Ray Fairfield was the first Australian to drift a Nissan Silvia long before the current crop of young

g rev-heads was born. Lets find out more

A life less ordinAry Rays drug-running, Yakuzachasing Silvia has retired to a quieter life in rural Queensland.

Let it slide
Australian Classic Car

Words Ben Dillon Photos Nathan Duff

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Ray Fa irf
Toowoo m

b a Q LD

ield

1965 NissaN silviA CsP311

or those under 35, the name Silvia conjures up images of boy racers drifting sideways in cars with mismatched panels and tyres smoking to the blasting beat of techno. For those not in this age demographic, Silvia might be the old duck down the street you say hello to of a morning. That is unless you are Ray Fairfield. Thanks to the popularity of drifting as a sport and movies like The Fast and the Furious, the Silvia is one of the best-known modern examples of a turbo-charged, rear-wheel drive sports car, alongside the Nissan Skyline and Mazda RX-7 in terms of street-cred for generations X and Y. Show any of these cars to your average backward-cap-wearing, 15-year-old pimplepopper and they will wet their pants. Conversely, if you showed Ray Fairfields 1965 CSP311 Nissan Silvia to the same test audience the response would probably be chirping crickets and a flippant whatever spat out between wire-braced teeth. When the car went on sale in 1964, no one from Gen X and Y was alive. This goes a long way to explaining the dislocation of the original CSP311 and todays Silvia worship among younger generations.

A true dAily clAssic

The amazing thing about Ray Fairfields car is that it is a daily driver. This Silvia is not a car used occasionally or on weekends, but Monday through Sunday. This is especially significant given the Silvia is 45 years old and there were only ever 49 brought into Australia. Its a very rare bird indeed. Ray might borrow his wifes car from time to time, but the Silvia is constantly away from the safety of the garage, mixing it with Hyundais and other such blandness out on the road. The Silvia is on full registration (not the cheaper club rego for cars 30+ years old) and it even has a towbar fitted, which Ray uses to cart half a ton of whatever to wherever, whenever the mood strikes him. Really, is there any other enthusiast out there who has the guts to rely on a rare 45-year-old piece of engineering to get where they are going each day?

mAn with the golden pen

rUsT no More Everything below the Silvias swage line is new metal, barring the floor.

Design genius Albrecht Goertz (BMW 503, 507) had a hand in styling the Silvia, although the original design is credited to Kazuo Kimura, who also penned the Fairlady convertible. How big a hand Goertz had in the Silvia can be seen in his other designs of the era, including various Studebakers, the Toyota 2000 GT and, most controversially, the Nissan 240Z. Goertz was also responsible for modernising the design process at Nissan, insisting on fullsize clay modelling when he first started as a consultant. He was also singular in his desire for all designs to be cohesive rather than have one designer work on each part of the vehicle separately as had been the case. This continued after Goertz departed Nissan.
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1965 NissaN silviA CsP311

Rays silvia has gangster connections lurking beneath its friendly faade

MAsTer CrAfTsMAn Ray has re-fabricated plenty of parts on the Silvia, such as the chrome trim around the headlights.

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Australian Classic Car

Based on the Fairlady chassis, the Silvia was hand-built at Yamaha and was first displayed at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show, badged as the Datsun Coupe 1500. When it was released in 1964 the Silvia featured the updated 1595cc engine from the revamped Fairlady 1600 and was badged the Nissan Silvia. Sales were slow, mainly due to the price a 50 per cent premium over a Fairlady and closer to Jaguar and Mercedes money than to other Japanese cars. The Silvias handbuilt element was the major reason for this high price, as panels were not interchangeable between cars. This now makes restoration that bit harder.

drifting the first silviA

Production finished in 1968. In total, 554 Silvias were made with Australia the only official export market, though some were offloaded in Papua New Guinea along the way one of which was Rays first Silvia. Ray enjoyed this first Silvia so much that 15 years ago, when the opportunity came to purchase his current CSP311, he jumped at it. The PNG Silvia came with skinny rims and narrow cross-ply rubber, which according to Ray made the handling interesting. He describes his first test drive (the exuberance with which the throttle was pinned and opposite lock applied through a corner) and how it was the catalyst for purchase, but Ray stipulated to the ashen-faced salesman that the Silvia needed better rubber. Little did Ray realise he was the first in a long line of drifters to use the Nissan Silvia.

