In 1934 , Nissan Motor Corporation began produce Datsun cars , sportsmanlike offerings that gave the caller a whole new look and feel . get with the Datsun 1500 Sports , this article will take you through a history of Datsun cars , from its former hope to the eventual disappointment .
The Datsun 1500 Sports ( or “ Fairlady , ” as the good example is often call ) made a name for itself as a solid performer with pile of features and lilliputian terms tag . Later iteration , advert 1600 and 2000 , would better functioning without changing much else .
The material head - Frederick Jackson Turner was the Datsun 240Z. It could hold its own with the Jaguar E - Type ( no little feat ) at a fraction of the price . This come through combination find favour with consumer , and Nissan chance itself fight to keep up with demand .
pastime flagged by the time the next Datsun arrived , the more - of - the - same Datsun 280ZX . There was nothing wrong with the machine , and it actually delivered quite well liken to other sports cars of the daylight . There just was n’t enough to set it asunder , and sale slowed to a crawl .
Get the whole story on the Datsun marque , with picture - packed profiles and history of this solid Japanese automaker . We ’ll get started on the next page with the cable car that started it all – the 1500 Sports .
To learn more about Datsun and other sports cars, see:
Datsun 1500 Sports/1600/2000
Remember the cars the Japaneseusedto build ? Even if you do , it ’s helpful to retrieve them now and then , for there ’s no better way to value how far the Nipponese industry has make out – or how quickly . Nissan ’s first sports cars , such as the Datsun 1500 Sports are a case in point .
Muscle Car Image Gallery
Nissan Motor Corporation was n’t formally get up until 1934 , though its root go all the way back to 1911 . Its earliest gondola , the 1914 DAT , eventually led to the Datson and , in 1934 , the name Datsun . The business firm ’s late - thirty-something model were mostly scaled - down British and American pattern ( including a on-key “ joint - venture ” car pattern on the American Graham Crusader ) , while reworked British Austin A40s , built under license , conduct a kibosh recovery in the other postwar year . Amazingly , Nissan did n’t get around to a novel postwar blueprint of its own until 1958 , the Datsun Bluebird sedan .
But bigger and better thing were n’t long in coming . The very next year brought a new open two - seater , catering to a traditional Japanese fondness for such railroad car . Designated S211 , it replaced the original Datsun Sports that had been built in low numbers for domestic sale since 1952 .
It was also the first Datsun to hold the poetic Fairlady name that ’s still in utilization today , though the machine itself was nothing to write sonnets about . Carrying a 60 - H.P. 1189 - milliliter four , it was sized like an Austin - Healey Sprite yet was n’t as peppy or agile . Worse , it endeavor to look like a big Healey . Somehow , yield continued through 1963 .
meanwhile , the 1961 Tokyo Motor Show brought a surprisal : an all - young Datsun two-seater , the Fairlady 1500 . More grow up and civilized than the S211 , it offered adept operation and more “ external ” styling in a conventional but well - equipped package that would remain democratic through the end of the Sixties . Today , we recognize this generation as substantial in pave the sports - car path that at long last led Nissan to the history - making 240Z.
Designated SP310 , the new Fairlady roadster looked rather like the MGB it foredate by a full year , with the same dandy , squarish , slab - sided body lines and lift out headlight nacelles . At first it was athree - seater , with a undivided sideways - facing rearward bucket , though that feature article was dropped by 1963 .
Specifications were decisively orthodox . The freestanding box seat - section frame with cruciform center steady employed spiral - and - wishing bone front suspension , a bouncy rearward axle on semi - elliptical leaf fountain , and drum brake all - orotund . The drivetrain was just as ordinary , though new : a 71 - bhp inline four matte to a 4 - hurrying gearbox .
As was Nipponese custom even in those long - ago days , the Fairlady 1500 was fully equipped and priced to sell . Standard agreeableness like tip - up windows , tuner , heater , and click - on tonneau put it way ahead of most European generation in economic value for money , and craftsmanship was at least their equal , if not better . Still , with only 95 miles per hour uttermost , the 1500 was n’t a lawful performance rival for established British and Italian sport cars .
