You may know the Nissan Fairlady name-sharp enthusiasts will attach it to a JDM-spec Z car of some manner. But did you know that the Fairlady name dates back to the early '60s, on a line of increasingly fearsome roadsters?
This body-style 2000 was introduced in late 1962 as a '63 model, built to compete head to head with what was then the Second Coming in the sports car world, the MGB. By '68, the Datsun was a far more technically enthralling piece than the English example: your $3071 entry fee got you a sidedraft Mikuni carb-fed 135hp SOHC aluminum-head two liter Four (150hp if you got the optional Solex carburetors), a five-speed gearbox, and a 7000rpm redline in a 2150lb, 90-inch wheelbase package. That curb weight is feather-light, and that's after the safety and emissions gunk was added in. Roughly 6000 came off the line for the year, and about 15,000 were sold in the U20 years (ending in 1970 and replaced with the 240Z), so they were never thick on the ground.
Datsun's pre-Z, even pre-510 history in the US hinged on little MGB-stompers like this Fairlady. Bob Bondurant opened his high performance driving school with a pair of Datsun roadsters. Pete Brock of BRE Racing fame was prepping and winning in these roadsters before the 510 and Z car ever touched tire on American soil-and they're still a club-racing favorite today. At home in Japan, the Fairlady roadster was just one flavor of many spicy varieties available in the showroom. Here in the States, this was pretty much it.
When Jason Brainard of Portland, Oregon (the Henry Higgins in our tale) was conjuring the "fast, fun, reliable convertible with style" that he had always wanted, the original U20 disappeared. Reliability has never been an issue with Datsuns of any vintage, but the notion of finding parts for a 40 year-old engine-even one with the cult status that the roadster enjoys in this country-was. In place of the U20 came another two liter Nissan cammer, the legendary SR20DE, which in naturally-aspirated form as seen here performed yeoman service in a variety of '90s Nissans, including the Sentra SE-R, the under-appreciated NX2000, and the cusp-of-luxury Infiniti G20, among others.
Of course there are differences: the weight savings of the all-aluminum SR20 over the stock iron-block engine, two cams instead of one and electronic fuel injection versus a pair of Mikunis hanging off the side of the block. (We probably shouldn't say this out loud, but the SOHC U20 motor was good for an extra 20 lb-ft of torque to boot.) But now, thanks to less-tortured airflow into the throttle body and some of the SR20's emissions junk placed on the scrap heap, the SR20 puts out an honest 140hp to the rear wheels.