the 74 SSS on trademe finishs today (friday). 5 bids up to $6000 so far. very interested in what it will sell for.

I'm interested too as it's a re-shell with paint that doesn't match original SSS's and the air cleaners are non-factory. Hardly original yet it's going for the price of one!

Hi Guy,s. Is there any way of telling if it been a re-shell if all the id tags have been changed and it,s painted the correct colours etc......

Knowing what we know about the modifications, the changes were either cosmetic of mechanical. I don't think there were any changes specific to the "build plates" as would be the case if these mods were done in Japan.

It's not like you will find a special panel, So if someone re-shelled, and transplanted the waterbox VIN body number to the new shell, then it would be hard to tell I would think.

It would be nice to have a factory original SSS 1200 Sedan .. Mmmm nice dreams.

Thanks dattodude, that was my thoughts aswell...............and yes it would be great to have a factory sss. Anyone got one with a rusted body???

It appears to be a nice car and reshelling SSS's isn''t uncommon as the Kiwi assembled were bad for rusting away before your eyes and many were badly damaged in crashes by overenthusiastic drivers..The bonnet squares do look a little small . The air cleaners look like Lynx or Ramflos and the early cars did have 2 small round air cleaners until the GX style airbox was developed. One of the 1200 club members is chasing this one hard so I hope it comes to Wellington. As for the price I am pleasantly surprised at the steady climb in value for the 1200s over here. I was recently offered NZ $10,000 for my unfinished{almost} GX coupe !!!

Looks like a cast-iron exhaust manifold, yes? If so, is it a twin downpipe style ala JDM GX?

they are cast headers as you discribed.
Land Transport NZ allow new bodies and vin an rego plates may be swaped as long as you are swapping like for like i.e. 4 door for 4 door. you must be the lawful owner of both vehicles.
i am luckly that i have the orginal ownership papers that say' Datsun 1200 SSS'and the numbers match.
as for the paint. no SSS was exactly like the other. some sills were painted (unlike mine), some window surrounds were blackened (like mine) the bonnet was always pianted. there were 3 SSS badges. air cleaners will have been changed in30 years . no idea what the orginals look like , mine has Ramco.
the car was passed in if a reserve of about $7k.

I have a pic of the original airbox some where...I'll dig it out. I have built a replica of it for my GX as the Datsun Works manifold has different spacing between the carbs compared to the Marwood developed SSS one.

i would be keen to see the pics. i think i might e-mail Marwood and see if he remembers the SSS cleaners.