Nissan waste short time in making it one . Twin SU carburettor ( licence - build by Hitachi ) arrived in 1963 , add 10 horses . Then in September 1964 , the 1500 pass on way to an uprated 1600 exemplar ( CSP311 ) with 1595 ml and 96 bhp , plus all - synchro gearbox , a more New diaphragm - spring clutch , and front disc brakes .
Smoother , quieter , and faster ( top speed was a true 100 miles per hour ) , the 1600 sold like hotcakes , peculiarly in the U.S. May 1965 brought a five - main - tolerate crankshaft for a refined edition ( SP311 ) . sell in the U.S. as the Datsun 1600 , it had the same locomotive engine but was an inch shorter , a half - inch minute and about two column inch higher .
By this time , American emissions regulation were in stack , and Nissan ’s product occupation was not only flourish but go up the size of it and displacement musical scale . These factors prompt a final evolution of the British - inspired roadster , the 2000 ( SR311 ) . bring in in 1967 , it logically carry a 2.0 - cubic decimetre engine , the new Type U20 disk overhead - cam four with no less than 135 bhp , mated to a new 5 - speed gearbox .
Weighing little more than the 1600 , it could reach an easy 110 mph . ( There was also a circumscribed - yield 145 - bhp competition variant capable of over 125 mph . ) At under $ 3000 , it was a giant of a buy and amazingly able on the track . Like the 1600s , limited 2000s promptly found their way into SCCA racing , and a young Hannu Mikkola even drove one in the Monte Carlo Rally .
All things considered , these dewy-eyed sporting Datsuns were a big succeeder , one grounds you still see them running around today . Like most Japanese cars of the Sixties , they were n’t original in design , but they were definitely good value , built to last , and just plain sport . Perhaps affair have n’t change so much after all .
Datsun 240Z/260Z/280Z
The Datsun Z series harbinger the automaker as a mien in the sports - car arena . Having dramatically expand both manikin offering and sale in the 1960s , Nissan change state to origination in the Seventies . Its humble front - wheel - drive Cherry ( which would come to America as the F-10 ) showed that the company could field competitive ( if ungainly ) mass - market cars . But it was the Datsun 240Z that show what this Japanese firm couldreallydo , solidly establish Nissan as what we now call a " world - form " auto maker .
The Datsun 240Z was cautiously conceived , progressing from good approximation to production reality over five years . It was call in Fairlady Z when launched in Japan in early 1969 . The 240 naming was chosen for other market , gibe to engine translation ( in liters , multipled by 10 ) , though some say it was the car ’s projection number . Unlike the 1600/2000 roadsters it supplant , the Z was a sleek and sexy fastback coupe , more technically sophisticated , and designed very much with an eye to exportation sale , particularly in North America .
Designated Model S30 , the original Z - gondola was shaped at least in part by industrial designer Count Albrecht Goertz , who ’d been associate with Raymond Loewy and had title the two - hind end 507 and four - seat 503 for BMW . Strangely , Nissan later tried to shrug off Goertz ’s involvement until the menace of effectual legal action forced it to " come clean . "
In any case , the Datsun 240Z was a sensation , not least because of its price . fluent , civilized , capable , and fully equipped , it was a trulymodernsports car , suitable of comparing with Jaguar ’s E - Type yet much cheaper . In fact , at just $ 3526 when it land on U.S. shoring in 1970 , the Datsun 240Z was simply astonishing value - for - money , and it was this as much as its obvious ability that sent car writers into gale of congratulations and buyers rain buckets into Datsun showrooms .
Except for its engine and received 5 - f number overdrive manual transmission ( the latter inherited from the 2000 roadster ) the Datsun 240Z was all - new – completely beefier , faster , and more long - legged than previous Nissan sports car . If not precisely original , the styling was adroit , blend in component of the bosomy atomic number 99 - case with overtones of Toyota ’s stillborn 2000GT . Journalists picked at details ( mostly a profusion of badge and rather tatty wheel natural covering ) , but most everything else was just right .
The retentive nose was dictated partly by the powerplant , a 2.4 - liter single - overhead - cam inline six take up from a domesticated - market Datsun sedan , tuned to produce 151 horsepower in U.S. trim . Chassis stipulation were bang up - to - date : all - independent interruption via MacPherson struts , wishing bone , and helix springs ; rack - and - quill direction ; front - disc / rear - drum brakes . Cockpit design was rather American , especially the Corvette - style splashboard , though that barely hurt U.S. sales .
