Datsun
Roadster Information from Rallye Enterprises, Ltd.
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
QUICK
LOOK: If
your car is right on the edge of these number
breaks we'll have to work it out as to which
it is. Nissan record keeping was sometimes
inconsistent so the exact breaks are
estimates formulated from the 8000+ vins we
have on file. For
help in VIN and engine number location on
your car please see "Identifying
Your
Roadster".
For
RHD info please see Right
Hand Drive
Vin#s. There
were many changes throughout production; so
ALWAYS order with your VIN.
Thanks. Note:
This chart is AVAILABLE vins for that model
year; NOT amount of cars built; many times
Nissan did not use all the vins; in some
cases skipped BLOCKS of numbers. Why? Who
Knows? 1963
1500 SPL310-3-00071-00400? 1964
1500 SPL310-4-00501-03816
+ 00001-00073 1965
1500 SPL310-10000-11124 . 1965-67
1600 SPL311
00001 to SPL311 11000 1967
1/2 1600 SPL311
11001 to SPL311 17000 1968
1600 SPL311
17001 to SPL311 24000 1969
1600 SPL311
24001 to SPL311 27000 1970
1600 SPL311
27001 to 31350 (est.) . 1967
1/2 2000 SRL311
00001 to SRL311 01000 1968
2000 SRL311
01001 to SRL311 07000 1969
2000 SRL311
07001 to SRL311 13000 1970
2000 SRL311
13001 to 14450 (est.) * KNOW
YOUR CAR: Read
and learn as much as you can to ascertain
what you really have. You may have been
handed a title to some other car. Does your
frame number match the cowl and dash plates?
The plates are easy to switch and fake ones
exist. If nothing seems to jive with the info
email us a 5x7 or smaller picture saved at
72dpi (or paper mail any size) and we'll be
happy to let you know what we see in the
picture. Keep
in mind foreign cars used to be titled as
year SOLD not necessarily the model year they
are. To the untrained eye the cars look
alike, but they aren't. To translate into
American terms and to use an icon most will
recognize, take the 57 and 58 Chevys. If a
4-eyed 58 was titled as a 57 would you refer
to it as a 57 Chev? Not hardly. There are no
68 1/2 cars, there are no "early 70" cars
without square side marker lamps in the US.
They are the model year they are, regardless
of what the title shows. Informed roadster
owners already know this, but incorrect
statements continue to be printed in various
places. On January 1, 1969 vehicles began
coming with production date tags, and by the
end of 1970 they were finally attached in a
way they would be permanent (well at least
they wouldn't fall off after the glue dried
out!). The tag only showed date of
production, the car would have to meet
whatever emission and safety requirements
that were in effect for that date. The tag
does not show the "model year", which can be
different. A "4/69" car is a 69, but a 7/69
is a 70. That's where the VIN (vehicle
identification number) come into play.
The
fact that we have listed "XX year cars are
from VIN 10000 TO 20000 does not mean there
were 10,000 cars, it only means that the cars
from that model year fall in to THAT RANGE.
After 39 years of accumulating VINs from all
over the world, it is easy to see that blocks
of VIN numbers were skipped or otherwise not
used, and where in the numbers this
occurred. Many
of the cars have been altered by owners which
can make some cars a puzzle to identify. (We
refer to some of these as omelet cars.) The
following information applies to cars
destined for North America only. The exact
VIN break can be off in either direction a
few numbers. For more info on VIN
peculiarities and help in VIN and engine
number location on your car please see
"Identifying
Your
Roadster".
63
1500
.SPL310-00070
to 00400? the
1963 starter looks like this: NOTE:
Highest vin found so far in this group is SPL310 -
00366.
64
1500
.SPL310-00501
to end (est. 3816) + 00001-00070* *NOTE:
Japanese
sources indicates 00001-00086 were
manufactured at the end of 64 production,
which could explain why they have higher
engine numbers than other 64's. If so, this
would mean 00087 is the earliest 1500
Fairlady. Unfortunately this is contradicted
by the lowest engine number we show, G 69203,
which was installed in SPL310-00071! Car
00076 also has a low engine number. Since
SPL310-00070 came with G 89992 we believed
the change happened somewhere around
00071-00075 until we saw the VIN plate for
00084 that shows G-90135! It also appears to
be factory stamped as a 65. So from #72-86 it
can be anybody's guess! Recent
info shows #71 definitely a 63 with 77hp vin
plate; but #70 came with a late 64 engine so
#70 is a 64 but #71 is a 63. (Thanks Ray).
