Filed under: Events
by Alvin G @ 2:41 pm on May 8, 2016
In April I drove my Datsun Roadster from San Jose down to SoCal to run the Touge California rally hosted by Japanese Nostalgic Car. We had a blast and chronicled the grueling, 200 mile journey. Check out JNC’s fantastic coverage as well:
After completing the rally on Saturday, I originally planned for a Sunday visit to the Petersen Museum in LA on the way up to San Jose. What I didn’t envision was making a stop at Nissan Design America, and here’s how I got there!
While on the Touge I met fellow Datsun Roadster owner John Sahs. His gorgeous blue 1965 Datsun 1500 Roadster was hard to miss:
The 1500 was nearly stock, down to its G15 1.5L engine and rare, OEM hubcaps. In place of the factory 4-speed John was running a 5-speed from the burlier 2000 model, cleverly hidden by the original 1500 shifter/trim. John is on the left, wearing Datsun-matching shoes:
At the end of the rally we were treated to dinner at Mazda Headquarters. There I learned that John was a lead designer over at Nissan Design America! He suggested we take our roadsters to Nissan for a mini-photo shoot, citing the building’s interesting architecture as a nice backdrop.
Sunday morning I hopped in the roadster and drove a few minutes South to La Jolla to meet up with John. We took some fun photos. Although he didn’t bring his roadster, John was kind enough to show me around and I was thoroughly impressed. Thank you John!
I left La Jolla around 9:30am heading to LA for the Petersen Museum Japanese Cruise in. I arrived just as cars were leaving the venue, even missing my fellow SoCal roadster owners by a few seconds. The Petersen Museum has an enormous parking garage and almost each level was packed with eye candy both old and new.
Just an R34 Skyline in Bayside blue sitting on BBS wheels:
The Nissan/Datsun presence was fantastic! I was excited to meet Dominic Le, creator of this now-famous “hakotora”…
It is a 1974 Datsun Sunny truck with a Skyline front end, full SR20DET drivetrain, TE37V wheels and CF everywhere. Lots of details on this one! Dominic was featured on Jay Leno’s Garage.
4-door Hakosuka with rear, molded flares and barreled SSR MK2s:
Nissan Cedric 130 from the Petersen Museum’s own collection:
Bluebird Coupe and Hakosuka 2-door both sitting on Watanabe wheels:
S12 (200sx), S13 (240sx) and S14 Nissans:
Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Subaru all had great showings as well so please check out the gallery!
After checking out the remaining cars I continued my trek home to San Jose to complete my ~1300-mile, 3-day roadtrip! Found this S30 sitting behind a gas station off I-5:
Enjoy the pics, and stay tuned as I report from another April car event: The Solvang Datsun Roadster Show!
Filed under: Events
by Alvin G @ 11:37 pm on May 2, 2015
The Solvang Datsun Roadster show took place last weekend. Now in its 28th year, this gathering continues a tradition of uniting owners from all parts of the world in a little town just outside of Santa Barbara. I drove my roadster down from San Jose and arrived Saturday morning to a very wet downtown Solvang. Despite the showers we had 77 Datsuns in attendance and eventual sunshine.
For the last 3 years The Solvang Roadster Show has been organized by the great folks of SoCal Roadster Owners Club. They have carried the torch well, providing a fun time for all and keeping things interesting like creating show categories with sponsors. This year the new “race” class was sponsored by the popular historic driving group SVRA, and the display was pretty epic!
This 1962 Fairlady SPL212 was given a full transformation into a road-racing beast. The man behind this one-off roadster is Jeff Silvey, a long-time Solvang show attendee and talented fabricator. He’s known for his bright red, L-series powered hot-rod SPL212 and sweet turbo-diesel powered NL320 truck. The latter was actually the tow rig for the racecar, how cool is that?!
Back to the racecar…from the outside there are a few subtle mods like the front air dam, “gills” and speedster cover that catch the eye. Add the 16″ vintage Volk GT-U wheels and you know this isn’t the stock, 48hp Fairlady from the factory. With red/white paint somehow it all works very well. Then you peek underneath that tiny hood and see an S15 SR20DET sitting almost a foot back and a myriad of custom fabrication takes over. From the full Silvia rear suspension to custom a-arm setup up front Jeff went bezerk with this build. We dig it, see more detailed shots in the gallery:
Other notable race cars included our friend Ron Carter with his 1967 2000 race car and Gary Wasserman’s factory lightweight SRL. Ron recently got accepted to run at the Monterey Historic Races coming in August!
The show brings roadsters lovers from all over the world including British Columbia and Mexico. For those hardcore Datsun enthusiasts that insist on Enjoying The Ride this means towing a small trailer!
I have a soft spot for Datsun 1500s (I have a 1500 grille on mine), especially these ’63-64 3-seat models. This year we had four beautiful examples, including an original owner who was a Solvang resident. He even showed me the original purchase order spec’d with the factory hardtop!