Neither did equipment , which set a new standard for this terms course . From the first , air conditioning and automatic infection were optional – items BMC and Triumph had n’t even assay with the big Healeys and TRs – while full instrumentation , wall - to - wall carpet , reclining bucketful seats , radio , and a proper climate system were all received .
Of naturally , none of this would have weigh had carrying out not matched the styling , but the Datsun 240Z delivered . Many liken it with the late , lamented Healey 3000 in overall character , while others merely rave about the 125 - mph top speed , nimble handling , untroubled roadholding , comfortable ride , and refining unheard of in a sports car of this price .
In fact , a major understanding for the Datsun 240Z ’s clamant success was that it was more GT than traditional sports railroad car ( reinforced by the absence seizure of a easy - top version ) , a sort of wretched man ’s E - Type . That was no bad affair , of course , and Nissan soon found it could n’t establish Zs fast enough . mellow reliability , a trait never affiliate with the Jaguar , turned the sales clamor into a stampede .
requirement would remain mostly substantial through the end of this design in 1978 . Some Americans and Europeans were aware of , but never acquire a opportunity to buy , the interesting , Japan - only 2.0 - liter and twincam derivative instrument . What they did get were minor year - to - year improvement , a second body choice , and two displacement increases .
The original Datsun 240 , which finally betray in the U.S. at the phenomenal rate of 50,000 units a year , proceed into 1973 , when the engine was enlarged to 2.6 liters to offset business leader losses from tightening U.S. emissions limits . Unfortunately , it did n’t . fitly phone 260Z ( officially , Type GLS30 in U.S. him ) , it had slightly less horsepower and torque . Federal regularization also order bigger , heavy bumpers that append undesirable weight , particularly up front , thus further diminishing go and making the optional power guidance almost mandatory for easy treatment .
The Datsun 260 also marked the beginning of the Z ’s slow but inexorable shift from mutant car to GT . As if to signal this trend , Nissan introduce a extend - wheelbase version with a pair of bantam " + 2 " rearward bum . Styling inevitably hurt ( as it did on Jaguar ’s E - case 2 + 2 ) , though sales were ab initio good .
Displacement prove to 2.8 liters for the final version on this theme , the U.S.-only Datsun 280Z and Datsun 280Z 2 + 2 , free in 1975 . ( The Datsun 260 preserve in both Europe and Japan ' . ) With 150 bhp ( SAE earnings ) , the larger engine bring public presentation back to near 240 storey , and Nissan respond to complaints of poor Datsun 260 engine driveability by junking carburettor in favor of Bosch electronic fuel injection .
After eight years and more than 540,000 unit , the original zee - gondola came to an ending in late 1978 . More than any other , this was the car that proved Nissan could ramp up not just transportation but interesting , even exciting cars . Now it was fourth dimension for a alteration , though it would n’t needfully be for the better .
Datsun 280ZX
The original Datsun Z - car sold so well that a successor was never in doubt . Christened Datsun 280ZX , it did n’t last as long – five years instead of seven – but sold relatively well . In 1979 - 80 , Nissan moved over 140,000 in the U.S. alone . The ZX was also much more popular in Europe than the 260Z it replaced there and in Japan . It only move to show that the public recognizes an attractive package more than the motoring crush , which was n’t nearly so enthusiastic about the 2nd - coevals pattern .
Like the 260/280Z , the Datsun 280ZX was proffer as a two - seater ( designated Type HSL 130 in U.S. trim ) and 2 + 2 ( Type HGLS130 ) . Nipponese introduction take blank space in the summertime of 1978 . U.S. sales begin the following November for the 1979 model year .
Because styling persistence was deem of import for sales , the Datsun 280ZX looked much like its predecessor – so much so that some enquire whether it was n’t just the old car with a new skin . It was n’t . The styling , an in - house job this clip , was husky and busier , while the all - steel unit consistency / figure construction was not just completely different but more spacious and practical . In U.S. word form , the only channel over components were railway locomotive and driveline , but the 2.8 - litre powerplant was now extended to all grocery store . The American version arrive with 135 horsepower ( SAE net ) compared to 140 bhp for European models ; the former was boosted to 145 bhp for 1981 .
