I Bought A New Car...Not What You Think...LONG!..Pics!!!

[slow&rusty]

Well..I have been trying to buy this car for the past 4+ years. It belongs to a co-worker of mine and he has been talking about this old Datsun Roadster that his mother-in-law bought brand new in 1967 - no joke. He knows I am a Datsun man and has been inviting me up to his house for literally years to see the car. I finally made it up to his beautiful house a few weeks ago to check out the car, and I was VERY pleasantly surprised with what I found.

Firstly he lives almost 9,000feet above sea level and the dirt roads going up there were a little hairy!

Anyhoo...the Roadster is a 1967 1600 (low windshield model), bought brand new by his now passed away mother-in-law. The car is near perfect meaning that it ONLY has 3200miles on it - no joke! We found a hand written card from Sears from 1989 stating that the next oil change was at 4,000miles in the glovebox. The body on the car is perfect - not one door ding, only a tiny crease in the rear bumper. All the chrome is good but the paint is very chalky and faded, as you can imagine (and no biggie). The dry Colorado climate has preserved the car, and it has always been garaged and covered.

The car was last driven 4-5years ago, but fired up after being jumped and held a great idle (even at 9000feet), had a small miss but thats about it. It actually sounded pretty nice and throaty. It revved very nicely too. Underneath the car is clean and as you can imagine with any car with 3200miles, looks brand new. I let the car sit and idle for 15-20 minutes and
the engine temp sat rock solid at 180F. The tranny feels good too. Under the hood is clean as well. The interior is very good, the dash needs to be
recovered only. All the gauges are perfect (even the clock) and electrically everything works, he even has all the factory owners manuals from '67!

The trunk looks like it just rolled out of the dealership.

My friend Steve and his wife really want to sell the car, as they never drive it and would like their garage space back. Plus they would like to see someone
like myself buy it, as they know it will continue to be well maintained and cared for. Plus they want visitation rights, as there is sentimental value attached with the car.

The prices on these early model Roadsters are on the climb, and I believe I have one of the lowest mileage ones in existance here in the U.S.

Fast forward to yesterday...when I went to pick-up the car, I figured I would jump in it and drive it home (about 35minutes) with the 30year old Bias-Ply JC Penny tires and all (no joke!). When I jumped in the car, it had zero brakes - pedal to the floor! So I spent an hour or so bleeding them, until I got a good pedal pressure, but all the rubber brake lines were scarry looking, and VERY cracked. The car had no gas or coolant in it, so I had to race down the mountain to the gas station. The car only runs on leaded gas, so I had to mix lead additive with the 87 Octane..LOL! Driving down the mountain, with suspect brakes was VERY HAIRY, luckily my buddy was ahead of me in his Toyota Tacoma..just incase, the brakes failed -scary thought, but it happens all the time to people coming down Pikes Peak every year. Engine braking and the e-brake are your friends.

Well I got the car home, safe and sound..considering it has not run in 4-5years it was pretty peppy and ran quite well.

Over the next few weeks, I will address the old hoses, full tune-up and brakes and put some new REAL tires on it.

So here is the latest addition to the family...






Note the Prince steering wheel:






Yasin

[pwd72s]

So you're a rice boy. Uh, we already knew that...(edit) Not that there's anything wrong with that...

[Moneyguy1]

Nice!!

[Neilk]

Really cool!!!

[Steve Carlton]

Good for you! My dad bought a pale yellow 1600 as well and never had a lick of trouble with it in 50,000 miles. A different story with the '69 Fiat 124 Spyder...

[TerryH]

Very nice! When I was 17, dad and I test drove a few. There was the 1600cc and the 2000cc versions. I wanted one dearly and had enough money to buy one, but the examples we found weren't nearly as nice as yours and this was in 1974. I ended up with an american muscle car, but always have had a fondness for those roadsters.

[azasadny]

Very cool! I don't think I've ever seen one of those before. Good luck and have fun with it!

[HardDrive]

Wow! That is a fantastic car. Very, very cool.

[JeremyD]

One of my favorite cars - the fairlady - beautiful!

[Joeaksa]

Used to race one of those in SCCA prod class... good car!

[VincentVega]

Badass

Cool car

[masraum]

Wow, that's VERY cool! Congrats.

[Evans, Marv]

Too cool! Reminds me of one a roomate of mine had in the early '70s. He was an irresponsible bastard & let it set out in the weather and rot. He even let it set in the rain with the top down. You should fix the little issues, the upholstery, etc. and keep under 5K or 10K miles on it.

[Tobra]

I love those cars, have since i was a kid.

I would have turbo four cylinder and a five speed transmission in it before you could blink, but that is me.

Oops, maybe not. Was that 30 something thousand miles on the odometer?

[sand_man]

Good on you, 'rusty! Those have always been on "my list". I was too busy with Triumphs, MGs, and Healeys to ever make my rounds to the Datsun, but now you got me to thinking....

[JeremyD]

Originally posted by Tobra
Oops, maybe not. Was that 30 something thousand miles on the odometer?

More like 3,200 WOW!

[slow&rusty]

Wow..thanks for all the awesome replies guys - your comments are all very inspiring. Its great to hear all your stories and associations you have had over the years with these unique and somewhat rare little cars.

I started clay bar-ing and wet compounding the front fender and its making a difference on the chalky looking paint. I think I will try wet sanding it and see what happens.

I ordered some 14" Panasports for the car (-9mm offset) and some new tires, that should be here this week (a good friend of mine works at Discount Tire).

The next few weeks will be straight, replacement of all the old cracked rubber hoses. Change all the fluids, brakes, and a full tune-up. This car is not a project car, just needs some aesthetics to bring it up to driveable. I cannot see me driving it alot but definitely a fun little car (all 97hp).

As this car is so original and low mileage - yes 3200 original miles, I am not going to be doing any crazy engine swaps or anything a turbo 4cylinder would be sweet...LOL!

More pics to come in the next little while.

[Rot 911]

A very nice score!

[bell]

my friend tim has one......fun little car....here's a pic

[rammstein]

Awesome.