One more piece of the vin puzzle. NOTE:
No vins found between SPL310 - 00809 and SPL310 -
01288 65
1500
.SPL310-10000
to end (est. 11124)
65/66/67
1600
.SPL311
00001 to 11000 NOTE:
Only 5 vins higher than SPL311 - 10349
67
1/2 1600
.SPL311
11001 to SPL311 17000 NOTE:
Only
2 vins found between SPL311
- 15265
and SPL311 - 17000
67
2000 SRL311-00001 to 01000 NOTE:
Have found only 1 car with a vin between 00343 and
00400 inclusive, and only 7 cars above #701 point
to only 650 LHD 2000's being made; which confirms
what Japanese sources have said.
68
1600
.SPL311-17001
to 24000 NOTE:
Only
2 vins found between SPL311 - 22638 and 24000
69
1600
SPL311-24001
to 27000 NOTE:
No
vins found between SPL311 - 24765 and SPL311 -
25001.
70
1600
SPL311-27001
to end
(est.
31350) NOTE:
Only
two vins found between SPL311 - 30099 and
31002. The
preceding are just some of the
differences. Foreign
Differences Engine
Numbers The
R-16 engine, which began production in 1965,
was also used in the RL411 Sedan and Wagon,
which was produced in greater numbers.
Variations of it's kissin' cousin the H20
continued to be used in a number of other
passenger and industrial installations.
The
G-15 engine was also used in a number of
other vehicles. The only major differences
are in the R-16 in that at R-40000 the number
of main bearing saddles was increased from
three to five (although it's debatable
whether or not that was an improvement) and
some of the threaded holes were changed to
metric specifications; although the headbolt
hole threads remained the same! As best we
can figure; the starting numbers for a
given LHD model year are estimated to be as
follows. There is sometimes overlap at the
beginning and end of a year as they didn't
always take the engines in exact order of
when the engines were actually produced.
Remember that the lowest vin 1500s #1-#86
were assembled at the end of the 63-64 style
3-seat body run so they have very high engine
numbers. (at least most of them
do) If
you have a car close to the beginning of a
model year and find this information to be
inaccurate please let us know. As with all
Nissan figures, numbers are
approximate. 63
G15 70000 69
R16 67000 64
G15 72000 70
R16 93500 65
G15 91000 END:
R16 120200? 65
R16 00001 67
U20 00001 66
R16 02000 68
U20 01500 67
R16 18000 69
U20 07400 67.5
R16 40000 70
U20 13700 68
R16 58000 LAST
U20 ENGINE BUILT U20 -
15576 Wait,
don't I have a "Fairlady"? Production
Dates 63
SPL310* 9/62-6/63 ... 69
SPL311 10/68
- 6/69 64
SPL310 6/63-
6/64 70
SPL311 6/69
- 6/70 65
SPL310 7/64
- 1/65 67
SRL311 5/67
- 9/67 65-67
SPL311 1/65
- 2/67 68
SRL311 10/67
- 9/68 67.5
SPL311 3/67
- 9/67 69
SRL311 10/68
- 6/69 68
SPL311 10/67
- 9/68 70
SRL311 6/69
- 4/70** **Nissan
says 92 LHD 1970 2000's were
assembled in calendar year 1970;
highest production date found to
date is 4/70 for SRL311 14382.
Latest known RHD date is 4/70 for
SR311-05389 which came with engine
U20 15528. Supposedly only 39 RHD
2000s were made in calendar year
1970. Who's
got the last one built? When did production
stop? 63
SPL310 - 00365 67.5
SPL311 - 16397 67
SRL311 - 00967 64
SPL310 - 03798 68
SPL311 - 23870 68
SRL311 - 06979 65
SPL310 - 11120 69
SPL311 - 26940 69
SRL311 - 12944 65-67
SPL311 - 10967 70
SPL311 - 31304 70
SRL311 - 14420* 70
SP311 - 06011 70
SR311 - 05389 LATEST
CONFIRMED PRODUCTION DATES SPL311-31154
produced in 4/70 SRL311-14382
produced in 4/70 SR311
- 05389 produced in 4/70 Sales
Dates (USA) SPL
310 NOV
62 to JUL 66 SPL
311 JUL
65 to DEC 70* SRL
311 AUG
67 to FEB 71* Which
could explain why there are roadsters
titled as 1971s. Back then it was legal
for manufacturers to make "new" cars out
of storage lot queens by retitling them.
