A12|Wednesday,March 18 , 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.
RichardJ.DavidsonJr.,
55,abankerlivinginSan
Diegoandavolunteeratthe
SanDiegoAutomotiveMu-
seum,onhis 1968 Datsun
2000,astoldtoA.J.Baime.
In the 1960s,the first
Japanesecarmodelswere
just becomingpopularin
America. Datsun madea
two-seat convertiblesports
carcalled the Fairlady,
whichcompeted with the
Britishand Italian roadsters
likethe MGB and the Fiat- Rumor hasitthat a
Datsun executivehad vis-
ited the U.S. and had seen
“My Fair Lady”on Broad-
way,and that is howthe
cargot itsname.
These Datsun roadsters
were amongthe first Japa-
nese sports cars ever to
come to the U.S. Only here,
Datsun namedthem after
their enginedisplacement
(suchas the 2000, for 2,
cubic centimeters, rounded
up from 1,982), rather than
Fairlady.
Around 2005,Ihad alit-
tle bit of garage spaceand
alittle bit of money,and I
decidedto fill one with the
other.Ihad seen aDatsun
roadster from the ’60s and
wassurprisedat howgood-
lookingit was. Iwas also
impressed that this light-
weight carhad an engineof
about135 horsepowerand a
five-speedtransmission—
pretty rare in the 1960s.I
boughtmy carin2006 lo-
cally from aprivateowner.
It had an older,resprayed
paintjob,but the parts
were all thereand it was
in decent shape.Itisnim-
ble on back roads and I
started having funwith it
right away.
In 2010, I had the car re-
painted to its originalsilver-
gray. I knew of the color be-
cause you could see the
originalpaint in various
parts of the car. And five
MYRIDE|A.J.BAIME
AFirst-WaveJapaneseImportShines On
A San Diego banker shows off his rare 1968 Datsun 2000, one of the first sports cars from Japan to hit U.S. shores
years later, I had the engine
rebuilt. So the car is pretty
muchstock original.
At the time I bought
mine, thesecars went under
the radar. Most from the1960sdid not survive, be-
cause peopledid not look at
thesecars as collectible, so
whenthey got old, they dis-
appeared. Only now, in part
because they are so rare, are
peoplestartingto value
thesecars more. The prices
are coming up. [Accordingto Hagerty, the nation’s larg-
est insurer of classic cars, a
Datsun roadster from 1968
in excellent conditionaver-
ages about$37,900.]
There is a great commu-
nity around thesecars and
their owners. There are
websites where peoplepass
alongknowledge, and car
shows that draw dozens of
thesevehicles—includinga
couple big shows in Califor-
nia specifically for vintage
Datsun roadsters.
Ultimately Datsun
stoppedmakingthesetwo-
seat convertiblesin 1970,
the same modelyear that
the company launchedthe Z,
whichquicklybecame a sen-
sation.The Datsun roadsters
paved the way for the Z,
provingthat the U.S. was in-
deed a viablemarket for
Japanesesports cars.Richard J. DavidsonJr. gave his Datsun 2000 a paint job and an
enginerebuild.The licenseplate, below, is from the 1960s.The 2000 wasbuilt
tocompeteagainst
roadstersfrom
ItalyandtheU.K.This1,982cc four-cylinderengine,left, is originalto the car, Mr. Davidsonsays. Detailof the car’s
interior, right. The originalupholstery is vinyl. He bought the car in 2006.
PHOTOGRAPHSBY LUIS GARCIAFOR THEWALL STREETJOURNALLIFE & ARTS
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