Still chronicling the diverse assortment of cars found on the streets of western states, and there’s a lot of material out there. If you were born in the 1970s or later, you probably remember these as fuel-gulping dinosaurs with antiquated styling and wood trim out of the 1970s. But when they were introduced, Jeep Wagoneers were a very early SUV in the modern idiom, equipped with power steering, automatic transmission, and an overhead cam six, several years before Range Rover and nearly two decades ahead of the Ford Explorer. This particular car is one of the last of its kind, and apparently the owner was not interested in the many more modern options available on the market, even before the Exploder showed up.
Posts Tagged ‘1600’
RustyButTrusty on the Street – Jeep, Saab, Eagle, BMW
January 7, 2014London Bridge is Falling Down – 1966 Datsun Fairlady Roadster
July 27, 2009Back when I was looking at buying my first sports car, this was among the list of possible cars. They were (as they were originally marketed) a reasonably-priced sports car with European style and near the top of their class (4-cyl. roadsters) in power. As it happens, I ended up with my Alfa, largely because the Datsuns were fairly uncommon, even in the early 90s, and 60s Japanese cars did not have as much cachet as they do now. As with most older sports cars, their shrinking numbers, and the increasing disposable income of buyers, means the cost to purchase one of these has gone up, at least one that fits into the rusty-but-trusty segment of the market.
The subject of today’s post is this 1966 Datsun 1600 Roadster in Placerville, CA for $2500. As one of the earlier cars, this has less power (a still respectable 95hp), but no doubt, fans of the 1600 will tell you a smaller engine revs more sweetly.

