Tim
Great story. Makes me think of the time my roadster quit in Salina, KS. I
went to Beggs motor co., a Datsun Dealership Which was the size of a gas
station (1971) and had them work on it. I ended up towing it back to Denver,
but my wifes family moved to Salina so I've been there many, many times.
Mike Koken
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim North" <timnorth@valu-line.net>
To: <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 11:01 PM
Subject: Re: Do you remember your first Datsun Roadster
> My dad was the Ford dealer in Emporia Kansas, and in the fall of 1966 Ford
was
> on strike and he couln't get any new Fords from the factory. So when the
> Datsun rep came calling one day, and offered him the Datsun franchise (all
you
> had to do in those days was purchase $700 worth of parts and a 3'x5' sign)
he
> took him up on it. I was a sophomore at Kansas University at the time,
and my
> driver was a Mustang. One day I came back to the frat house after class,
and
> found the Mustang gone and a light yellow '67 1600 in its place. I had
driven
> some British sports cars for short periods of from one week to a couple
months
> (trade-ins - hey it's tough being the car dealer's kid) Midget, Sprite,
Healy,
> but this was brand new and I loved it. I only had it for maybe three or
four
> months before my dad sold it out from under me. I was back in Mustangs (my
> favorite was a '69 Fastback with a 390 V-8, four-speed manual and the
first
> set of red-line "wide-oval" tires to be seen on the KU campus. A campus
cop
> pulled me over once just to check out my tires!) until the fall of '68,
the
> beginning of my Senior year. That's when I got a new '69 2000 roadster
(red,
> of course) I was in love again, especially with the extra gear (5-speed)
and
> horsepower compared to the 1600. The speed limit on the Kansas Turnpike
was
> 80 mph back then, and I could run that all day at 3500 rpm. I had a blast
> with that car and oh the memories. I'd squeeze three in it lots of times
with
> one person on the rear shelf. Even in the dead of winter with the top
up -
> the guy in back had to scrunch up and duck his head, but it seemed to help
get
> extra traction in the snow. Janell and I got married 5/31/69 and we drove
it
> on our honeymoon. I went to work for Arthur Andersen in June and Janell
and I
> had to share the car since it was the only car we had at the time. Some
days
> I'd drive it to work, some days she'd take me. Then in the fall of 69 it
> developed this quirky habit of not cranking over every now and then. We
> always tried to park it on the downward slope just in case, and were able
to
> "bump" start it that way on several occasions. One day when I had it back
at
> the dealership checking this out, my dad sold it! And of all things, my
next
> car was a brand new Maverick 2-door.
> I started working at the dealership in 1974, and one day in 1978 I
think,
> this buy breaks down on the Turnpike in a 2000 roadster (broken jackshaft
that
> runs the distributor) and we trade him out of it. The car was originally
> yellow but the PO had painted it red, which was so badly faded it looked
pink.
> But the car was straight with no rust so I thought it had potential as a
> "replacement" for my Honeymoon car. Our body shop thought I intended to
> resell it right away so they did kind of an Earl Scheib paint-job on it
and it
> looked a whole lot better. I had the seats recovered and some new carpets
> made for it. I have driven it about 300 miles per year on average since
then
> until this year.
> In 1993 we were repainting a lot of Ford pickups under the Owner
Dialogue
> program (peeling clearcoat) and had almost an assembly line process going
in
> our body shop, so I had the Roadster stripped to the bare metal and
repainted
> a Ford Probe color, Rio Red Tinted Clearcoat.
> In June 1996 I hit a deer at 70mph in it, but thanks to the fine
folks at
> Ralleye, got it back in fine shape again, minus a grille.
> Thanks to this list, and a neighbor who bought a TR6, I've been
inspired
> even more this year. I drove it 1500 miles this year, and bought a
complete
> weatherstrip kit and interior kit from Fairlady Prod. and am now
in-process on
> another partial restoration. O yeah, and a chin-spoiler (front air dam)
from
> CDM and a Talbot mirror.
> I'm excited for the new 350Z. I am now the Nissan dealer here in
> Emporia, and I'm thinking of keeping the first one for myself. But not if
my
> wife says I have to sell the 2000 roadster first!
>
> Tim North
> Emporia, KS
> SRL311-07074
>
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