The Nissan Sports Car

[Gismo R]

Me and some of my friends were sitting around last night talking about cars and what not, and we started talking about Nissan sports cars. So, my question is, what was the first Nissan sports car?

[burgy240]

Well, I'm not sure over seas but here in the US the DATSUN Z car started it all. &nbsp;That car was amazing for it's time and is still a ton of fun today. <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'>

[samiam]

Yep! It had to be the Datsun Z and the 510......

[tnord]

was the 1600/2000 roadster before or after the Z?

[200sx]

Not sure, but I dont know if you can clasify the rodsters as 'sports' cars... I'm gona go with the Datsun 240Z that came out in 1970. &nbsp;I think this was the first true sports car from Nissan/Datsun &nbsp;Very amazing cars for their time.. and still quite respectable today. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
&nbsp;Just have to throw in my stupid joke here, dont know if anyone has heard this; &nbsp;

&nbsp; &nbsp;How did they come up with the name 'Datsun"? &nbsp;Well, they went over to Germany and talked to some Porsche folks. &nbsp;They asked the porsche guys to come up with a name for them, but said they were on a tight schedule, and needed a name by the next day. &nbsp;The head Porsche guy looked at them and said "Dat Soon?" &nbsp; And a wonderfull car co. was created. <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Actually, they were always called Nissan.. they just marketed their cars HERE under the 'Datsun' name because it 'sounded' better (apparently) to US buyers. &nbsp;Same reason the old VW Golfs' were called 'Rabbit's' here in north america.

[Jeff240sx]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (200sx @ Mar. 25 2002,01:37)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Actually, they were always called Nissan.. they just marketed their cars HERE under the 'Datsun' name because it 'sounded' better (apparently) to US buyers.</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
Well. &nbsp;Kinda.
Nissan didn't want to sell cars over in America as Nissan, because America was pissed about World War II. &nbsp;The Americans were anti-japanese everything, and Datsun sounded more acceptable to us.
Then, in the early '80s, Nissan figured that Americans have had a grudge for 40 years, and they should stop, and so Datsun cars ended here.
-Jeff

[drift freaq]

ok guys clarification time here . the first Nissan sports cars here in the states were the Datsun spl310-311 i.e 1600 and 2000 roadster.
For the person who claims those don't qualify as sports cars. you sir need a lesson in Sports cars and their history.
the Roadsters are pretty much the epitome of sport cars. the 240z followed it made more of an impact.
As far as the Datsun name goes it was a brand that was used by Nissan in Japan as well as other parts of the world and the United States. It is actually a very old brand name. It is still used today for some of the Nissan products in Japan and other area's of the world. Nissans decision to phase it out in the United states was a marketing decision and a poor one at that. they wanted the car line to be represented here by the Offical corporate name rather than one of their lesser brand names.
Problem is the Datsun name was very popular here in the states . It took Nissan several years to recover from this mistake.