Solvang showcases everything from highly modified to pristine stock examples of roadsters. John Baker’s ’69 2000 and this ’67 SPL were great examples of stock roadsters, right down to their stock steel wheels:
Speaking of stock, Mike Young brought this fantastic 67 2000 for display showcasing his great restorative skills. White/red is one of my favorite combinations and really got the stance right on this SRL with the slightly larger Libra-style wheels:
A few more 1600s, including Mike’s stroked and Mikuni-carb’d hot rod. Watanabe wheels, EMPI steering wheel and red/black interior are great choices. Eagle eyes may notice the 2L gauges, shift plate and trim ring. Watch the video to hear it run!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJIVRqm8Pfo
A pleasant surprise was this “short-nose” Skyline coupe or “hakosuka”. These cars were powered by G-series 4-cylinder engines unlike their larger L-series 6 cylinder brothers that we are starting to see stateside. Sitting nicely on Hayashi Techno Phantoms this classic J-tin ticked all the right boxes with pillar-less windows and a proper surf line left intact! Check the gallery for other “non-roadster JDM” finds.
An incredible amount of high windshield 2000’s inhabited the show this year with very diverse examples. Solex, SU and even motorcycle quad-carb induction setups hooked up to U20s. Scoville/BRE stripes, fresh paint jobs and custom interiors worthy of Pro-Touring muscle cars were also seen:
A properly executed engine swap into a Datsun Roadster is always nice to see as the bar increases each year. These (for lack of a better word) “resto-modded” roadsters blend modern drivetrains with vintage lines while adding personal touches from the builder/owners. Here are three examples that stood out:
Looking for more power but wanting to stay NA, Mike Anderson’s ’68 SPL sports an SR20VE. Using Nissan’s version of VTEC, this VVL combination is good for 200hp NA. With help from Kevin Desirello of KRD it dyno’d at 215wrhp! Limited production Volk TE37v SL wheels are one of my all-time favorites. Mike took me for a spin and this engine in such a light car is phenomenal.
Jon Frampton’s 1967.5 SPL stole the show with a total frame-off restoration and SR20VE-T/6-speed drivetrain. That’s right, a turbo was added to an already ballistic engine! Another one of Kevin Desirello’s creations, this roadster came to him needing only transmission work and suffered an extreme case of “Hey, while we’re there”…
It’s hard to believe this car was once candy red and decked out in 90’s era style. Beautifully applied #531 Beige Grey Metallic paint and a very subtle but custom interior by Bill Dunn (Overhaulin’) helped win Best of Show. Jon himself is famous for restoring and “modernizing” roadster gauges…his work is sensational! Check the gallery for more shots…there are plenty of neat details to see!
Finally, Ted’s 1966 SPL is a familiar, though still impressive roadster. Built by Michael Spreadbury of Spriso Motorsports, this S15 SR20DET powered beauty glistens with Plymouth Prowler paint:
Sitting perfectly atop 16″ Watanabe RS-8 wheels with a massive dish out back on a 225-width tire, this one oozes cool. Ted is currently driving her thousands of miles on a Southwest tour!
We had a blast at Solvang and always look forward to next year. Big thanks again to SoCalROC for putting on another wonderful show!
If you didn’t attend please watch this excellent drone footage of the show from fellow roadster owner Mike Anderson. Don’t forget the picture gallery after the jump and…
Filed under: Events
by Alvin G @ 12:46 am on March 10, 2014
Datsuns Are Driven! On Saturday I joined two roadster friends and we made a quick run up Hwy 9. We began our fun run 3-cars wide on Hwy 85 enjoying some early spring-like weather:
Once we got through downtown Saratoga we twisted our way up 9 just past Skyline to a vista point:
Here is a short video of me chasing Raul in his 1967.5 1600:
People love the roadsters. Folks were quick to snap pictures and ask questions.
A couple came up to us with a Polaroid they had just taken. These cars really stir the soul!
Raul pointed out how the cars show three levels of restoration. Mike’s gorgeous silver 1967.5 SPL is an unmodified factory stock example with whitewalls and OEM interior. Raul’s white 1967.5 SPL is a total sleeper with a 2L power plant/5-speed and upgraded suspension. Finally, my black 1967.5 SPL is considerably modified with a full SR drivetrain, suspension and custom interior.
Remember Todd Green and his VQ-powered Datsun Roadster race car? Here are a few pictures from him running Solo2 at Grattan Raceway in Michigan earlier this week. Shown above, Todd is crossed-up going sideways at the top of 4th gear (8,000rpm) preparing for a 90 degree right hander!
We love this beast of a roadster and how Todd runs it hard. “I was at the top of 6th gear going across the finish line. I could hardly see as my head was getting beat around violently by the turbulence”
Keep at it Todzilla! Datsuns Are Driven!
Filed under: Events
by Alvin G @ 12:46 pm on April 28, 2011
***ATTENTION DATSUN FANS***
There are TWO exciting Datsun events this weekend! Saturday, 4/30
The Solvang Datsun Roadster Show is being held in beautiful downtown Solvang, CA.
Sunday, 5/1
A record number of Datsuns will be racing at Laguna Seca with HSR on Sunday, 5/1
If you are a Datsun fan and love vintage racing come out to Laguna Seca this weekend! On 5/1 the Historic Sportscar Racing group is bringing an exciting event with plenty of historic race cars and several notable Datsun racers! If you can’t make the Solvang Datsun Roadster Show (held on Saturday) this is another way to get your Datsun fix! We will do our best to attend on Sunday afternoon where the Datsuns are running in group 3. We also want to be there to cheer on our favorite Datsun Roadster racer, Ron Carter!
So just how strong will the Datsun showing be? At least TWENTY 510s, Zs, and Roadsters! Come on out to ‘Seca and watch these Datsun vintage racers mix it up with exotics and other wicked metal 🙂
