Nissan Silvia CSP311

Sometimes, it's all about timing.

To me, some designs are just perfect for their time; a balanced combination of styling cues, technological innovation, and performance. Sometimes, a carmaker can produce such a vehicle all on their own, but often there is outside collaboration that helps make or break a car.

Japanese automakers, especially in the 50s and 60s, often looked outside of Japan for help simply because local makers sometimes didn’t have expertise in a particular area. 

Albrecht von Goertz, best-known for the BMW 507 Roadster, had resumed his own design consultancy by the late 1950s, a time when Nissan (then Datsun) and other Japanese automakers were beginning to make inroads to the U.S. market.

What the new automakers needed, though, was a sports car in order to capture some much-needed attention. Compared to American, European, and British vehicles, the first slate of Japanese imports did little to excite the average buyer.

Building on the very limited-production (and truck-based) Datsun Fairlady 1200 sold from 1960-1961, Datsun had its first true crack at the global sports car market in 1963 with the Datsun Fairlady 1500 — or, as it was known in America, the Datsun Sports 1500.

It was a time when Nissan was getting into motorsport. The Fairlady 1500 was heavily raced and, in 1964, the first of the "giant-killer" Prince Skyline 2000GTs made their track debut.

But not everyone is into racing. Perhaps Nissan was looking to Europe, where semi-coachbuilt designs are sometimes sold in limited production, exciting cars because of the way they looked, not for how they drove.

For 1965, the company released today's Car of the Day: a handbuilt, coupe version of the Fairlady called Silvia.

Put into perspective, Nissan would later build 10,ooo March Super Turbo hatchbacks and approximately 6,000 Murano CrossCabriolets.

Only 554 Silvia CSP311 coupes were made.

Designed by the in-house team of Kazuo Kimura and Fumio Yoshida with input from von Goertz, the extremely pretty car is notable for one thing: there are no seams on its body. 

Engineering? By Yamaha, who had by now experience with its own in-house sports car project, the YX30. You can read my story on that car here.

Sure, there are openings on the Silvia for doors, trunk, and hood — but the rest of the car is completely blended together. This was done by skilled workers at Yamaha, who finished the car's metal body by filling in its seams and painting over them.

Once you notice this detail, everything changes.

Power and mechanicals came from Nissan's latest sports car, upgraded for 1965 and now christened the Fairlady 1600. A 1.6-litre 4-cylinder engine pegged at 96 horsepower helped to motivate the 977 kg (2,154 lb) car through a 4-speed manual transmission. Performance was good, not great.

TEXT via Nissan: Silvia debuts as a highway patrol car:

“In 1963, with the opening of a section of the Meishin Expressway, the first-generation Cedric Special (50) was the focus of attention when it was chosen as Japan’s first highway patrol car. Then in December 1965, with the opening of the Daisan Keihin Road, the first-generation Silvia (CSP311) was selected as a patrol car by the Kanagawa Prefectural Police. Since the speed limit on the No.3 Keihin was 80km/h, it was decided that a car capable of performing well at high speeds was needed for law enforcement. The Silvia, with its top speed of 165km/h, fitted the bill. This was the first time anywhere in Japan that a high-grade sports car had been put on police patrol, so it was front-page news. The photograph shows the official ceremony held at the Kanagawa Prefectural Police HQ on December 9, when the Silvia was delivered.”

Did it ever look pretty, though. And subtly modified (see below), every bit as attractive as other ’60s coupes.

The spiritual follow-up to the car was produced instead by Yamaha for Toyota, and christened the 2000 GT. And we know how that went…