MORE than 130 Datsun and Nissan cars will be on show in Goulburn this Easter as part of the 2011 Nissan Datsun Nationals, hosted by the Sydney Z Car Club.
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Entrants proudly showing their cars and competing in a series of motorsport events at Wakefield Park will come from Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Victoria as well as NSW and the ACT.
There will be a wide range of models, some lovingly restored to original condition and others heavily modified. They range from the Datsun 120Y, Bluebird, 1200, 1600 and of course the classic Z cars, the 240Z and 260Z.
Carrying the Nissan brand will be the later model Zs, right up ‘til the latest 370Z as well as the giant-killing Nissan Skylines. A Concours d’Elegance will be conducted in the city centre on Saturday, April 23 with cars on display from 9am til 3pm.
Members of the public are more than welcome to ask the proud owners any questions about the “pride and joy”.
“Restoring classic cars can cost thousands of dollars and soak up hundreds of hours of labour. Neither can ever be recouped,” organising spokesperson Alan Wood said.
“Owners do it for the love of classic cars and the camaraderie of their car clubs.”
On Sunday cars will compete in a hillclimb, short circuit event and Supersprints on the main circuit, with a presentation dinner at the Soldiers Club on Sunday night when trophies will be handed out for a range of categories, including Most Original, Restored, Modified, Street Machine, Competition Car, Engine Bay, Paint, Interior, Engineering, Encouragement Award, Longest Distance Travelled, Danger to Society and Special Effort.
* Historical footnote: Before the Datsun brand name came into being, an automobile named the DAT car was built in 1914, by the Kaishinsha Motorcar Works.
The new car’s name was an acronym of the company’s partners’ surnames (Kenjiro Den, Rokuro Aoyama and Meitaro Takeuchi).
The DAT Motorcar Co. DAT Motors focused on trucks since there was almost no consumer market for passenger cars at the time, and although it had been selling full size cars to Japanese consumers under the DAT name since 1914, development of a line of 495cc cars calling the new small cars “Datson” - meaning “Son of DAT” began in 1931.
The name was changed to Datsun two years later in 1933.
