It so exciting when all the pieces start to fit together and the history of
a car is finally documented......
Rob B. informed me last weekend that my '66 Silvia CSP311 may have been
originally owned by a person named Elroy Goto who was a Nissan factory
sponsered race driver in Hawaii.
Armed with the name and a few original photos....I set out on a quest to
find out the history of the car.
Originally, I had thought that Elroy may have been the Honolulu Datsun
dealer in the 60's. So I decided to start at the top...and contacted Eric
Miyasaki, CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation in Hawaii, LTD. We had a great
chat about the Silvia and datsun roadsters. However, he didn't know the
history of my Silvia, and didn't off-hand know who Elroy was. BTW....before
I hung up, I made sure to ask him to ask Nissan Corp. to continue to produce
the roadster parts!!
Next, Rob informed me that he received the original Silvia photos from one
of Elroy's race friends, Jim Kesser (SP?). Rob, followed-up by mentioning
that Jim may contact me.
Well, after several phone searches, I was able to locate an Elroy Goto in
Hawaii. I placed a call to Hawaii and his wife answered the phone. She
confirmed that yes, Elroy had been the original owner of the car!! She was
very, very excited to hear the car was still in existence!!
Finally, last night, I spoke with Elroy Goto. What a great guy. He was the
race driver for Nissan's team in Hawaii in the 60's. He started off racing a
1500, then a 65 1600, then a 67 2000. He even went to Japan and raced at
Fuji raceway in 1969 in a datsun roadster 2000. <NOTE: Rob B: You've GOT to
interview Elroy for the registry>
Elroy was actually the Parts Manager at the Dealership in Honolulu. Even
after 30+ years, he could still rattle off silvia parts numbers and other
nissan rare facts.
How did he get the car?? Nissan at some point sent to Hawaii two right hand
drive cars, a Silvia & a Sunny 1000. Elroy's friend, Jim seemed to think
that the car may have been a Silvia that Bob Sharp had evaluated. But from
my understanding, the car Bob looked at was a LHD car...but who knows??
The dealership provided Elroy with the car for the first 6 months as a
demo-type car, and he purchased the car shortly thereafter. He owned the car
from 1966 till the late 70's. Due to inability to get new parts for the car,
he decided to part with the vehicle. He traded it to a friend ( a local
Mechanic) in exchange for a new toyota truck and a $40 japanese fan.
About 3 years ago, Elroy mention that he saw the car in the local costco
parking lot and was sadden by the shape it was in. He was so, so, happy to
find out the whereabouts of the vehicle. He even still has a spare Key to
the Silvia!!!!
Now, here is the best part...Elroy is going to be visiting the Bay Area to
check-out Sears Point Raceway on June 23/24. Either during that weekend or
on June 25th, he will be visiting me at my home in San Mateo to check-out
the car and take it for a spin!!!! Once the dates are finalized & I'll like
invite BADROCrs over to my place to meet Elroy and chat roadsters. He really
has an amazing wealth of knowledge!!
http://communities.msn.com/BADROC&naventryid=131
Thanks, All.
Dan Zubkoff
1966 CSP311, SPL311
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