The Datsun Roadster was a lightweight
automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
produced by
Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
in the 1930s. The series was a predecessor to the
Fairlady sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
s, and was an example of the earliest passenger cars produced in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. It shows some similarities to the
Kurogane Type 95
The Type 95 was a Japanese scout car built by , and was used during the war with China and World War II in the East. Between 1936 and 1944 approximately 4,700 were built. It was the only completely Japanese designed reconnaissance car ever u ...
four-wheel-drive roadster used by the Japanese Army during World War II.
Roadster
The first car to bear the Datsun name was the
1932 Type 11 Roadster. It was powered by a 495 cc
straight-4
A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft.
The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...
10 hp (7.5 kW) engine. The 1931 Type 11 had the same engine and was called a "
Datson".
Road Star
The Roadster was replaced for 1935 by the Road Star. It used a 14 hp (10.4 kW) 722 cc engine, and a Coupe model was also available. The engine's output was pushed to 16 hp (12 kW) for 1937. Production ended with Japan's entry into
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1941.
See also
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Kurogane Type 95
The Type 95 was a Japanese scout car built by , and was used during the war with China and World War II in the East. Between 1936 and 1944 approximately 4,700 were built. It was the only completely Japanese designed reconnaissance car ever u ...
References
Datsun Roadster parts available at www.datsunroadster.com (Rallye Enterprises, Ltd.)
Datsun Roadster parts available at www.datsunparts.com
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{{nissan
Roadster
Cars introduced in 1932
1940s cars