Datsun Week continues on my car photography blog and while the roadsters are mentioned in the current video (click here to se it) none were featured in it. Perhaps a Datsun roadster could be featured in an upcoming episode of Joe and Cliff got to Cars and Coffee?

Before some of the Nissan cars that came to America bore their maker’s name they were called “Datsun.” Datsun’s original production run began in 1931 and from 1958 to 1986, only vehicles that were exported by Nissan were identified as Datsuns. By 1986, Nissan had phased out the Datsun name but re-launched it in June 2013 as a brand for low-cost vehicles that were being manufactured for emerging markets. Nissan would again phase out the Datsun brand for the second time this year. The Datsun name, it seems, could not catch a break.

The Datsun 1500/1600/2000 Roadster aka Datsun Fairlady in certain markets was a sports car that was produced from 1961 to 1970. It made its debut at the Tokyo Motor show in 1961, several months before the MGB, which it kinda, sorta resembles but in so many ways is much superior. The 1600 ended production in April 1970. The 2000 was produced until 1970 when both Roadster models were replaced by the soon-to-be legendary 240Z.

How I made this photo: When I was testing the Canon EOS 1D Mark III for the former print edition of Shutterbug magazine I tried to find a Triumph Mark III Spitfire to photograph but had to settle for this rusty Datsun that I photographed in an foreign car automobile recycling center that’s located near Erie, Colorado. This particular Datsun 1600/2000 has seen better days; can anyone tell me if they can identify whether it was a 1600 or 2000 roadster?  It was photographed using a Canon EOS 1D Mark III and 16-35mm f/2.8 L zoom lens. Exposure in Program mode was 1/400 at f/10 and ISO 200.

The original color image was converted to monochrome using Silver Efex Pro, then toned Platinum before applying the Glamour Glow filter from Color Efex Pro.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat Joe to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here. And if you do, many thanks.

Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography that’s out-of-print but new copies are available for $21.50 or used copies starting around nine bucks—from Amazon, as I write this.

Datsun is/was an automobile brand owned by Nissan. Dat Motorcar Company began producing cars in 1931 and named its first small car “Datson,” a name indicating the new car’s smaller size when compared to DAT’s larger vehicles already in production. When Nissan took control of DAT in 1934, the name “Datson” was changed to “Datsun” because “son” also means “loss” in Japanese and also to honor the sun that’s depicted on their national flag. In 1986. Nissan phased out the Datsun name but re-launched it in June 2013 for low-cost vehicles manufactured for emerging markets. Nissan considered phasing out the Datsun brand for a second time in 2019 and later in 2020.

Today’s post features Episode Three of Joe & Cliff Go to Cars and Coffee and includes interviews with the owners of three different Datsun automobiles. Cliff Lawson is handling the direction, camera work and production and Joe Farace is doing the interviews.

How Cliff Shot the Video: The camera used was a Nikon Z 6 II with Nikon 24-70mm f/4 Z-mount lens. A 2-6 Stop Moment ND filter was used on the lens. Video was recorded in Nikon N-log onto a DJI Ninja V with Samsung SSD storage. Audio was from a Rode Wireless Go II mic system with me using their lav mic option.

If you are interested in having your car or your car show featured and would like it to be interviewed on camera in an upcoming video, please click the CONTACT button and tell us what kind of car you own and your name otr the dat and location of your car show. Right now, plans are to shoot next month’s video at the Vehicle Vault Cars & Coffee (details below.) We would like to be able to feature at least two different vehicles in the next video and hope you would like yours to one of them.

Next month’s Cars and Coffee at the Vehicle Vault is on November 13, 2021. Hope to see you there.

• Starts: 9:00 am. We’ll be shooting video shortly after…
• Ends: – 12:00 pm
• Location: Vehicle Vault 18301 Lincoln Meadows Parkway Parker, Colorado 8013

On Saturday, Oct 7 the final Cars & Coffee at First & Main in Colorado Springs was held with the host club being the Alpine Region of the Porsche Club of America with many new and older Porsches on display. Most notable to Mary and I were a pristine, 100-point Concours-quality Speedster and a lovingly restored Sand Beige 1966 Porsche 911, whose owner told us a great story on how the car came to painted that color. It is one of the many reasons that I love Cars & Coffee.

The highlight for Mary was when she was parking her 2006 Mercedes Benz SLK 350 and one of the organizers asked—he practically demanded—that she move the car into the show area. Fortunately we had recently cleaned the car and its silver paint sparkled in the dappled sunlight. WE were both surprised that people not only liked the car but actually took photographs.

