No, the lightweights really did exist. Jack Scoville had one. He said they were
having trouble with the car developing excessive negative camber and finally
discovered that the front crossmember was bending because the frame metal was so
thin! In addition to being thinner, the frame also lacked some of the extraneous
mounts like those strange square ones near the motor mounts. The sheetmetal was
also thinner and was identified by being painted purple inside, which is why the
lightweights are sometimes referred to as "purple panel" cars.
The one currently owned and campaigned by Purple Lips Racing (
http://www.netcom.com/~oldirish/plrt/datsun.html ) is the one I have seen.
Before the Purple Lips team got it, it was owned by Alan Murtagh and I took some
pictures of it at the Olympia Airport in the 1980's. Here it is with Alan
driving (http://www.gordon-glasgow.org/Images/litewt1.jpg). Alan, who was a body
man, attested to the thinness of the sheetmetal. If I remember right (50/50 on
that!) he said a bare door weighed about 15 lbs.
I don't know if Purple Lips' story about Brock having a lightweight is correct
or not, because Pete Brock said they only built two 2000's, and I'm pretty sure
they were racing them prior to 1969. The only known remaining BRE 2000 is being
restored back in Minnesota or someplace, according to what I heard.
Lots of hearsay, lots of mystery about these cars, but their existence isn't in
question. Dennis or Les, have you heard any facts or near-facts about these in
your discussions with the Nissan people?
Michael Landskroner wrote:
> Now my 2 cents re: lightweights
>
> I think this idea about lightweights and the like is, well, a legend. If
> Bob Sharp never had a lightweight who would, and I know for a fact he
> never had one as I met him not too long ago at his dealership and I
> asked him.
>
> Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gordon Glasgow [mailto:glasgow@serv.net]
> Sent: Sunday, December 26, 1999 2:06 AM
> To: datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: SRL311-00003!
>
> It's my understanding that all of the lightweight cars (either 5 or 6
> cars or
> 10 to 12 cars, depending on who you're listening to) were high
> windshield
> cars. The only one I have actually seen is a high windshield.
>
> Andrew Murphy wrote:
>
> > Hey list,
> >
> > I was checking out Datsun.org and ran by the 67 2000 registry and noticed
> > that SRL311-00004 has been replaced as the oldest known 67 2000 roadster.
> > The guy who has it says his dad bought it in 1971. Funny, I always thought
> > that the first 10 cars (SRL311-00001-10) were special lightweight versions
> > for factory backed racing, but this guy describes a normal car.
> >
> > Thoughts?
> >
> > Andrew Murphy
>
> --
> Gordon Glasgow
> http://www.gordon-glasgow.org
--
Gordon Glasgow
http://www.gordon-glasgow.org
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