewhere, including to Bantam in the US and Dixi (BMW) in Germany. It also gave BMW a leg up away from depending of motorbikes and aircraft engines, and the simple Dixi platform gave them the steady income to develop more and more sophisticated chassis and engines, culminating in the brilliant 327 and 328.
well only thing i can tell you is that the datsun roadsters were actually not in competition with the MGB or MG they actually was in the competition with the TR3. But were not inclined to have the horse power as the TR3 did .
A seriously worked-over TR, maybe. But I never drove a TR3 with as much effortless power, either acceleration or cruising, as a Datsun 2000, and the 1600s could at least suck the doorhandles off an MGB. Or so I was told … by people who ran and sold MGBs. I do know that the only 1600 I drove (frequently) belonged to a co-worker, and was pretty much a rattletrap, but ridiculously quick off the line.