About 80 years ago, Datsun (now known as Nissan), paid 1,000,000 Great British Pounds to their teachers in Austin, in UK to teach them how to build cars. Most cars were essentially rebadged Austin vehicles that were made for sales in Japan. About 50 years ago, Datsun gets involved in building it's first convertible sports car. This led to the development of various Datsun sports vehicle, that soon evolves into the Fairlady range. The Fairlady has always been iconic and had been made famous with the reintroduction of the newer versions of it, namely the 350Z and 370Z.
I was privileged to interview Mr. Dharma, who had acquired this vehicle from one of his clients. He is only 31 years old and his love is for cars. This car was originally owned by an ex-pat of the country, who was later sold to a Malay owner, then finally sold to him. It took him years to get the car up to being perfect as it is right now.
The convertible has designs that were very British, clearly influenced by Austin designs. The Datsun engine also has roots to the Austin/Morris design roots. So yes, after long lists of evolutions, Nissan were able to create their own engine and master them later on.
The SPL310 Datsun Fairlady roadster, uses a Datsun Bluebird 310 Sedan and derived it to make this beautiful roadster. The Roadster uses a G15 1.5 litre engine, derived from the Nissan Cedric engine. The engine puts out 85hp with help of the SU carburetors, which was pretty sufficient in the lightweight roadster. Dharma has done more work to it and had the engine block bored up, producing 105hp right now.
Classic Japanese VIN plate, that states the horsepower figures!
The car has a third seat in the back of the car. This feature was only available in the 1963 car, which he retained it and refurbished it. This means that, the idea of having a three seater car long precedes the Toyota iQ compact car.
Boot space that was good enough for a travelling salesman in a hurry. Could definitely fit a document bag without hassle! I won't vouch for a large travelliing suitcase though.
View of paradise.
Datsun Fairlady 1500 Roadster - YouTube
Dharma drove me in his car, in several spots around Sunway and Subang. This car turned tons heads and when it passed by Sunway University College and Monash University, people were just staring at us and people dropped by and shaked Dharma's hand, on the cool factor. I guess this is how running a classic convertible stands out a bit! We even got honked by a passing yellow Fiat Coupe, who perhaps was awed by the beauty of the car.
Pictures provided by Dharma
I was lucky enough to be invited to ride along in his beautiful car. This car has turned tons of great memories with it. This was the same car that carried former F1 champion, Fernando Alonso. Dharma was so excited to drive Fernando Alonso on the Sepang F1 Circuit and he scribbled his signature on his car. This is one of the reasons he will own this car for life and never want to sell it.
Fernando Alonso's signature on dash
Gardenia Delicia Waffles.mp4 - YouTube
This particular car was also featured in the recent Gardenia's Delicia waffles ad. Take a close look in the video and you could see this is truly iconic car in Malaysia. I believe the only one available, in original condition. I only hope that people would start saving these classics before they become extinct on Malaysia. Picking up a rust bucket and fixing it into a condition like this is very much commendable. The blood and sweat involved it restoring a car is not much understood by many. The metal works, the chrome works, the interior works, the engine works and the whole she-bang, takes much of a bigger man to do this. All for the love of restoration. Enjoy the write-up.
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