Datsun Sports Collectables
Datsun History Books

These are several books that feature Datsun Sports cars, or have an small section about Datsun Sports cars, or are books that would be of interest to Datsun Sports owners.

EARLY DATSUN IN AUSTRALIA
by Alan Bent
Early Datsun in Australia is a complete guide on Compact Disc to every Nissan, Datsun and Prince car and commercial vehicle sold in Australia before 1970. As well as having one of the most comprehensive model guides for Datsuns of this era that has ever been written, with over 150 different models listed, it also includes scans of over 100 original sales brochures from the 1960s (including over 30 sports car brochures) and scans of over 200 different magazine and newspaper advertisments (including over 60 sports car advertisments).
Buy the CD ! Click Here to find out more.
FAIRLADY - Japan's First Sports Car
by Phill Brook
published by Banzai Productions
An excellent book by Australian author and long time Fairlady owner Phill Brook, the book contains a very complete history of the Datsun Sports including sections on the design and manufacture of the cars, a model guide, racing history, maintenance, and much more.
Buy the book !The book is available from Banzai Productions, P.O.Box 615, Artamon, NSW, Australia, 1570. Or e-mail the publisher to order direct. 
$49.95 plus postage. 
Also available through the DSOA. e-mail us for details.

FAIRLADY-1
published by Neko Publishing Co. Ltd.
Fairlady-1 is the first book in a 3 book series about Datsun Sports Cars. Fairlady-1 is about the Fairlady 1500, 1600, 2000, the Silvia and the 240Z. It is a spectacular book, with many detailed photos of each model, including many close-up photos. It probably makes facinating reading too. I wouldn't know because the only thing wrong with the book is that it's all printed in Japanese! Even still, it's worth getting just for the pictures. 

FAIRLADY-2
published by Neko Publishing Co. Ltd.
Fairlady-2 is mostly about Zs, but there is some interesting stuff. There is a section about the Fairladys that competed in the Monte Carlo rally, a small section about the Fairlady SP213 and a section with Fairlady production numbers and a list of the original paint codes. As with the Fairlady-1 book, it is all in Japanese and is expensive.

FAIRLADY-3
published by Neko Publishing Co, Ltd.
The Fairlady-3 book is nearly all about the 280ZX, the only part of the book to list the sports cars is a breif mention in the history section.

DATSUN ROADSTERS 1962-1971
published by Brooklands Books Surrey England
Reprints of articles by several different motoring magazines, covering Fairlady 1500,
1600, 2000 and SP213 models and Bluebird P311.
Buy the Book! A new larger version of this book has just been released in the USA, it should be available in all motoring bookshops in Australia soon.

CAR AND DRIVER ON DATSUN Z, 1600 AND 2000
published by Car & Driver Magazine Los Angeles 1985
A book reprinting road test articles by Car & driver magazine (not the worlds best car magazine) about Zs and Fairladys. Mainly all Z stuff you can get anywhere, only 2
articles on Fairladys.

DATSUN/NISSAN SPORTS CAR BUYERS GUIDE 
by John Matras 
published by Motorbooks International, USA.
A buyers guide from the USA. The book only has a twiddley little 4 page section on the 1968-1970 2000, nothing on the other models.
DATSUN 280ZX
published by Nissan Motor Company
This rather large book was printed by Nissan to promote the 'new' 280ZX. It is a very interesting book about the design and construction of the car, it also has a couple of pages in the history section about the sports cars.
THE Z SERIES DATSUNS
by Ray Hutton
published by Motorbooks International.
A Z coupe book with about five (rather inaccurate) pages about the sports cars.

THE RECKONING
by David Halberstam
published by Bantam Books London 1987
"How Japan beat the United States in the auto industry war and rewrote the rules of
international buisness competition."  This book explores the difference between Japan end the USA by examining the history and buisness practises of Nissan and Ford.
No photos and practically no model info but it does have one of the most thoroughly researched corporate histories of Nissan (and Ford) you will ever see.
THE COMPLETE DATSUN GUIDE
by Michael F. Hollander
published by Tab Books, USA.
A small book featuring a model guide and a brief history, the guy doesn't seem to like Fairladys for some reason, he must be a 200B man!

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DATSUN AUTOMOBILES FROM JAPAN
by Halwart Schrader
published by Schrader and Partner GmbH Munich,
Germany.
This is one of the best books on Early Datsuns I've ever seen. Printed in Germany with text in German and in English, it includes well over 100 photos (all black and white unfortunatly) covering every major model from 1932 to 1976, plus pre Datsun cars including the Dat, Datson, Gorham and Lila.
THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE CAR
by Marco Ruiz
published by Crown Publishers Inc. New York,USA.1986
A very good book about the Japanese car industry covering all major makes. It has a large section on Nissan. Mostly all the photos are in Black and white. 
I think it is still available.
NISSAN/DATSUN - A history of Nissan Motor Co. in USA
by John Bell,Rae
published by McGraw-Hill
This is a 330 page book about the history of Nissan in the USA from 1960 to 1980. To be honest I haven't read it all yet. I read a small section of it when I bought it and the bit I read was filled with inaccuracies and errors, this has put me off reading any more of it, it has cast a question mark over the quality of the research the author has done.
NISSAN SPORTS
published by Graphic-sha Publishing Co. Ltd.
A Japanese book featuring lots of colour photos of Datsun Sports Cars and Z coupes, about a quarter of the book is about Datsun Sports.
MR.K
by Yutaka Katayama
The autobiography of the former President of Nissan USA, the man whose persistance led Nissan to move up to the next level and start producing real sports cars.
DATSUN Z-CARS
by the editors of Consumer Guide
published by Publications International.
Mostly all Z stuff, but there are a few mentions of Datsun Sports cars in the history section.
PETERSEN'S COMPLETE BOOK OF DATSUN
published by Petersen Publishing
Possibly should have been called 'THE IN-COMPLETE BOOK OF DATSUN'. Like most of Petersen's car books it is half history and articles and half 'how to do it' tune up guide. It is mostly about 1970s Datsuns and there is no mention of the Datsun Sports, but there are some very interesting sections on early Datsun history.
(There is also a 'Petersen's Complete Book of Japanese Cars' ,which is pretty useless unless you want info about the common sedans. Though it does have an interesting article about someone fitting a V8 into a 1964 320 Datsun 1200 ute!)
DATSUN Z - FAIRLADY TO 280Z
published by ?
I haven't read this book yet, I have only had a chance to have a quick look through it. It seems to be mostly the same Z stuff we've all seen a million times before, except the first few chapters which are on pre-1970 sports cars. It has some great photos of the Fairlady production line, the Prince Skyline Sport, some other early Japanese cars and other cool things.
Available in motoring bookshops now!
DATSUN Z SUPER PROFILE
by James Morris
published by Haynes Publishing Group.
All the same Z stuff you can find anywhere, with a tiny section about the Sports and Silvia, obviously written by someone who hasen't even seen one let alone driven one.
NISSAN SILVIA RESOURCE BOOK
by Alan Bent
A 188 page book featuring a history of the Silvia, technical data, parts interchange, plus the only English language wiring diagram available anywhere. The book also includes reprints of magazine articles, sales brochures, the parts catalog, both the English and Japanese version of the owners manual and much more.