Summer is arguably the most anticipated season of the year. After a long hard winter full of snow, salt, and frigid temperatures, it is a blessing to finally see green grass, budding trees and colorful flowers. The sights and smells of a new summer season is delightful but for us car enthusiasts the true beginning of summer comes with the dropping of the tops. Convertible tops that is.

Nothing symbolizes the coming of summer like a convertible cruising in the warm breeze with the radio playing a good oldies tune. With that in mind, let’s take a look back on some of the greatest classic convertibles to come from Japan as we count down our top 5 Japanese classic convertibles.

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5) 1970’s Datsun Z Convertibles

In the 1970’s, there was a period of time when rollover safety standards robbed Americans of opportunities for true fun-in-the-sun. The fact that Datsun did not manufacture convertibles did little to sway our rebellious nature and convertibles were not out of hands reach for long. Being one of the most popular Japanese sports cars of all time, there were many Z-coupes that undertook the surgery to become Z-roadsters.

Most of the Z’s were chopped by companies such as Steas Industries, California Coach Co. and Griffith Co. Others were done by ambitious wrenchers in their own garage with custom parts from older convertibles. The most popular of the Z convertible conversions was the 280Z. At number five in our countdown, the convertible Datsun Z is a rare custom car but is probably the easiest to obtain and kits are still available for those who want to chop their own car.

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4) 1979-1981 Toyota Celica Sunchaser

A decade later in the 1980’s although convertibles were on the rise again, the market was still not strong enough for Toyota to produce convertibles from the factory so they authorized Griffith to modify production coupes. However, the Toyota Celica Sunchaser was not just a standard Celica coupe with the top chopped. The Sunchaser was a unique convertible in the sense that it was a targa top (removable hard top) and it had the more recognizable rag top. The targa style roof spanned from the top of the windshield to the B-pillar and the cloth style convertible top was collapsible from the b-pillar back. When the targa was off and the top was down, it resembled that of a dune buggy with it’s B-pillar roll bar.

The Sunchaser was originally given the 2.2 liter 20R engine producing only about 90 horsepower, but in ’81 was upgraded to the 22R which was essentially the 20R bored out to 2.4 liters. There were only approximately 2000 produced, each one individually numbered in the glovebox, so these cars are a rare find especially in pristine condition.

Refurbishing a Sunchaser can be a daunting task, but the good news is that they share mechanical parts with standard Celica coupes and convertible, hardware may be found from a few specialty shops. In the end of things, a restored Sunchaser is still a real head turner especially since most of them came with a bright red paint job.

(Note that full convertibles without the Sunchaser’s B-pillar may also come to the marketplace from time to time, but they were not factory authorized conversions from Griffith.)

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3) 1960’s Datsun Fairlady Roadster

The Nissan Fairlady (marketed as the Datsun Sports here in the states), the predecessor to the Z series of cars, was specifically intended for the US market and marketed in competition to the MG and Triumph sport convertibles. Historically, it started in 1959 with the S211 which used a 988cc 36hp model, of which only about 20 were actually built. The SPL212 Fairlady 1200 was introduced a year later as the first Datsun sports car in the US. It was powered by a 1.2 liter engine with 47hp and a 4-speed manual transmission.

Eventually the Fairlady would grow to include 1.5 liter, 1.6 liter and 2.0 liter engines. (Referred to as the Fairlady 1500, 1600 and 2000, respectively.) By the late 60’s, for a bit over $3,000 the Fairlady 2000 came with a SOHC 2.0 liter with side-draft Mikuni carburators that revved to a 7000rpm redline, producing 135 horsepower fed through a 5-speed standard transmission. As if that wasn’t enough, optional Solex carburetors would have made the engine scream out another 15 horsepower. Add that to the feather-weight 2150lb chassis and you have a serious contender to the English roadsters. It’s no wonder the Fairlady was considered the best bargain in it’s class and would go on to win many class production SCCA races. As the decade came to a close, the Fairlady met it’s end and was replaced by the 240Z.

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2) 1964-1970 Honda S-series

Honda’s entry into the automotive production world was marked in 1963 by the S500, Honda’s first production car. (In that same year, Honda also entered Formula 1 racing with a 1.5 liter V12 engine and chassis which went on to win its first race in 1965.) It featured an evolved half-liter engine from Honda’s motorcycle heritage which had four Keihin side-draft carburetors and a 9,500rpm redline, outputting 44hp. The driveline utilized a 4-speed standard transmission which drove the rear wheels through a set of chains. The S-series had four-wheel independent suspension with torsion bars and coilover shocks which were ground-breaking at the time. At $1,275 it was available with an optional fiberglass hardtop, but only in Japanese market.

It was not until the middle of 1964 that the S600 was introduced with an export-friendly left-hand-drive version. Powered by a larger engine, it was produced 57 ponies and 38 foot-pounds of torque, it sold for under $2000 in the Canadian market and were quite popular with American soldiers stationed in Japan. (Many of them brought the cars back with them to the states.)

A year later at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1965, the S800 replaced the former. Equipped with a 791cc engine, it topped out at around 70 hp which doesn’t seem like much these days, but it let the little roadster up to triple-digit speeds. It was plenty of power to do the job for cruising on a hot Sunday with the top down.

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1) 1965 Toyota 2000GT

First seen as a prototype at the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show, the Toyota 2000GT was put into production in 1967. The cars came off of the production line as a hard top coupe and were unavailable to the general public as anything else. Altogether, there were about 350 of these built and two were special convertibles made exclusively for the James Bond film “You Only Live Twice.”

Powered by a 2.0 liter straight six that was designed together by Yamaha and Toyota, the 2000GT sported three Mikuni-Solex side-draft carburetors to breathe easily while it smoothly churned out 150 hp at 6,600rpm with another 400 left before redline. With a curb weight of 2,400 lbs, the 2000GT had a admirable 49/51 weight distribution and superb handling abilities.

Considered one of the highest collectible Japanese cars, most people will never have the privilege to be able to ride in it with the top down. One of the convertibles is in the Toyota Museum in Japan and the other is rumored to have been long misplaced, most likely in some private collector’s underground sanctuary. (A third replica which was originally a coupe is on display at “The Cars of the Stars Museum” in the James Bond section.) For the rest of us, we’ll have to wait in line for the Miata or 240Z replicas. The 2000GT ranks at number one on our list of convertibles due to it’s status as the most desired, most rare and most untouchable Japanese classic.

It is obvious that there are many more Japanese convertibles that are not covered here. We also decided not to include any targa and t-top models for the sake of simplicity.

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