Part Six.
Past the Peak 1960 to 1970.
Nissan had produced been producing the S211
Fairlady since 1959, but it was more of a tourer than a sports car. The
Nissan Fairlady 1500 of 1961 was of conventional construction for a small
sports roadster of the 1960's, with a separate chassis frame with wishbone
and coils front suspension and a live axle with half-elliptic springs at
the rear. It had a 1488cc engine that produced 71bhp, giving it a top speed
of 91mph. In 1963 the engine size was increased to 1596cc giving 96bhp
and an improved performance. This was the Fairlady 1600, which had disc
brakes at the front. In 1967 a 1982cc engine was fitted. Forty thousand
examples of all types were produce before production of this the only
Nissan roadster ceased in 1969.
1962
Nissan Fairlady
Whereas the Fairlady was an obscure product
of a major motor manufacturer, the Ginetta G4 has been a major product
of an obscure manufacturer. The Ginetta marque was originally the creation
of the Walklett brothers of Suffolk England. There love of cars diverted
them from being structural engineers to motor manufacturers, at first making
kits of parts for others to build examples of their sports car designs.
One of the most successful of these was their G4 model. The first of 500
of these G4's was produced in 1961 in kit form and the last one in 1969.
The G4 had a multi-tubular space frame chassis with double wishbones with
coil springs and dampers front suspension. A Ford live axle was located
by upper trailing arms combined with coil springs and dampers at the rear
and 8-inch drum brakes. This was clothed in a distinctive body made of
GRP. The first engine on offer was the Ford 105E, developing 39 bhp at
5,000 rpm.
A
Ginetta G4
Even with this modest power output the G4
could accelerate from rest to 50 mph in 9 seconds and it had a maximum
speed of 100 mph. During the cars life other Ford engine options were
available, these included Ford 109E, 1.3 Ford Classic, 1.5 Ford Cortina
GT and Ford 1.6 X-flow. The Walklett brothers continued to produce various
Ginetta models including the return of the G4 in 1981, in kit form and
also complete cars until 1989 when they sold the company. Two of the brothers
are still manufacturing cars marketing an updated a G4, the Dare G4 in
2004.
The first Austin Healey Sprite model had
been the design of the Donald Healey Motor Company. It had been developed
and produced by MG at their works at Abingdon near Oxford, England. When
the Mk 2 Sprite was designed and developed also by MG; a version with the
MG badge the Midget Mk1 was also developed. Both the Sprite Mk2 and the
Midget Mk1 were on sale in 1961. The Midget version outlived the Sprite
by nine years and out sold it by three to one with a total of 226,526 examples
made. Over the eighteen years the Midget was produced the design was developed
and engine size was increased three times, starting at 948cc, then 1098cc
and 1275cc. Finally a 1493cc Triumph engine was used from 1974 to 1979
when the Midget was discontinued.
Innocenti of Milan Italy also produced a
version of the Sprite/Midget design. The Innocenti 950 Spider using a Ghia
designed body form on a British built Sprite/Midget running chassis. This
model was produced from 1961 to 1970 after evolving into the Innoceti C
Coupe.
MG
Midget Mk II
The first Honda automobile to be produced
in series was a tiny sports roadster design the S500. That was in 1962
and the design of the S500 was a mixture of technology developed for the
Honda motorcycle applied to an automobile chassis. The engine was a 531cc
double overhead camshaft four-cylinder unit that produced 44bhp. It was
mounted in the front of a box section chassis that had independent suspension
front and rear utilising torsion-bar springs. The transmission to the rear
wheels was an odd mixture of shafts and chains. The final version, the
S800, made from 1966 to 1971 had shaft drive and a 791cc engine that produced
70bhp at 8000 rpm and a top speed of 94 mph.
Honda
S600
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