We’ve all gotten over our heads on projects that are simply not going to see the light of day or feel the warmth of the pavement beneath their wheels. What’s doubly unfortunate is when those same projects are forced to sit outside waiting for a day that will never come. That’s the tale of woe for this pair of Datsun “Fairlady” 1500 Roadsters, both of which are described as longtime Arizona cars with minimal rust. However, both cars have an assortment of issues to resolve and the seller has spent some real money on valuable parts to fix those issues, but it all appears to be sitting outside. Both cars are being sold via one listing here on eBay where there’s currently one bid to $3,000.

Over the years, I’ve owned a variety of non-runners that needed some serious love to get going. In all of those cases, I figured out in advance where they would need to be stored before taking them on. It could be an actual storage facility; a friend’s garage; or a shop that pledged to work on it. My goal was always the same, which was to get it out of the elements when it wasn’t being worked on. The first long-term project car that I still own, a 1987 BMW 325is, has been moved around to so many storage locations over the years that I stopped counting when it spent time in five different garages, some in neighboring states! Fortunately, Arizona is kind to outdoor cars, but the seller does note that you’ll have to clean out the spiders and leaves inside the blue roadster.

The blue car is believed to be a desirable early production model, with the listing noting that it is a genuine low-VIN example that was manufactured in 1964. The seller found it sitting in a garage for decades and brought it home, proceeding to remove the engine and transmission and then ceasing all forward progress. The engine and transmission have been sitting outside ever since, and the seller noted “… #3 cylinder wall gouges” when it was removed. The red Roadster has its engine installed but was purchased with the knowledge that the transmission was bad and a replacement unit is included in the trunk. Fortunately, the hardtop has kept the interior of the red Datsun in much better shape; it’s pretty much trashed in the blue car.

The outdoor storage of significant drivetrain components is always a head-scratcher to me, but I guess it’s a pain to move an engine once it’s on the ground. Rollers and dollys with wheels have always been a useful garage accessory for when I had to move spare transmissions (that I never used) around. The seller clearly had big plans not involving the original engine, however, as he has a JDM SR20DE engine and 5-speed transmission that will be included in the sale. You’ll still have to source a CPU for it, however, so nothing here is exactly “easy.” What do you think is a fair price for this pair of project-grade Roadsters?