So. Cal. Datsun Roadster owners bring rare cars to the Lyon Air Museum

SANTA ANA, Calif., August 1, 2011—Lyon Air Museum, a premier Southern California showcase for vintage military aircraft and automobiles, will host members of the Southern California Datsun Roadster Owners Club (SoCalROC) at its “Cars & Cockpits” event scheduled for Sun., August 7, 2011, from 10:00-11:30 a.m. at the facility, located on the west side of the runway at John Wayne Airport in Orange County. (NOTE: Weather permitting).

Owners of such historical favorites as Datsun Roadsters, “Zs”, 510s and trucks will be bringing their vehicles to display at the Museum from all over Southern California. SoCalROC, which was started in 2000 by Andrew Murphy (with assistance from Paul Bauman) has been headed by Chris Breyer since 2009.

“We welcome all of SoCalROC’s members to the Museum,” said Mark Foster, president of Lyon Air Museum. “Our visitors have an exceptional opportunity to view some of the rarest Datsun cars.”

Said SoCalROC’s Breyer: “Our Datsun owners are looking forward to comparing their historic Datsuns with the Museum’s own stable of vintage luxury vehicles.”

Included among these Lyon Air Museum classic automobiles is a 1939 Mercedes-Benz Model G4 Offener Touring Wagon (used by Adolph Hitler himself).

Datsun was an automobile marque (trade name) created in Japan in 1931 by the DAT Motorcar Co. for a new car model. The name was originally spelled “Datson” to indicate its smaller size when compared to the existing, larger DAT car. In 1933, after Nissan Motor Co. took control of DAT Motorcar Co., the last syllable of Datson was changed to “sun,” because “son” also means “loss” in Japanese. The change was also made to honor the sun depicted in the national flag—hence the name “Datsun.” Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986. The Datsun name is most famous for the sports cars referred to as the Fairlady Roadsters and later the Fairlady (240Z) Coupes.

The Datsun Roadster was a lightweight automobile produced by Nissan in the 1930s. The series was a predecessor to the Fairlady sports cars, and was an example of the earliest passenger cars produced in Japan.

The Nissan S30 (sold in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z and in other markets as the Datsun 240Z, then later as the 260Z and 280Z) was the first generation of Z GT 2 seat coupe, and later (beginning in the 1974 model year) also 2+2 hatchbacks produced by Nissan Motors from 1970 to 1978.

The Datsun 510 (or P510/PL510) was a series of the Datsun Bluebird sold from 1968 to 1974, and offered outside the U.S. as the Datsun1600. According to AutoWeek, the 510 has often been called the “poor man’s BMW.”

The 30,000-sq.ft. Lyon Air Museum opened in Dec. 2009. The facility represents the fulfillment of a dream of Maj. Gen. William Lyon, USAF (Ret), who held the position of Chief of the U.S. Air Force Reserve from 1975 to 1979. Currently, Gen. Lyon is Chairman of the Board and CEO of William Lyon Homes, Inc., Newport Beach, Calif. His passion for aviation history and youth education is the driving force behind Lyon Air Museum.

In establishing the Museum, Gen. Lyon sought to create a world-class facility that would be available to the local community and would offer educational exhibits designed to inspire young people. The Museum has on exhibit some of the world’s rarest operational aircraft and vehicles.

Lyon Air Museum is located at 19300 Ike Jones Road, Santa Ana, CA 92707. P: 714/210-4585. F: 714/210-4588. Email:info@lyonairmuseum.org. Web: www.lyonairmuseum.org.

Hours of operation are daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission rates: General admission–$12; Seniors and Veterans–$9; Ages 5-17–$6; Under age 5—Free. Groups of 10 or more–$1 off each visitor. Pre-arranged school groups—Free.

Media Contact: Ned Madden
Rodheim Marketing Group
949/547-0143