On the other hand, we didn’t take many pictures but Mary brought her Nikon DSLR and had fun making pictures, including the one of me talking to the owner of a pristine Datsun 1600 roadster.

The organizers of the First & Main Cars and Coffee event have not announced their schedule for 2018 but as soon as it’s available I’ll post it here. Mary and I hope to see you there next year, but you can join us at the Second Tuesday Cars and Coffee that are sponsored by the Vehicle Vault and held in Parker, CO. The next one is this Saturday October 14 and we hope to see you there.

• Starts: 9:00 am
• Ends: – 12:00 pm
• Location: Vehicle Vault 18301 Lincoln Meadows Parkway Parker, Colorado 8013

Because I am a Lego enthusiast, every now and then, this blog takes a look at Lego built cars. But with the new book How to Build Brick Cars, you get to build cars that Lego doesn’t offer as kits.

Author Peter Blackert works in Ford’s Asia-Pacific Canters focusing on powertrain and chassis system and his expertise is put to work for the designs in this book. He’s also a life long Lego enthusiast and that shows through in the text as well as the detail and complexity of each car’s specification and even in the cars he selected to model.

The beautifully designed and printed book is divided into three sections:

• In Foundation there are four cars ranging from a 1932 Ford V8 hot rod on to a Jaguar E-type with plans for coupé and roadster versions of each car. The designs in this section are what Lego fans call minifigure scale, so they can be used in cities and layouts, like mine. My favorite design in this section, however, is the legendary Citroën 2CV Charleston that only requires 249 parts. (More later.) The book also includes the Ferrari 488GTB and Spider. While Lego offers many Ferrari kits, they don’t offer this particular model in their Speed Champions series.
• Intermediate is the largest section of the book and the scale bumps up to 1:20 too. Here you’ll find everything from a Ford Raptor to, my favorite, a BMW i8 that’s on the book’s cover. Build difficulty for the cars in this section is up too: The relatively Z car, for instance require 499 parts but the cars in this section also have working suspensions so the build are slight more complex but obviously fun to construct.
• In the Advanced section, the car size remains at 1:20 but difficulty is ramped up too, so a parent might want to work with their youngsters to build these cars that include an awesome Plymouth Hemi Cuda and a Bugatti Veyron. These cars also use Lego Technic parts in order to create functioning internals.

The book works hard at being accessible and includes a detailed parts list for each car, including the Lego part number, color number and number of parts required. Building these cars won’t be as inexpensive as buying a Lego kit and even parts for the Citroën 2CV could cost $25 or so, although most Lego enthusiasts already have a stock of that should include some (or many) of the parts.

There are detailed sections showing how to actually build the cars but they do not use the simple and easy-to-understand format used by Lego in their instruction books. Because of space limitations there are short cuts that are explained in the “How to use this book.” So don’t just blast through to the cars you like and start placing parts order. Take a few minutes to read this section and the build will go smoother.

It’s obvious that How to Build Brick Cars was a labor of love for the author and Motorbooks has spared no effort producing a book that is just as lovingly crafted. If you like cars and like Lego, you need this book. And, hint hint, it’s not too early to order a copy for Christmas giving.

• Flexibound: 192 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks
• ISBN-10: 0760352658
• ISBN-13: 978-0760352656
• Dimensions: 9 x 0.6 x 10.2 inches
• Price: $21.47 Prime

Depth of Speed: Wagon Heritage from Josh Clason on Vimeo.

photo of Datsun 1600 (0r 2000) roadster in recycling yard in Erie, Colorado. ©2012 Joe Farace

JAKARTA (20 March 2012) — Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today announced measures to strengthen its production base and sales presence in Indonesia. Total capacity will increase to 250,000 annually by 2014, with the workforce expanding to 3,300, and sales outlets are planned to increase to 150 by 2015.

On March 19, CEO Carlos Ghosn met Indonesia president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and reiterated Nissan’s commitment to the nation’s motorization.=

While talking to the media, Ghosn announced the return of the Datsun brand, Nissan’s third global brand, alongside Nissan and Infiniti. Datsun will provide sustainable motoring experience to optimistic up-and-coming customers in high-growth markets. Datsun represents 80 years of accumulated Japanese carmaking expertise and is a important part of Nissan’s DNA. Datsun vehicles will start sales in India, Indonesia, and Russia from 2014.