Nissan Silvia CSP311 — 1st-Generation (1965-1968) | Japanese Legends

The first-gen Nissan Silvia is a very rare piece of automotive history, with the company producing only 554 units, a few of which still drive to this day.

This post marks the beginning of a series dedicated to probably the most recognized JDM Nissan after the legendary GTR moniker, the Nissan Silvia. The Silvia name is often associated with drifting, but we are here to tell you that it is much more than that. It is the story of one of many iconic Japanese legends.

Nissan produced and sold the sports car under many different names depending on the location. Americans would probably know it as the Datsun 200SX. We’ll start right from the beginning with the first Silvia and continue through the years, covering each model in-depth.

But first, time for a small history lesson.

Background

The design work on the CSP311 started back in 1963, but the idea of making such a sports car far predates that date.  The original idea was to build a potent rear-wheel-drive two-door specialty sports car that would put a smile on your face every time you went for a drive. And that idea never changed over the years, even with the subsequent generations.

Nissan Silvia CSP311 — Base Model

The CSP311 is where it all started. Nissan released the Silvia CSP311 in September of 1964 at the Tokyo Motor Show as an up-scale rear-wheel-drive sports car. The unique thing was that it weighed just around 980 kg (2160 lbs) when sports cars of the time could not even come close to the one-ton mark. Moreover, it was also costly, almost double the price of other vehicles of the same caliber.

For a spot of context, the CSP311 cost around ¥1.2 million, while a Nissan Bluebird cost ¥674,000. The main reason for such a high price was Silvia’s production process. Nissan claimed that every car was almost entirely handmade. The workers even shaped the body panels by hand. As a result, no two cars were equal.

The CSP311 shared the chassis with the Datsun Fairlady 1500. Rather interestingly, Nissan named the launch model at the Tokyo Motor Show the Datsun Coupe 1500. The brand only changed the name to Silvia later.

Under the Skin

The first-ever Nissan Silvia featured a formidable Nissan R-series 1.6-liter straight-four engine. This unit was a modified version of the H19 series powerplant from the Nissan Cedric. It featured reasonably modern systems, such as twin SU carburetors and overhead valves.

As a result, the 4-cylinder engine produced 90 PS (89 hp) at 6000 rpm and 100 lb-ft of torque at 4000 rpm. Power went to the rear wheels via a Porsche-derived 4-speed manual gearbox.

For better handling on the road, Nissan equipped the first Silvia with double-wishbone suspension at the front. Meanwhile, the rear axle retained the primitive parallel leaf suspension system. Stopping power came from disc brakes for the front and drum brakes for the rear wheels. Lastly, a wet sump lubrication system took care of keeping moving parts of the engine operational.

After production started and the first cars appeared on Japanese roads, the CSP311 Silvia became the fastest Japanese production car with a top speed of 165 km/h (103 mph).

The Silvia did not lag behind in the acceleration department either. It took just 17.9 seconds for a ¼ mile drag and achieved 100 km/h (62 mph) in just over 12 seconds. These figures may not seem groundbreaking today, but they were pretty good 56 years ago.

Styling Features

We already know that the Datsun Fairlady inspired the CSP311’s underpinnings, but the two could not be any more different when it comes to design language. The Silvia has distinctive western styling and lacks the traditional essence of Japanese design. Rather interestingly, the first Silvia was even criticized for not following conventional designs. The car featured a modern and sporty design that was a departure from the norm of that time. Moreover, Kimura Kazuo, chief designer of the Silvia, wanted to revolutionize how Japanese cars looked.

There is another very good reason for its non-Japanese styling. You see, back in 1960, Nissan’s head of the styling section had resigned, and there wasn’t anyone capable enough to fill his shoes. To fill the gap in its design team, Nissan partnered up with Yamaha and resurrected the Yakusawa institute in 1962 to aid the designs of future Nissan vehicles. Moreover, Nissan also enlisted successful German car designer Count Albrecht von Goertz. Initially, the company hired Mr. Goertz to educate employees about full-size clay modeling.

The Silvia Might’ve Had Pop-Up Headlights

The main designer on the CSP311 project was Nissan’s Kimura Kazuo, while Mr. Goertz’s role was to merely consult with the team on the final design. Kimura-san originally wanted the CSP311 to have pop-up headlights. However, the team scrapped the idea since it did not sit well with Nissan executives and Mr. Goertz himself.

Besides, such a headlight design would not have met the American safety standards of the time. Apart from the type of headlamps, Mr. Goertz also made changes to the C pillar angle of the Silvia. However, it is important to note that his contribution to the design of the CSP311 was quite small. The final design allowed the car to have a drag coefficient of just 0.45. For comparison, most cars of the era would fall between 0.5-0.7.

Famous for the fact that the CSP311 was almost entirely handmade, not many know that Nissan scrapped the initial plans of beating the body panels by hand due to high costs. Instead, in a rather haste decision, it was decided by Nissan’s top brass that the panels would be built at the brand’s Tonouchi Works facility, where a metal press machine will be used to fabricate the parts.

Nissan Silvia Patrol

In December of 1965 onwards, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department used the first-gen Nissan Silvia as a highway patrol car. Nissan provided the police with two cars for this purpose, and both were slightly different from the civilian versions. The engine remained the same, but suspension modifications improved control at high speeds. Moreover, the cars also came with standard police equipment such as lights, sirens, over bumpers a calibrated speedometer. Nissan named these cars Silvia Patrol.

Nissan handed over both Silvia Patrol vehicles to the Kanagawa Police headquarters in an official ceremony on December 9. These vehicles would aid the police department in enforcing the 80 km/h speed limit on the soon-to-be-opened Keihin third highway that connected Tokyo to Yokohama. The event marked the first time that law enforcement used a high-performance sports car anywhere in Japan. It was also a moment of pride for Nissan as the cars were designated to patrol areas where the brand’s headquarters were.

Reports suggest that one of the Silvia Patrols still lives in the US and might be going through a complete restoration to bring it back to its former glory.

Last Words

Despite initial criticism over the western design, the first-gen Silvia was fairly well-received by the public. Production started either in late 1964 or early 1965, spanning for three years before ending in 1968. Nissan ended up producing just 554 of these magnificent machines, with the majority (481 units) of them finding homes in Japan. Out of the remaining 59 cars, 49 made it across the Pacific and into Australia, while the remaining 10 went to other countries.

We think there are two main reasons for the low production numbers. First, even in Australia, the Silvia was quite expensive at $4,390 when other cars like the Datsun Bluebird were available for just $1,800. Secondly, the production process of the Silvia was also quite difficult to perfect. The company had to send many body panels back to the Tonouchi plant when found with imperfections or quality issues. Moreover, such low production numbers mean that the first-gen Nissan Silvia is a rare and classic collectible automobile in today’s world.

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