BACKGROUND

When I was a kid in the early 1970's, my father had a friend who had a Datsun Roadster.  I always thought it was a very cool car even though I never had the opportunity to ride in it. My Dad's friend had owned an MGB previously and greatly preferred the Datsun.  He indicated it was more powerful and more reliable than the MGB.  

In 1977, I visited my sister who was living on the island of Oahu.  Her boyfriend also had a Datsun Roadster. The car was a brown 1968 1600.  The photo below was taken on July 4, 1976.  The car was only 8 years old, but was already ravaged by rust.  I remember him taking me on the ride of my life.  I swear we reached speeds of 80 mph passing cars on the little two lane road that rings around the island.  We were flyin'!  It was an experience that I never forgot.  

In late 2003, I started to surf around on Ebay and noticed that one of these cars in decent shape could be had for only $4 to $6K. Gee, I thought, I could buy one of these cars, spend a few thousand fixing it up and still be out less than ten grand (yeah right!).  And so the same pitch was made to my wife and she acquiesced, provided her car got to stay in the garage and my driver car had to be relegated to the driveway.