If you look at Hidehiro IIzuka's early stying sketches as reproduced in Phill
Brook's (excellent) book, it appears that the tailights and relatively flat rear
panel were part of the design from the very beginning. I think the taillights
have a rather jet-exhaust look, which was quite common in that era.
Of course, the panel isn't completely flat but rather has some interesting
contours, which I'm sure has caused no end of grief to less-than-knowledgeable
body men.
By 1969 Triumph had picked up the flat rear panel idea in the Michelotti/Karmann
designed TR6, which I always thought looked great. In fact, at one time I
painted the rear panel on my roadster flat black like the Triumph (partly to
hide corrosion).
Gordon Glasgow
Renton, WA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
> [mailto:owner-datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of snyler
> Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2001 5:08 PM
> To: Mark Sedlack; roadster List
> Subject: Roadster styling (was originality thread)
>
>
> Mark Sedlack wrote
>
> >However, I personally have never liked the "flat" rear-end panel on the
> >Roadster, and have always suspected it was due primarily to ease of
> >manufacture, rather than a planned styling detail.
> I've wondered about the back recently myself. Perhaps it's a cost thing,
> perhaps the roadster was ahead of its time, anticipating the Kamm-back
> styling of the late 60s. I used to think the taillights were stuck
> on...items pulled from the Nissan parts bin, but they're unique to the
> roadster. If they'd used Bluebird (311) taillights of the era (which
> look like they might fit) there'd be much more of an MGB resemblance. I
> know the Roadster had its debut a year earlier, but it's hard enough to
> convince folks of the order of appearance as it is.
> -Marc T.
>
> ==========================================================================
> Marc Tyler TDROC Sisterdale TX
> 1970 1600 #SPL311-31016
> 1965 L-320 #L320 013642
> http://datsun_marc.tripod.com/cgi-bin/datsun_homepage.html
>
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