Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

The various buy & sell sites I’ve seen of late have resembled viewing the mass extinction tar sands of Datsuns - Maybe I’m just paying more attention now, but I’ve probably come across a dozen or so roadsters this year alone that are horribly neglected, rusted-out and otherwise falling apart that will likely end up continuing to rust away until nothing usable remains.

A dozen years or so ago, there were learned discussions that estimated only about 2500 Datsun Roadsters remained on the roads worldwide - That’s just over 6% of what rolled off the assembly line. Sure, some have/are being restored, but many more are being stripped for parts or just end up in crushers. Also, most “daily drivers” change ownership hands every now and then which also makes for a difficult assessment of actual numbers.

So, 12 years on from that estimate and I’m curious: How many of our roadsters do we think are still on the roads today?

No doubt there are more out there, but as with minerals mining, the higher the price, the greater the search for more questionable claims.

I have only been in the Roadster world for not quite 2 years, but the vender support is one reason why I jumped in. It is a resource I hope everyone can continue to support, as the number of cars declines.

I will admit that what looks like $300-$500 parts cars going for these asking prices is fun to watch.

Not many in KC , haven't seen another in a decade anyway

I am on eBay daily and I will find one or two a week that is not in the registry so I add them. Anybody can. I aquired mine in 1987. It was a mess and we drove like it was a stunt car on the Dukes of Hazzard. When the poor little engine gave out I had a decision to make, S-can it or fix it. I don't drive it much these days but the son wants it. I will have to take off the go fast parts so he can handle it!

https://www.311s.org/registry/new/registryhome.html
https://www.311s.org/registry-app/index.php?signIn=1

I did a little cursory dive into the registry. It has 3173 roadsters of all years listed. Out of those, 1240+ are represented in various transitionary states. Specifically:

321 Non-Operational
178 Scrapped
29 Parts Car
15 Non-Running
700+ Restoration Projects

* Numbers above are an (ish) since I wasn’t going to try and count every single one.

Considering the age of some of the entries, there is no doubt that many others are no longer ‘Daily Drivers’ and have fallen into one of the above categories. Maybe that 2500 number wasn’t that far off after all

As for me, I haven’t seen another one in all of Atlantic Canada in at least 12 years. I guess, whether the trend is towards rarity or extinction, depends on both interest and it becoming cost prohibitive. I’ve seen gas caps go for over $400 and weatherstripping for $1500. When 3 lbs in parts (two weatherstripping packages and one gas cap) cost more than the whole car did when new, that’s just not sustainable - Not for a Datsun. One thing is certain, the trend is increasingly downward.

I think that you could easily double the numbers from the registry. More often than not (which is not that often) when I meet someone who has an old roadster sitting around they have not heard of this forum.

I don't think my car is in the registry and I've been on here a very long time! I agree however, most of the people I meet who comment on the car either say "I've never seen one of those before" or "its been a very long time since I saw one of those." I wave at every classic car I drive by... we're a dying breed.

And I echo the shout out to both our great vendors as well as Nissan for having supported the car for so long.

Yup … Drying up of affordable supply chains means paying more for what inventory remains. Vendors pay more, we pay more - For many, that will place the cost of restoring these roadsters out of reach.