The car
1967.5 Datsun 2000 Roadster, chassis type SRL311.
The Datsun Roadster, sold in Japan as the Fairlady, was Nissan's answer to the British sports cars of the sixties and the direct ancestor of the 240Z. The 2000 arrived mid-1967 with a new 2.0-liter U20 four-cylinder and a five-speed. For about nine months, March to November 1967, that drivetrain shipped in the outgoing body, with its low windshield and flat dash. US safety rules forced a taller windshield and padded dash for 1968. The cars from that window are called the 1967.5, and to most people who know these cars they're the best-looking of the run.
- Engine
- 2.0-liter U20 inline-four, 40 mm Mikuni side-drafts on a Solex manifold, electronic ignition, ceramic-coated header
- Gearbox
- Five-speed manual
- Chassis
- 2000 body on a 1600 frame (see below), front lowering springs
- Wheels
- 14-inch Panasports, the pattern the die-cast copies
- Color
- Blue with black hardtop and black interior, Hot Wheels 55 livery in vinyl
- Top
- Black hardtop; the original soft top and frame came with the car
The frame, and the joke on the plate
Before Matt owned it, the original frame rusted out and the 2000 body was moved onto a 1600 frame. That makes the car a bit of a hybrid, and Matt turned it into a joke. Datsun's chassis code for a 2000 is SRL311; a 1600 is SPL311. The body says SRL; the frame says SPL. So his convention license plate reads SPLOL. The car is laughing at its own chassis code.
That plate came with the car, signed on the back and numbered 1 of 3. It's the centerpiece of everything we bring to a show.
Around the car
The listing photography from July 2026, shot in the hills outside Los Angeles a few weeks before the car came east.
