Hi, I am JD

[jdheinzmann]

I have a 1962 SPL-212, #121. I've had it since 1972. I drove it in college, took the body off in 1974, replaced a lot of rusted sheet metal, sand blasted, painted and undercoated the frame, rebuilt the engine, put it back together, drove it a little in graduate school, stored it in a barn in CT in 1981, then brought it to NH in 1998. In NH, I started the engine every once in a while and am now finally working to get it back on the road. The body is mostly solid but still needs a lot of work, including reversing some of the hammer welding I attempted with oxy-acetylene back in the 70's. The interior needs to be completely redone.

[Gregs672000]

Welcome, that's a very rare car as I understand. You may want to contact vendor Ross Mullen (Sports Imports) in Canada as I believe he has restored some to mint condition. Welcome to the family!

[Alvin]

Welcome!
This is the first time I've seen a 212 restoration effort here! Neat cars I can't believe you drove it in college, that is amazing!

A few of our members have these, and may be good resources:

Mitch Jensen's 213


Jeff Silvey (red SPL212)



Dan Zubkoff "Datsun65"

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/articl ... n-fairlady

[Gregs672000]

Great to see those cars. I had never seen the red one before...

[spl310]

I remember reading your write up years ago. Love it, and love that you are working on getting it back on the road.

[bajaroadster]

Just showed the wife the pictures in this thread as she had never seen a 212 before. Her response was pretty much what I expected. "Thats really CUTE, but dont even THINK about it!" Then she ask me about value. To be honest, I have no idea. I'm guessing the price is astronomical. Whats a restored one worth?

[jdheinzmann]

Thank you everybody! It's nice to be so warmly welcomed. I've been imagining getting this car onto a forum like this for years. Now that I am retired, I can focus on bringing her back to life (and so many other projects).

I can't decide if I want to keep her. I figured I'd at least get her back on the road. It should be easier to find a serious buyer, right? If drivable, it would also be easier to fall back in love with her and decide to keep her and get her restored myself. I can do the mechanical stuff on my own but it's time to turn the body work over to a pro.

Best, -JD

[jdheinzmann]

Neat cars I can't believe you drove it in college, that is amazing!

Yes, my dad asked me what I wanted for my birthday in 1972 and I said "a Fairlady". I really admired the one our family friend had. So he bought it from her for $75 and gave it to me. Can you believe it? We had no idea the rarity at the time. An importer on the Berlin Turnpike in CT liked them and imported a few. I remember seeing one in the local junk yard!!! (I should have made off with as many parts as I could! But who knew?)

When I was working for Xerox fresh out of college I befriended the parts guys at the local Datsun dealer. They'd let me borrow documentation that I would use as "test documents" on our Xerox machines. So I have a nice, complete, 320 truck parts manual which comes in super handy to this day.

Yeah, and driving it in college definitely had its benefits!

Cheers, -JD

[C.Costine]

Hey JD, did you know that Manchester NH used to be part of Chester NH where I live?

[jdheinzmann]

Hey JD, did you know that Manchester NH used to be part of Chester NH where I live?

Nope! I would have thought it would have been the other way around (like everybody else right?).

JD