A sports coupe, based on the Nissan S platform, the Silvia debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1964. With a body structure that roughly matched the Fairlady convertible, it was designed by Count Albrect Graf Goertz, a German designer with long standing experience and expertise in the designing front.
Certain traits of the Silvia, like the large wheel with its typical wheel arch, small bumper bars and the bonnet line which goes forward to meet an open grille often resembled those of a BMW 507. With a perfect hand built exterior that employed a thicker gauge of sheet metal for its body, this car has a degree of heaviness that sometimes interferes with its performance.
With a Fairlady 1500 SP310 chassis which resulted in a ground clearance of 170mm, disc brakes, 14” wheels, and a double wishbone independent front suspension, the Nissan Silvia had an overall length of 3985mm and weighed 978kg .Its R engine, a 1595 cc overhead valve engine, had a 5 bearing crankshaft producing 96 hp at 6000 rpm. Another innovative feature seen in the Silvia was the concept of a single plate clutch with diaphragm springs.
The Nissan Silvia’s small but comfortable interiors allow much foot space though not much of a head room. The dashboard projects an array of instruments like a 120mph speedometer, temperature gauge, fuel gauge, clock, tachometer, etc. The console under the dashboard holds controls for the radio, lights, and wipers, map light, lighter and chokes.
