1968 Datsun Fairlady

It’s the first time this distinctive Datsun has seen action on the historic racing scene.

‘Once every eight or ten years there were rumours of Rock Vest’s SCCA Runoff-winning Datsun Fairlady Roadster still being out there,’ said owner Michael Anderson. Prior to his own racing career, Vest was chief engineer for SCCA National Champion Jim ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald, and turned the diminutive roadster into a Porsche-beater. H‘ien a20d 17 la ifn te rei hi andbhoueghr tea no p th lee rad a st seun Roadster with a little race history my friend Ron arranged for me to see the car, he told me the price, and we hopped on a plane to go and look at it. I thought I was going to negotiate a deal but when I arrived, Rock Vest interviewed me for 45 minutes about me and my plans for the car before I was even allowed to see it.

‘Once he decided I was a good enough potential owner for his car, he took me into the climatecontrolled garage he had built for it and there it was, sitting up on jack stands, covered in a fine layer of dust, just as it was when he parked it in 1994. It became very clear the price wasn’t much of a concern to him, he just wanted to find the right guy to look after his car.

‘We got it running first at Willow Springs, just with a stock motor, to see what we had. Then we stripped the car and checked everything. After the rebuild we were doing a shakedown run here at Laguna Seca three months ago, and broke an axle and rolled the car pretty badly.

‘We spent the last three months rushing to have it ready for this event. The rear glassfibre wheelarches were a particular challenge. We were very lucky, though, and found the original moulds for them in the attic of a Volvo dealership. Now we own the moulds.’