Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

New owner here and came upon these by chance.

I won these in an auction at the local thrift store. They are both '67 and both originally silver. I took a chance and didn't even know if they ran but didn't care because they were conveniently located a couple miles from my house and I needed a new project. I ended up winning both of them so now they have a good home.

I met the nice lady who donated them and she lives close so I know some of the history. The silver one belonged to a local man and he maintained it for his son and daughter to drive in the 70's and 80's. The gold one belonged to a good friend of the kids that drove the silver one. At some point in the 90's the owner of the gold one, came to own both. Him and his girlfriend drove them for some time. For some reason they were both parked in a desert lot and sat for many years and then the owner of both passed away and the original owner of silver one moved away with no one to claim them except the deceased's sister. The deceased's sister then donated them.

When I went to visit her she had the original key and some duplicates. Both have clean titles, matching numbers and one still has the black plate registered. I know the owners of both spent some time driving them in college in the Ventura area because there were papers and service records for both. A pile of service records for the silver one were in the trunk dating back to the 70's. I found many coins dating back to the mid 60's up until the 80's under the seats and carpet. I think they may have sat in the yard from some time in the early 90's continually being registered but not driven.

I went though both, changing all the fluids, primed engine, cleaned carbs and changed filters. They both start, run and drive so I got lucky. The floor on each are a little rusted especially at the very front. The forward rocker behind the fender on the gold one needs sheet metal but the silver one seems intact. I had to remove the interior panels in some areas because the panels are warped very badly and some of the vinyl is destroyed.

I tore the flooring out on both to clean them up and paint. I had to fix a little surface rust around the hard top seal and I plan on sanding and painting, cleaning them up and occasionally driving them. I have done a body off restoration on another car and I'm not planning on doing that because I don't have the time or money to do that again.

Been reading and posting for a couple weeks now and really like this website so thanks for making it available.

Nice!

SCORE!!

Love the story! Every car has one. Before long, someone will come up to you at a gas station, store, restaurant, or ditch, and start the conversation with "Hey, I know someone who had one of those..." or "the best time I ever had in a car was..." as he smiles fondly at the car, or maybe "I always liked thoses, what year is that?"
And the story continues now with you. If you have never owned a Roadster, beware! They get under your skin.
Welcome to the family.
Welcome to the addiction.
So it begins... Or continues...

Welcome, two great looking projects. What a score, congratulations!

That is an awesome story... Congrats - those look like a couple of winners!

Thanks for reading.

The best memories I have involving cars is when I was in school but the flip side is that cars usually don't survive being driven by young adults. The silver one looks like it was hit in the rear corner but it was fixed and also has the wrong fender on the front DS and I think it was hit there also. Looks like they were two minor accidents and all-in-all it's amazing they survived at all. As far as a score I don't know. I paid more than double what the opening bid was but who cares. I'll have fun getting them back into proper order and driving my family around.

I took my son on the first drive and he thought it was going to be some slow pile of junk like some of the other things I've restored. He was shocked when I gunned it.

Get ready for fun and increased vocabulary and some sore muscles
(If your like me anyway). Unlikely you are. Enjoy the fun on the site too

I won't say who but some of us are more serious than others!
Lol

I thought it was neat seeing the Ralleye envelope in the trunk. I remember the early days with "paper catalogs" and newsletters.

Nice score.

There is one envelope that wasn't even opened. They look like they were expensive catalogs. I see a price on them so I think you had to purchase them and they have nice part break downs in them. The owner of the silver one posted the last valve job and mileage using old school label maker and posted it to the firewall. It was done at around 74k the speedo reads 78K so the car saw some use. Amazing it remained so stock looking. I think it was driven by the sister in the family because I found many old school bobby pins under the seat and lots of service records.

Wait! You paid more than double the opening bid of 500 and you are questioning if it was a score?
To me, more than double = 12, 1,300 bucks. Even triple the opening bid of 500 is only 1,500 bucks.

For two cars? That IS a score make no mistake about that.
Besides, it sounds like you've even driven one already.

kndroy wrote:As far as a score I don't know.

wanna sell a radio, faceplate, and knobs?

For two cars? That IS a score make no mistake about that

I wish it was for both, I'm talking about each one. For me running with a clean gas tank and good metal is a perfect starting point and well worth it.

Only one has the original radio and I'd like to keep it original. The opening was cut in the other car for aftermarket and the rear trunk wall was cut for speakers.

You still did good. Enjoy! :thumbs up:

Agreed: You did well. Don't second guess your purchase.

Cheers
James