Fairlady Roadster article

toopy

Club Member
Found this article, courtesy of Classic Motor Monthly

Can anyone confirm the authenticity of the Nissan president supposedly seeing the broadway show, my fair lady and naming the car thus?

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20171108_0002.jpg
    IMG_20171108_0002.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 63

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
Found this article, courtesy of Classic Motor Monthly

No but read it everywhere....seems just too much of a coincidence but who knows ! At least they didn't say an MGB copy !

But could you please send me their email address as I have a little story of track experience inside one.
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
The story regarding Katsuji KAWAMATA's naming of a car is correct, but the car in question was the SPL212, whilst the article says it was the SPL213. Their article in fact appears to be about the later series 310 and 311 models...

The true meaning of the 'Fair Lady' moniker which seems to go over most heads - and this goes for the musical production as well as GB Shaw's Pygmalion on which it was based - is that it is a corruption of "Mayfair Lady". Professor of Phonetics Dr. Henry Higgins was challenged to pass off cockney street urchin Eliza Doolittle as a society lady, and her mangling of the English language is the whole point.

When Eliza decried that she wanted the be a 'Mayfair Lady', it came out sounding like "My Fair Lady".

A little sports car from humble origins, aiming to punch above its weight and pass for something relatively exotic? I'd say 'Fair Lady' was quite a clever name with a hidden subtext that few actually *get*...
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
Thanks Alan - I shall go to bed less ignorant this evening and yes subtle choice for their sports car but not sure that the SP212 had much of a punch at any weight.
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
....but not sure that the SP212 had much of a punch at any weight.

You're judging it against what, exactly?

At less than 15 years after Japan had been totally devastated (much more so than Germany, for example) I think it was an extraordinary statement of ambition and intent and an indication of what was to come.
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
You're judging it against what, exactly?

At less than 15 years after Japan had been totally devastated (much more so than Germany, for example) I think it was an extraordinary statement of ambition and intent and an indication of what was to come.

Whaoh...you judged it first :

A little sports car from humble origins, aiming to punch above its weight .....

key words "above it's weight" ! So what were you comparing it too ? There was nothing in the JDM so you're talking foreign makes...MGA, MG Midget ? But be careful, you stated ABOVE it's weight which I can accept for the SPL and SRL311s but at less than 300x produced (+500 with the SPL213 ?), this was a loss-leader surely, to prove to the JDM and elsewhere that Nissan was big enough to make 'luxury items, non-practical cars' and for that, I give them enormous respect especially only several years since they were constructing imported Austin kits.

Yes, it was an ambitous step forward but a modest one with the SP212. The big step came with the SP310, a year before the MGB roadster.:thumbs:

Humble origins ?

'Nissan' was the first automobile manufacturer, made Japan's first car and grew to be the biggest JDM automobile manufacturer at the time of the Fairladys' 'coming out'.

If you mean orginated from the Gorham, Dat or Lila then yes, agreed but then Jaguars too came from humble sidecar bodies but only 10 years after our favouraite marque.
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
Whaoh...you judged it first :

key words "above it's weight" ! So what were you comparing it too ?

No. Key words were "aiming to". As I mentioned, it was a statement of intent, of ambition. A starting point. This is why the 'Fair Lady' moniker is so apt.

I don't think anybody at Nissan actually expected it to shake the foundations of the 'sports' car scene, but - for example - at the same time here in Europe, and particularly the UK, we were still putting aftermarket plastic bodies on Austin 7 and Ford Pop chassis and mechanicals and calling them 'sports cars'. That's pretty much exactly what Nissan did with the plastic-bodied SP210, which is where the Fairlady story really starts. It was Nissan - and Japan too if you like - encouraging and inspiring itself. "Come on, we can do this...".

"Humble origins" refers to its chassis and running gear.
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
No. Key words were "aiming to". As I mentioned, it was a statement of intent, of ambition. A starting point. This is why the 'Fair Lady' moniker is so apt.

Fair point and it was an exciting time for them, an opening up of the roads you once told me, incomes increasing - sign of a certain affluence able to aford luxury cars.
 
Top