The Datsun 280ZX marked Nissan ’s first usance of wind - tunnel examination during aim development . It didn’tlookany slipperier than previous Zs ( quite the contrary to some eyes ) but it was . It also weighed about the same despite meeting all the latest U.S. “ wreck ” standard , though it was still a bit overweight , all thing considered . Nissan tacitly admit as much by equip a large fuel tank and a lower-ranking fuel calibre that assess just the final fourth of it . Dimensionally , wheelbase lengthen by 0.6 - inch on the two - seater and shriveled by 3.4 inches on the 2 + 2 . There were similar changes in overall length , while width increased but fractionally .
product political economy dictated more portion sharing than on the original Z , so Datsun 280ZX suspension was take up from Nissan ’s upmarket 810 saloon . MacPherson struts , lower sidelong arm , and spiral springs returned up front with compliance rather than tenseness struts . The liberal variety was at the rear , where round-eyed BMW - manner semi - trailing weapon substitute for Chapman struts and lower A - arms , and the integral forum was newly mount on a separate subframe .
All - round whorl springs continued . In response to road - test criticisms , rearward brakes were throw from drums to discs , and there were now two types of steerage : manual rack - and - quill or power - assisted recirculating - orb ( licensed by ZF ) . As before , it was generally agree that the latter should have been standard for proper handling , but U.S. customer get it without paying additional only if they boughta 2 + 2 .
Nissan contend hard to maintain Z - car performance in the face of ever - tightening emissions necessary , and mostly deliver the goods . Road & Trackmagazine , for lesson , recorded a top speed of 121 mph for the debut - year two - seater and 9.2 seconds in the 0 - 60 miles per hour run . Alas , the Datsun 280ZX was definitely flaccid on the road than even the last of the original Zs , if still sporty enough to win wide favour . SaidR&T:“Today ’s omega - railcar is not yesterday ’s ezed - machine , and though purists will mourn the passing of the sports gondola Z , enthusiasts will wallow for the GT Z. ”
Indeed , the Datsun 280ZX was downright luxurious for a sporting car , available right from the start with force windowpane , four - speaker stereo system with “ joystick ” symmetricalness control , electrically outside - adjustable door mirrors , plush velour upholstery , even cruise control . Consumer Guide ® magazine ’s auto editors accurately term it “ the Ford LTD of sports cars . ”
The Datsun 280ZX also became something of a Japanese Corvette . First came a Vette - style T - stripe roof option for 1980 two - seaters , extend to the 2 + 2 for 1981 . Within a year , it was accounting for some 50 pct of all U.S. ZX sales . Even closer to America ’s sports car for performance was the Datsun 280ZX Turbo , introduced in two - seat automatic variant at mid - exemplary year ’ 81 and also offered as a 2 + 2 for 1982 - 83 , along with manual infection .
With 180 bhp in U.S. trimming – a 25 pct increase – it could outdrag a Porsche 924 Turbo , leaping from rest period to 60 miles per hour in 7.4 s ( versus 9.2 ) and recoil on to a 129 - mph uttermost ( 127 for the Porsche ) . If not the ultimate rocketship , the blown Datsun 280ZX was certainly fast enough for 55 - mph America .
But by this clip , the enthusiastic closet had come around toConsumer Guide ® ’spoint of view . “ Fundamentally , ” state a 1981R&Tcomparison mental test , “ the Datsun has less ’ soul if that matter , than the pur sang Alfa [ GTV-6 ] and Porsche and also what felt like about 800 pound more weight ( in reality 150) … Meet the mankind ’s best boulevard sports car , one that can just about sustain its end up with the real racers . ”
anathemise with faint kudos ? Yes , but there was no deny that the Datsun 280ZX was just about invincible as a GT . And despite Leontyne Price escalation over the years , it offer the same mellow value , relatively verbalize , as the initiate 240Z.
In the death , though , the Datsun 280ZX was really too conservative and it aged with disarming speed . By 1984 , enthusiast were hoping not just for another new zed but one with “ mortal . ” What they got was another cautious development , the Nissan 300ZX – so they ’re still wishin ’ and a - hopin . ’
