- The original Nissan Silvia was introduced in 1964 and was based on the Fairlady platform.
- The slow, largely hand-made production process meant that only 554 examples were made in three years.
- Almost everything stayed in Japan, but this 1965 car is now for sale in the US on Bring-a-Trailer
Even those of us not fully immersed in drift culture are familiar with Nissan’s S-series sports cars, the S10-15 rear-wheel-drive coupes that ran between the mid-1970s and early 2000s with the Silvia, 200SX, 240SX and other badges were sold. But the first-generation Silvia shown here was never sold new in the United States and was produced in such small numbers that it is a rarity even in its home country.
var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]}; adpushup.que.push(function() { if (adpushup.config.platform !== “DESKTOP”){ adpushup.triggerAd(“4d84e4c9-9937-4f84-82c0-c94544ee6f2a”); } else{ adpushup.triggerAd(” 6a782b01-facb-45f3-a88f-ddf1b1f97657″); } });
The original Silvia looked like a slightly uglier Japanese version of the slim-pillared Lancia Fulvia coupe introduced a year later, and debuted in the fall of 1964. But unlike the Lancia, the Nissan was rear-wheel drive and had an inline-four instead of the V4 Fulvia.
Related: You’ve never seen anything like this Nissan Silvia pickup truck
The X-shaped ladder chassis and running gear came from the Fairlady, Nissan’s answer to the MGB, and although the design was credited to Kazuo Kimura and Fumio Yoshida, Albrecht Graf von Goertz, who had previously designed the 507 for BMW and would go on to shape the Toyota 2000GT , is said to have had an early influence on the project. And get a load of that interior space. It’s absolutely stunning and looks like something you’d expect to find in an early 1960s Ferrari, Lamborghini or Maserati that costs ten times as much.
window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: ‘thumbnails-a-mid’, container: ‘taboola-mid-article’, placement: ‘Mid Article’, target_type: ‘mix’ });
window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: ‘thumbnails-oc-2×1’, container: ‘taboola-mid-article-thumbnails-organic’, placement: ‘Mid Article Thumbnails Organic’, target_type: ‘mix’ });
A tiny 89.8-inch (2,280 mm) wheelbase helped keep curb weight under 2,200 lbs (1,000 kg) and meant power was available with just 89 hp (90 hp) from the 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine was still quite fast with a double carburettor that was housed under the engine hood. But speedy is definitely not a word you would apply to the production process. The Silvia was reportedly largely hand-built, and when the car was canned in 1968, only 554 examples had been made, so the Silvia name no longer had a home until it was revived for the S10 in 1975.
Almost all of those 554 cars were sold in Japan, but just under 10 percent were apparently shipped to Australia and a handful ended up in other countries. This 1965 car came to the US in 2005 and is now for sale Bring a trailer. Although it looks solid from underneath, the paint and interior could use a refresh and hopefully the next owner will take care of it and then hit the show scene to let people know that the Silvia has been around long before the drift scene gave.
var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]}; adpushup.que.push(function() { if (adpushup.config.platform !== “DESKTOP”){ adpushup.triggerAd(“5646c171-cb6e-4e2c-8440-49013ca72758″); } else{ adpushup.triggerAd(” e7c4c913-3924-4b2d-9279-6c00984dd130″); } });