Discussion
They got it almost spot on Datsun, the cars were easy to drive and had loads of stuff that was pure luxury in the puritanical seventies, things like a Heated rear screen, velour seats and a radio.
The engines were smooth, and they started easily in all weathers, which wasnt a standard feature in a lot of cars then, Minis for example, one hint of wet weather and they gave up.
I remember my dad having a 120Y for a bit when he was trading cars, we went sledging up in the pennies and I will never forget the revelation that wasa the heater, his capri at the time would emit some warm air, but the "Dats
t" was like a blast furnace, the radio worked and it being 1981 we were treated to abit of Golden Brown, Ultravox and Ian Dury.
My auntie had a couple of the Cherries, she loved them and I must admit a bit of a fondness for them, they had a appealing sort of Japanese efficiency and lightness, and the smell of the interior was quite pleasant, go on the bullet train at the national railway museum and it has the exact same smell !
The Achilles heel was rust, the mechincals were, for the time, hugely reliable, but the bodywork was rusting within months of getting a new one, they kept Isopon in business.
My uncle used to have Bluebirds before switching to Toyota Corollas in the hunt for even more epic dullness.
A neighbour bought a brand new Silvia 1.8 Turbo Auto, in black, how futuristic that car seemed in the mid eighties, still a looker today, seemed so fast with its 130 bhp.
The posh lady who owned the clothes shop round the corner "Bessie" had a Laurel estate, a massive gold Japanese land yacht, she had two podgy, privately educated kids, they went on Ask The Family, not a way to avoid havign the piss ripped out of you back then.
I like Datsuns, if I was wealthy, I would buy this, as much part of our motoring heritage as anything else.
My name is J4CKO and I love Datsuns...
The engines were smooth, and they started easily in all weathers, which wasnt a standard feature in a lot of cars then, Minis for example, one hint of wet weather and they gave up.
I remember my dad having a 120Y for a bit when he was trading cars, we went sledging up in the pennies and I will never forget the revelation that wasa the heater, his capri at the time would emit some warm air, but the "Dats
t" was like a blast furnace, the radio worked and it being 1981 we were treated to abit of Golden Brown, Ultravox and Ian Dury.My auntie had a couple of the Cherries, she loved them and I must admit a bit of a fondness for them, they had a appealing sort of Japanese efficiency and lightness, and the smell of the interior was quite pleasant, go on the bullet train at the national railway museum and it has the exact same smell !
The Achilles heel was rust, the mechincals were, for the time, hugely reliable, but the bodywork was rusting within months of getting a new one, they kept Isopon in business.
My uncle used to have Bluebirds before switching to Toyota Corollas in the hunt for even more epic dullness.
A neighbour bought a brand new Silvia 1.8 Turbo Auto, in black, how futuristic that car seemed in the mid eighties, still a looker today, seemed so fast with its 130 bhp.
The posh lady who owned the clothes shop round the corner "Bessie" had a Laurel estate, a massive gold Japanese land yacht, she had two podgy, privately educated kids, they went on Ask The Family, not a way to avoid havign the piss ripped out of you back then.
I like Datsuns, if I was wealthy, I would buy this, as much part of our motoring heritage as anything else.
My name is J4CKO and I love Datsuns...
Ozzie Osmond said:
Somebody round my way still drives a yellow 240Z - very nice. Heaven knows how he's kept the rust under control.
lol. Hats off to that guy. Some of 'em may have been already rusting on the forecourt.I did enjoy seeing some 240 / 260z, I must say. Big aftermarket, even today.
Edited by unsprung on Monday 2nd May 23:35
Meridius said:
Would love a nice 510
Reminds me of the one in the Tuned videohttp://youtu.be/hAlf7iWV7Wk
s m said:
That was the one in my head when I saw the thread, couldnt find a decent picture though so picked the other, both lovely.
Christ, those 120Y's were ghastly. They were a backward step from the previous model with IRS etc.
I guess someone will pay 12 grand for it. They were no worse than a 1300 Mark 1 Escort I suppose. But 12 grand would buy something that was really exceptional in the day such as an Alfasud.....
I guess someone will pay 12 grand for it. They were no worse than a 1300 Mark 1 Escort I suppose. But 12 grand would buy something that was really exceptional in the day such as an Alfasud.....
iSore said:
Christ, those 120Y's were ghastly. They were a backward step from the previous model with IRS etc.
The car in question is a B210-series Sunny. The B210-series was launched in early 1973 and was superseded by the B310-series in late 1977, so it was at the end of its series production life and was probably a last knockings run-out model for the UK concessionaires who were piling them high and selling them pretty cheap. I think it could be forgiven for being a bit long in the tooth design and content-wise for a car sold new in 1978 as it was a fairly basic spec variant of a design that was already a good five years old.Previous model B110-series was - like this one - live axle. There were IRS equipped cars in the Nissan range but they were higher price point models that the UK concessionaire either didn't import or didn't put too much effort into marketing.
Most of the rust on Japanese cars of this vintage was seeded in their long journey from Japan to Europe, mostly sailing the long way around Africa. Often a journey of six and sometimes eight weeks in salt-saturated sea air did them no good at all...
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