1968 Nissan Silvia

[degruch]

Well guys, I knew it wouldn't be long to get back into it...following the GT accident I also sold my car brochure collection, allowing me to spend some money on the Bond, but also buy something I've been after for a while. It arrived today after 23 years sleeping in a damp shed in the Adelaide foothills, before and after a bit of cleaning.

I'm hoping to get it running, possibly get it back on the road soon. The car really requires total restoration, but could be a 'survivor' runner in the interim.

[Stickman]

Now THAT is one of favorite coupes ever built!!
I am soooooo jealous right now.
Congrats on the score brutha........ That is a thing of beauty right there

[Farmer]

Choice!
I love the look of these beauties. Great work mate!
Please keep it original if at all possible, I reckon the survivor value is the highest!
You have turned a huge negative into a very real positive.

Enjoy getying to know her, and please show us more.
Thanks and cheers, Matt.

[KJB]

Congratulations Duane.
Rare , iconic Japanese coupe from the '60's , sort after by Japanese Car collectors all round the world. To actually find one is a feather in your cap but to find one in this condition is unbelievable. You would have to be pretty happy with yourself - makes the accident with the GT instantly fade into the past and life is all good again. You are the right person to own the Silvia ,a car that you can proudly park in any line up of 1960's Japanese performance / sporting type cars.
KB

[mrflibbles]

Very nice! I say roll as a survivor myself, she looks real pretty in the pictures.
congratulations on finding it.

[Asroc66]

Hey Duane
What a little beauty
Well done
Savour your time restoring a rare gem
Cheers
J

[BULLITT]

well mate you did it what a gem I remember these new for sale in st Kilda road they were a bloody great car im so happy for you ...it looks like the wheeltrims were on there did you also get them ?/ what about some inside pics ..geez im so happy for you you got the slap in the face stood back thought then come up with this .....wow.......

[Early GT]

Fantastic find there. Duane !
My Rufus, PR90 GT had the pleasure of being a roommate with one just like this in the Harris Street Motor Museum, Sydney from 1992 - 1998. The owner even took me for a spin round the block in his too!

Cheers, Lewis.

[degruch]

Thanks guys, I'm really lucky to have found it. If it weren't for Andrew - in the green top - I'd have been purchasing a project in a million pieces, so glad he suggested we head out to the middle of nowhere and see if the rumours this car was sitting in a shed were true. When life serves you lemons, make lemonade, eh Davo?

I did manage to score it for a pretty decent price and, with prices being driven up by European and US collectors lately, I'm glad I've got in while I can still afford it! They're a sweet little thing with an interesting history, and rare, so ticks all the boxes for me. Hoping to just get it running in the short term, will need to come off the road for a full resto one day though.

Interestingly Lewis, I did actually strike a deal to buy the car from the Harris Street Museum, but the owner did a 'Dutch Auction' on me while I was waiting for him to send through banking details and I found it was on its way overseas a week later! But hey, I got almost as good a car for 1/3rd the price without the angst...so no complaints.

Thanks for the best wishes all, will post up some more pics as I progress. Bond updates coming soon too.

[redback]

I reckon it is Fate when you buy a car - you both choose each other.......


I have never seen one of these before but as soon as I saw your photo of it (even with all the dirt and dust) I said WOW out loud....................... it has wow factor.

Congratulations on the next chapter - please keep us all updated with what you do with it in the future.

Cheers,
Neil

[oz_toffa]

Superbly well done, Duane

at least it was in a shed, even if it was a damp one!
just goes to show you there are still quite a few gems to be found in people's back yards

hope she dont need to much done to be running and on the road

congrats

OZ

[dave]

Man, those cars are very, very cool.

Not sure if he's on the Forum, but a fella called Alan has got both a Bellett GT and one of the CSP311s as well; he only needs an Alfa 105 to complete the cover of that 1966 issue Sports Car World or whatever that one is!

Unsure how many are left; at least 10, but you'd think a few more. Whatever the digits, you can be sure it'll be less than a Bellett GT...and this means no more turning right into your street or whatever caused the Freegard PR91 to meet a sticky end. Not that you're a serial car crasher, but I sometimes see policies at work where clients get repeatedly rear ended and I think.....how do they keep doing that, when technically it's not their fault?!?

