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RE: Datsun B?

To: "'Max Heim'" <mvheim@studiolimage.com>, "'MG List'"
Subject: RE: Datsun B?
From: "Lew Palmer" <lpalmer@roundaboutmanor.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 19:11:25 -0500
I've heard the same :urban legend" and actually saw such a car with
supposedly a Datsun head. The only obvious difference was the location and
style of the heater control. I don't recall that the Datsun had such a
heater control. Maybe they learned from the Brits' mistake?

Cheers,
Lew Palmer

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-mgs@autox.team.net] On Behalf
Of Max Heim
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 11:21 AM
To: MG List
Subject: Re: Datsun B?

Known in the US as the Datsun 1600 Roadster (also 2000). Still see them
occasionally -- my neighbor down the block used to have one. Probably most
were sold on the west coast of the US -- Datsuns weren't marketed to the
entire country in the early 60s, and I don't know if they were in Europe at
all.

There is an "urban legend" to the effect that the car is the result of
industrial espionage; i.e. literally copied from the MGB plans, but this is
bunk. In fact, I think the Datsun hit the market first. It is however fairly
obvious that it was an attempt to tap the same market, and why not?

I recall someone on the list reported he was once told that the cylinder
head on the Datsun was interchangeable with the B-series engine, but that
seems highly improbable, and likely is just a further instance of the
legend.

on 8/30/04 4:58 AM, Paul Hunt at paul.hunt1@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:

> Local paper had a small feature on 50 years of Datsun/Nissan.  Did a
> double-take at the car at the top of the article as I started noticing
> similarities with the MGB.  It was a Fairlady made from 62 to 70 -
> http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Pit/3823/fairlady.html
> 
> I was struck by the overall similarity and particularly the rear quarter,
> windscreen and 1/4 lights.  What's more the front treatment is almost
> identical to the BL 1800 Landcrab that came along a couple of years later
> plus an MGC bonnet.  When you start looking at the detailed photos they
are
> as different as chalk and cheese, but that first 3/4 view is uncanny.
> 
> PaulH.


--

Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires

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