Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Threads of life! Cool story. I love these.

Last night I bought my first Roadster!

Why? Hmmm. I really know very little about the car.

I want something cool. It looks great, apparently it's well engineered and fast.

Lots of work ahead. Currently in line at DMV

Day 1 of roadster life

Welcome.

Post pix, otherwise we won't believe you <G> What year, model (1600/2000)

Good idea to post your location, especially if you are looking for help/stuff.

This site is a mine of useful info - check out the techwiki are for answers to questions you didn't know to ask.

I actually bought my roadster to drive to work everyday.I am fortunate enough to live on Highway 1 between Sausalito and Stinson beach CA. and driving the Honda CRV got a little boring on these greets twisties.So I sold l a couple of cars and spent is much as I could spare on a car that was completely gone through and sorted so I could have the experience the original owners had when they purchased their cars for daily drivers and not a collector car.The Datsun was chosen because it's reliability,handling and performance .I pretty much drive my car everyday and feel very blessed to do so.

I rebuild motorcycles as a hobby and flip them. I usually have them done in a few weeks and then start looking for another.

I wanted a LONG term project that would always be in the garage when I wanted something to work on.
I wanted something small that I was able to move around by myself.
Of course Triumph, mini, and other small cars came to mind.
Then I saw this picture and fell in love.
Started looking for one immediately.




Can't wait to get started on mine.
I plan on this taking a few years.
The plan is a resto mod with the SR20DET engine and transmission.
Possibly a different suspension

Another one influenced by "Alvin-style".

Welcome.

bikermike wrote:Another one influenced by "Alvin-style".

Welcome.

It's becoming a religion, Call them "Alvinists" or "Alvinistas"

Eddie Wu's (sp?) Sake Rocket got me hooked on the smooth look.

Eddie's car has been an inspiration for new owners as well.

What is an Alvin style and how do you get that hard top?
Is there a how-to or link to this particular top?

Eddie's car is what mine aspires to be.

In 1971, when I was a junior in High School, my sort-of friend, who was to cool to be my real friend, brought a 1964 Datsun 3-Seater to school. It was so awesome. I looked at it with a 17 year old's eyes and thought it was the best car I had ever seen and touched. A few weeks later, I got my first ride in it. Even with the stock 1500 and 4 speed on small wheels, it ran beautifully. Top down, radio on, freedom and joy was there to be had. It was my first real love.

It took me 42 years to find one, but I did. I was perusing eBay looking for a Datsun 3-seater, and found one -- a very nice 1964 3-seater that had been upgraded with a 2000 engine, a 5 speed and bigger wheels, and a few extras, like leather and a couple other things. I watched it for a few days, turned to bring your trailer, which had mostly good, but some not so good things to say, and then found 311s, which was more positive, but not universally so. Some purists don't want to see a 64 changed from stock, which I get, while others see it as a best of both worlds low profile roadster with higher performance. I just wanted a 64 3-seater, and the fact it looked good, and puportedly ran good and had period correct heightened Datsun performance was okay with me.

Being somewhat naive about buying anything sight unseen and having had 2-4 (probably 4) single malt scotches, I bought it on eBay at about 2:00 AM. As I plopped into bed, I told my very lovely, and forgiving, wife that "I think I just bought a car." As I fell asleep, I recalled the feelings I had at 17 riding in my dream car.

The next day I discovered that I had indeed bought a car, as eBay announced by email that I was the "winner."

Long story short, when my wife and I flew to L.A. to pick it up, I discovered that at 6'3" and 59, I could not comfortably drive it with the hard top. My wife drove it away, with me crouched in the passenger seat, to meet our daughter for dinner. We called ahead and told her to bring her tools, as we needed to remove the hardtop. Fortunately for me, she has tools and brought her pick up truck -- good daughter. We removed the hardtop, put it in her truck, and enjoyed a great dinner. The next day, top down, I fit okay and drove it home to San Francisco (actually Orinda). The entire time we got thumbs up, and I felt like the cool guy at 17.

I love it. Every time I drive it, I feel more alive doing that than virtually anything else. Riding my restored 1974 Norton 850 Commando is probably a tie.

I say chase your dream, and then catch it, an then enjoy it.

Was invited to the Eyes on Design car show at the Edsel Ford estate In Grosse Pointe many years ago with my 78 Civic as part of the Japanese section. When I got there I realized that I must have had the least expensive car there by an order of magnitude. Crazy expensive cars, from all over. There was a toyota GT2000. Muscle cars with only 100's or original miles which made NO sense to me. I was way outclassed. I was parked next to a 64 1500 Fairlady if I remember correctly and I WANTED it, and so did the wife which is important. I looked Into these cute little cars and wanted the fast one. So that's what I got.

The really fancy cars and the muscle cars don't interest me as much.

As my sarcastic side writes, I was looking for a project I could spend a couple of years on and blow a lot of money. Though I have owned Datsun / Nissans all my life, I found a couple of MG's but the owners wanted too much. Then I came across a '64 spl310 1500 3-seater that is literally a basket case. The owner stated he had the parts but had to look in more outbuildings to find them. He had lots of paper work and I had time to do some research on the car. We agreed on a price (small initial investment was key) and I hauled it and the parts home.

From what I found it was last owned and licensed in San Diego in '74 by a gal named Consuelo. When I pulled the carpet out I actually found beach sand and bobby pins. I hope she had a good time. From the documentation Consuelo got married and sold the car (bummer) . It made its way to Spokane in '79 and has not turned a mile since. It is a numbers matching car and the odometer reads 2582 miles which is what the documents read.

It is not much to look at, but the body and chassis are straight, it just need to be cleaned and put back together. It was Ivory white but is now primer and amazingly with very little rust. It came with a brand new top that was never installed and it is still in great shape. The owner stated the engine had been rebuilt and bored 40 over. I will tear it down mic it and hopefully just need a gasket kit to put it back together. Of course, from sitting so long all the mechanical need to be rebuilt. Unless something happens to inflate my wallet, I do not plan on a body off restoration. My goal is the get it running, paint it and have fun.The date on the picture is not correct.

Looks like a good, solid project. Keep posting pictures of your progress!

My introduction to the Datsun world. Back in High school in Japan my buddy had a 68 510 with L13 and 3 on a tree. Me a Toyota Corona with under head cam. We raced, he beat me most every time. Sold on Datsun 510s. I got a 1800 SSS shortly after. I went thru 4 of them and 3 240Zs and a 610. Always wanted a Roadster but very few of them around as they were mostly exported. Couple of them in my neighborhood but never for sale. After migrating to the U.S. I knew a friend who crashed one and cost him his life. Shortly after I started looking for one and found my current 69 Fairlady. Knowing how much he loved his car, it was kind of a way to keep his spirit alive as well. I think about him every time I take her out.