For Sale: 1969 Datsun 1600 in Staunton, Illinois

The Datsun was designed very much in-keeping with the visual cues of these European sports cars, possibly because German automobile designer Albrecht Goertz had a hand in the final styling. Under the attractive body everything was fairly normal by the standards of the era, the 1600 Roadster has independent front suspension on coil springs, a live axle rear on leaf springs, and a front mounted inline-four sending power to the rear wheels via a manual transmission. There were a few things that set the little Datsun apart from its European peers, firstly and perhaps most importantly it was cheaper. Secondly it showed great promise on the race track, it would eventually win some SCCA races and claim some hard fought podiums. The 1600 Roadster was sold alongside the 2000 Roadster, the latter car had the larger 2.0 liter U20 engine, and together they were a common sight in SCCA competition in the mid-to-late 1960s. Once Datsun's Roadsters had proven their mettle the Japanese automaker released the Datsun 240Z, a car that became an icon in its own right, and gave rise to the Z series cars still being built today by Nissan.