Les Cannaday's 1966 1600 Silvia. R16, SUs, with a 4 speed. Exterior color silver with a black interior. The car is a restoration project. Les hails from Vista, CA.
Previous owner's comments "Of the 544 Silvias CSP311's made, most of the cars stayed in Japan Mainland. However, 49 cars were exported to Australia & an additional nine cars were shipped elsewhere in the pacific islands geography.
My car was sold new in Hawaii in 1966. The importance of this fact is that for many,many years it was stated in the press that the Silvia was never sold in the US (even though some US silvia literature has been found). Well, I guess my car was the one vehicle sold in the US.
Recently, additonal information (and pictures) have come to light regarding the history of CSP311 #370. The Silvia was owned from new by a gentleman named Elroy Goto who lived in Hawaii and was a NISSAN factory sponsered race car driver & the part manager for Nissan of Hawaii. He had direct contact with the Nissan factory in Japan (they even gave him a new 2000 to race, a '67 2000 solex-mikuni car) He also raced a 1600 in FP. One day, the dealership received two RHD cars, the Silvia and a Datsun Sunny. Elroy drove the Silvia for several months as a demo car & finally purchased the vehicle.
On June 25th, 2001, a reunion took place!!! Elroy Goto came to California to (among other vacation activities) to visit his long departed, but never forgotten 1966 Silvia. He came to CA along with two of his close freinds (his ex-pit crew) and checked out the old car."
