The mid to late sixties was an exciting time for sports cars. Out of Europe, you could take your pick from any number of greats like MG, Aston-Martin, Triumph, Austin-Healey, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz…the list goes on. In the U.S., you had the stunningly gorgeous C2 Corvette and fastback Mustang; not so great around corners but the styling was en pointe and they had the power to match. Meanwhile, the Japanese market was just finding its footing making the beginnings of some of the greatest sports cars of all time with the S600 from Honda, the 2000GT from Toyota, and this, the Fairlady from Datsun. The predecessor to the modern-day Z, you can find this 1967 Datsun 1600 SPL311 here on eBay.

It’s a project in the truest sense of the word, but aside from some surface rust, the body and frame look decent. There’s a dent on the driver’s side rear fin and rear bumper, the windshield is cracked, and there’s not much paint left. It looks like at one point it was maybe white? But that looks like just about the only things that are wrong with the body and frame. It’s a solid and relatively complete car; not only that, but the seller will throw in a new windshield and a few body panels! Scrub off the surface rust, pull out that dent, replace the lighting fixtures, and you’d have a good base to paint it whatever color you like.

Inside, the seats have some tears in them. The steering wheel is cracked, and the dash could use a new layer of leather. But, as with the exterior, that looks like just about the only things wrong inside the car. Objectively a bonus, the seller includes a spare set of gauges with the sale. I have no idea if the gauges currently installed in the dash work or not, but between the two sets included, you could probably cobble together something that told you vital things like water temperature and oil pressure.

Under the hood is the 1.6 liter where the car gets the “1600” from. Breathing through a pair of SU carburetors and overhead valves, it made 95 horsepower when new, driving the rear wheels through a four-speed manual gearbox. Anecdotally, I’ve been noticing a growing interest in the midcentury aesthetic, and an appreciation for smaller, simpler, but more fun cars. This Datsun 1600 fits that perfectly. It’s a roadster, and with the classic engine up front, drive wheels out back, row-your-own-gears layout with no roof, you’re guaranteed every drive will be a fun one.