the silviAs underbelly

Rays Silvia CSP311 has gangster connections lurking beneath its friendly faade. The story goes that the owner previous to Ray bought the car after it was seized from a convicted drug dealer. The owner found several syringes and other drug paraphernalia during a strip down to ready the car for restoration. This owner, though, became disillusioned with the restoration process and sold the Silvia to Ray. Ray, too, found evidence of the Silvias shady dealings in the form of an expended 0.32 automatic bullet casing. Looking closely at the front of the car, it does have a

slightly sinister appearance but only from certain angles. Over 15 years and 85,000 miles have passed since Ray first restored his Silvia to a road-going state, but a lot of work went into getting it ready. Re-fabrication of parts is Rays specialty and he formed many items of trim, lenses and badges himself. When Ray first acquired the Silvia, many bits and pieces were missing or damaged. The bumper is a cut-and-shut Mazda 1500 item, which is nearly as faithful to the shape of the front end as the original. Ray also crafted little things like the chrome trim around the front and rear lights. Moreover, he rectified the poorly constructed brake lines and the bolts that held the steering arms on the stub axle. Ray relates a tale of another Silvia owner who had these bolts fail while driving, resulting in a total loss of steering. Luckily the driver was able to stop without damaging anything (except perhaps his underwear). While all these jobs were fiddly, they were nothing compared to the rust issues this Silvia harboured. Ray says basically everything from the swage line down (excluding the floor) is new metal and that he was lucky to have a panel beater from the old school who could work magic with flat metal. This Silvias engine is a little different to standard, with an H20 2.0-litre four-cylinder motor sitting where the original Fairlady 1600 unit used to. It has been modified with twin SU carburettors, bigger valves, a revised exhaust and a lumpier camshaft, but it still idles evenly. Ray has even put it on a dyno, the result being a flat torque curve from 2000 to 5000rpm. Ray keeps his Silvia going well by driving it regularly. No point in having a car if you cant drive it all the time, he says.

in fine forM Age hasnt wearied the Silvia, which is quick to reach the legal speed limit.

The sPECs
1965 NissaN silvia CsP311
EnginE: 2000cc fourcylinder OHV twin SU carburettors (original 1600cc) Transmission: Modified Skyline fivespeed (original four-speed) PowEr: 71.5kW (96bhp) @ 6000rpm TorquE: 135.5Nm (103lb/ft) @ 4000rpm LEngTh: 3985mm (157) widTh: 1510mm (59) hEighT: 1275mm (50.2) wEighT: 980kg (2160lbs) 0-100km/h: N/A ToP sPEEd: 165km/h

whAtll she do?

Getting in and out of the car is an exercise in flexibility, especially for tall drivers. Sitting in the car, the first thing you notice is the flat floor and that your legs are straight out in front of you. The next point of contact is the thin-rimmed wheel, which is a delight to hold, giving excellent road feel. The controls and cabin are definitely designed for those under six feet tall, though. There is enough leg and head room, but the

extra inch I want to put the seat back isnt there and I subsequently find my hands and legs meet when trying to turn the wheel. There are no foot wells in the Silvia, which makes it a practical car in the country and one Ray had no problems driving on rutted PNG roads everything vulnerable is threaded up through the chassis, giving it excellent ground clearance. Ray gave up on fixing his MG Midgets exhaust after it bottomed out one too many times. The Silvias gearbox has a slick and positive action, which encourages unnecessary gear changes just for fun. Ray remarks that the original four-speed is even sweeter to use. The pedals are close together, so forget about driving in boots or sneakers! The unassisted braking takes a bit of getting used to, but the range of modulation is greater, as is feel. Out on the road we cruise to the speed limit with an ease that belies the cars age. There is a bit of weaving, though, which Ray explains is due to less than spectacular shock absorbers that will soon be replaced. With twin wishbone front and leaf springs rear, the handling is quite tidy, despite the heavy wire wheels and shock absorber issues. The Silvias power is something to enjoy, with the exhaust and intake making all the right noises as speed builds. Not surprisingly, the Japanese police used the Silvia as a pursuit car it was the fastest thing available at the time. It will still get you into trouble if you put your foot down, says Ray. As we turn onto the highway and do just that, I realise that while this is a daily driver, it is anything but boring.
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1965 NissaN

Silvia CSP311