Datsun does not build many cars like the Datsun Sports: a 2-door Roadster with 988 , built from 1959 to 1970 at the height of the post-war boom. Its designer of record is Yuichi Ōta.
How it came about
The Datsun Sports (called Datsun Fairlady in the Japanese and Australian markets and simply given a numerical designation alone in other export markets), was a series of roadsters produced by Nissan in the 1960s. The series was a predecessor to the Z-car in the Fairlady line, and offered a competitor to the European MG, Triumph, Fiat and Alfa Romeo sports cars. Beginning with the 1959 S211, the line was built in two generations: the first generation was largely handbuilt in small numbers, while the second generation (310 series) was series produced.
The second generation first appeared in 1961 and continued through 1970 with the SP311 and SR311 lines. In Japan, it represented one of three core products offered by Nissan at Japanese Nissan dealerships, called Nissan Shop, alongside the Datsun Truck and the Bluebird (1000). The second generation Fairlady, called the Datsun 2000 in export, was the two-seat roadster that made their name, fitted with a potent 1,982 cc overhead cam engine with dual SU type side draft carbs and a five-speed transmission. Actor Paul Newman started his racing career in one.
The hardware
Under the skin sits 988 . The gearbox is a 4 speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2220 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in Datsun's history is not in doubt: the Datsun DC-3 came before it; the Nissan Z-car followed it; it was built at Yokohama Plant, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Dodge Challenger, the Mini Mini, the Nissan Patrol. Its Datsun stablemates include the 280Zx and the 310.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Datsun Sports — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.