These days, I'm certain glancing at mobile phones has a lot to do with it, but it's been going on since the year dot.

Anyway, I'm all for the survivor!

I noticed the car when it hit Facebook and the rego number rang a bell, so I texted Andrew (in the green top in the pic; he has a beautiful CSP311) and he confirmed it....he saw an advertisement in an old newspaper for an SA Datsun dealer and it had a pic of a CSP311 (flagship car to have on the books at the time!) and it had the rego number you see there.

Being an old plate and out of circulation, he was able to purchase it for his car... so when I met him for the first time and he showed me, I was like "Oh is your car from the advert?" and he confirmed it wasn't and he'd just gone and bought the plate....

....little did he know that 6-7 years later, what I assume to be the real car would surface and go to someone we know!!!

Good luck with it; I love a good survivor, so my advice would be to get the bastard running and enjoy it. You take it somewhere, people are gonna notice regardless of condish!

Cheers,


Dave

[Farmer]

Yeah Dave, Alan (not on here) does have a Silvia, in perfect condition, and a GT. The GT is yet to be restored, but he has retired now, so it would be under way. He also has a Florian, the polynesian blue one from Melbourne a few years back. And a couple of others I believe, including a Fiat X-19. But I dont think he has a Mazda 1000 coupe, which is the third car on that cover you mentioned. Incidentally, in August 1966, that Mazda cost $2290, the PR90 GT was $3160, and the Silvia (then called Nissan 1600 coupe) was $4390!!.

On the rear ender thing, I'm sure mobiles are a factor. But so are people travelling too close. The recommendation is a 2 second gap for dry roads. 80 km/h is 22m/sec, so a 44 metre gap. Most cities seem to suffer the tailgater problem, Canberra is known for it. The roads are so good, there is a low number of collisions, except when it rains. We have had a wet week, and there was an average of one injury accident every 2 hours. Extreme! Also, some expect that you will run the red light, so when you stop as the light changes, slammo! Just tonight Tracy had someone swerve around her and go through the red. Only solution is red light cameras on every intersection. Bring it on I reckon!

But I also wonder if some indicate late, or brake hard for the turn. This would give the mobile addicts less time to ....look up. Yes, the tail ender is in the wrong, but your car is just as wrecked!

BTW, I'm not putting myself up as any special driver, just repeating what the mess sorters say.
Cheers, Matt.

[degruch]

Cheers guys!

Yeah, looking forward to starting it, getting the brakes done and maybe sticking it on the road. I'll drive it with as little work as possible to start with, but a 'survivor' isn't really possible...right hand side is covered in primer and looks crap, car has been bogged up and resprayed some horrible browny-gold colour, rats have chewed up the interior and the chrome work has flaked. Having said that, it's remarkably complete and original...missing those precious hubcaps though!

The money is being poured into the Bond currently, so there won't be money available to do a full resto. Might be doing a fair bit of shed time before it hits the road, sadly. We'll see. It's in good hands at least, Andrew and I have spent a fair bit of time pouring over it.

Definitely not a main road car, although there was little avoiding the GT accident, so could happen anywhere. Checking my rear vision mirror to see him getting closer, and closer as he came down the road, for a good 20 seconds, not slowing down at all, was the stuff of nightmares. I can still feel the impact, not to be too dramatic, but I'm bloody lucky to walk away from a hit that big.

Interestingly, this is the second time in 20 years I've been hit like this...previously not as hard, but still ended up spinning 180 and ending up on the opposite side of the road! Both times, the other driver wasn't looking.

Anyways, here's a quick pic of the interior, covered in rats whatever...

[degruch]

...and here's the ad, this is quite likely my car (although no sign of the casette player these days, it still has the original radio).

[yellowperil]

WOW WHAT A GREAT LOOKING VEHICLE

I don't think I've seen one of them before in photos, let alone in the flesh.

What a great little car to do up. Yeah there's some stuff to do as you've mentioned but every problem has a solution.

Good luck with it.
YP

[pa_man]

Now thats amazing having the original ad with your car in it

Josh