Nissan started its Sports line in 1959, with the very limited production S211 Sports 1000, of which only 20 copies were produced. It evolved into the SPL212, which was imported into the US in 1960 (the L signifying left-hand drive.)
These were tiny little cars based on a pickup truck chassis and using a 1.2L engine, sold as the Datsun Sports 1200 here and the Nissan Fairlady back home.
The second generation of Datsun Sports for 1964 had a longer wheelbase, a fraction of an inch shy of ninety inches, derived from the Bluebird sedan and a 1500cc motor.
Restyled for 1966, it got a displacement bump to 1.6L, sporting a pair of SU carbs and making 95 horsepower.
With a live rear axle on leaf springs, a pushrod four, a four-speed manual, and a curb weight right around 2,000 pounds, they were cheerful, cheap little sports cars that laid the foundation for the Z-cars to come.
This one was photographed in June of 2025 using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and a Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4 Leica DG Vario-ELMARIT ASPH zoom lens.
I had a Datsun “Fair Lady” in ‘64. in San Diego. Nice little sports car. The only options were a bolt-on hard-top & 4-barrel carbs.
ReplyDeleteVery cool! That sounds like fun!
DeleteI've never seen one of those, either in the wild or at a show. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteNice photos, by the way. With the car sitting under the shade of the tree you nicely exposed for the car while letting the backgrounds be slightly over-exposed, but not so much that they're blown out. Well done (and razor sharp...that little 12-60mm must be a nice lens).
It's a great little lens! Fairly fast and with a 24-120mm equivalent focal length range, it's basically on the camera most of the time.
DeleteThe E-M1X is a pretty modern camera, one of the newest I own. Shooting in RAW and just leaving it in "Multi" exposure mode (Olympus's version of Nikon and Canon's "Matrix" or "Evaluative") you'll rarely run out of dynamic range. It's a rare subject that requires switching over to center-weighted or spot metering.