In the early years the ID tags came blank
so they could just stamp in whatever year
they wanted! How
many cars were built? Many
times we have every 3rd or 4th car or every
10th car, or sometimes 3-4 in a row. We
thought we had the run of numbers laid out,
but recent information brings up the
possiblity that certain vins in the
progression were skipped. If a block of
numbers is missing or just a small scattering
of numbers has been found it may indicate the
areas where vins were skipped. Please...feel
free to prove us wrong! (or at least throw in
your 2¢ worth) How many cars total? Pick
a number, and if you speak forcefully, you
can be the AUTHORITY! (because we sure don't
know.) Taking
into account the information released on vin
skipping, I'd be inclined to go along with
the figures previously published in the Neko
Fairlady Vol II book. Their
figures were calendar year not model year, so
we have refigured to show model year which is
what everyone wants to know. From this I
would surmise the following: 1500
LHD 4,160 ............ 1500
RHD 2,300 1600
LHD 26,430 1600
RHD 970 2000
LHD 12,880 2000
RHD 2,110 TOTAL 43,470 TOTAL 5,380 TOTAL
48,850 LHD
By Year Estimates 63
1500 290 ............ 68
1600 5800 64
1500 2860 68
2000 4930 65
1500 1100 69
1600 2530 65-67
1600 10400 69
2000 5900 67.5
1600 4300 70
1600 3400 67
2000 650 70
2000 1400 RHD
By Year Estimates 63
1500 100 .... 68
1600 0 64
1500 1000 68
2000 790 65
1500 1200 69
1600 0 65-67
1600 720 69
2000 500 67.5
1600 200 70
1600 50 67
2000 430 70
2000 390 This
contradicts the Nissan ID guide that shows
sales amounts for left hand drive cars. I
believe the difference can be explained.
Although it states 3000 more 2000's were sold
in the LHD configuration than the total
number of 2000s built, it shows that about
3000 less 1600's were sold than the amount
built. And to add to the confusion, some of
the year by year LHD VIN numbers in the
"official" parts book are mixed up with the
RHD VIN numbers, which were completely
different. Both
Phill Brook and Greg Valazza exhausted a
great deal of effort to pound out some
increased accuracy in these numbers in 1999
and 2000. I think they also agreed it is a
titch frustrating being confronted by
contradictory "official"
information. Production
figures in the Neko book are by calendar
year, not model year so it makes it difficult
to nail down the individual numbers. The 2000
figures we decided on based on quantity of
known engine #s. We will update this page as
more rumors, theories, suppositions and
possibly facts surface. We welcome any
comments or information that any of you can
provide. If you think "official" figures
carry any weight, forget it. A recent Nissan
parts guide shows the roadster ending
production 9/69 when we've seen numerous
production date tags that prove that wrong.
As mentioned above; the vin number guide in
the "official" parts book even has the RHD
and LHD vin numbers mixed up. You
would think at least the final totals would
be accurate; maybe not the individual years;
but no; as Nissan's practice of skipping vins
introduces an element of chaos into the mix.
As time goes by; and we run into more and
more vins (currently 9050 or so); our view
into the vin and no vin areas of the
numbering will present an even clearer
picture. Of
course if Nissan skipped INDIVIDUAL vins as
well as blocks; none of this is accurate. I
often have wondered if this vin skipping
business was done to "puff up" the production
figures. Information on this vin skipping
business was listed in figures from the
company that produced the bodies for
Nissan. Noted
Australian roadster builder and U20
horsepower guru Lou Mondello has been
instrumental in prying out information on
Australian RHD VINs. Whether
there were 45,000 cars or 50,000 it doesn't
much matter now, as a big percentage of them
have been recycled into soup cans. What we
need to do now is take care of what's left.
|
.......... |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
|
|
|
