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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Today we're going to check out one of my all-time favorite Japanese cars, the one that started the whole hot-rodded Japanese machinery thing here in the US of A: Datsun 510! Sometimes I get asked whether irate car owners come running after me with a shotgun when they see me shooting their cars, but my experience with this Datsun was more typical; the owner came out to see what was going on, was glad that someone appreciated his car, and opened the hood and trunk so I could get better photos. It's funny that the car known as the "Poor Man's BMW 2002" is now worth more than a 2002. In 1971, you could buy a brand-new 2002 for $3,275… or a Datsun 510 for $1,990. Both cars had IRS, disc brakes, etc., but the BMW had the power edge, with 114 horses versus 96. With the money the Datsun buyer saved, however, another 50 horsepower could...
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The little Datsuns of the early 70s are just about gone now, though a few still roam the streets of the Island That Time Forgot. We saw a '75 B210 last fall, and now we've got an even rarer machine in this early-70s 1200. I'm calling it a '71, but it might be a '72 or maybe even a '70; we'll need to rely on the serious Datsun fiends out there to nail down the exact year. This car may spend most of its time garaged, but I see it on the street in my neighborhood from time to time. It appears to be an original, unrestored time capsule of an early Datsun. I'm hoping I'll be able to find the owner one of these days and ask him about this little jewel's story. Known as the Sunny back in its homeland, the 1200 was cheap, got great mileage, and was way more reliable than its European and Detroit competition. And it has an interesting Japanese racing history as well! Who knows, maybe this is the original Yankees bullpen car (though apparently the Dodgers had...
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We've seen 240Z and 280Z so far in this series, but how about the Late Malaise 280ZX? I see a few of them in my travels on the island, but this '82 280ZX Turbo kept catching my eye. It's been in the same spot in the West End for several months now and clearly hasn't moved for quite a while. However, it has 2008 tags, so I'm guessing it hasn't been abandoned. This one is very close to being a true beater, but it's not quite there yet. The '82 Turbo's engine produced a respectable-for-Malaise 180 horsepower, 20 more than the Camaro Z28's 305-cube V8. And this one has some snazzy pinstripes! Do you suppose the owner of a car with the license plate MO GIGI has anything in common with MO REES across town? And T-tops, for that true Malaise sensation. Do the Datsun T-tops leak as badly as the GM ones? galleryPost('DOTS2280ZXTurbo', 19, '1982 Datsun 280ZX Turbo Down On The Street'); First 200 DOTS
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We don't want to forget the Japanese pickups on DOTS Truck Monday, and it's been quite a while since we looked at the '79 Datsun pickup (the '74 Courier was more recent, of course, but it has a Detroit nameplate). Here's a solid '74, with faded paint but otherwise in pretty nice shape. Will these trucks start getting obsessively restored someday, or simply driven to death? Why the owner of this truck hauls around a bunch of rusty bedsprings is a puzzler. Maybe it's for passenger comfort when he takes it out on street-sign-shooting expeditions. Got to love that Malaise Japan grille treatment. For the millionth time, why can't we buy truly small pickups any more? That sure looks like an automatic shifter. Acceleration is probably on the leisurely side with that setup. galleryPost('DOTS74DatsunTruck', 12, '1974 Datsun Pickup Down On The Street'); First 150 DOTS Cars
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Six months since the last DOTS Datsun Z? What's going on here? Since they don't really rust here, I think the shortage of early Zs on the street has something to do with their hoon-friendly qualities; most of them were wrecked, blown up, or otherwise hooned to death. We know they can take a lot of punishment on the race track , too. I've found a few of the early-80s ZXs I might go ahead and shoot, since now I know we have fans of the Late Malaise Zs here. I spotted this Middle Malaise Z parked just a few spaces down from the beateriffic Toyota AE86 . Naturally, the first thing I thought was "track down the owner and see if he'll sell it for under $500," because this beast has 24 Hours of LeMons written all over it. Of course, that was before we found the $100 Volvo . This 280Z has been hit, Bondoed, hit, Bondoed, and then hit some more. The owner finally gave up on the whole rear bumper idea, opting for a devil-may-care bumperless treatment. Now the big tailpipe...
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I've been trying to do at least one Japanese DOTS car every week or so, but after two Toyotas in a row (not counting the Plymouth-badged Mitsubishi ), it's time for... a Nissan. We've seen one of the last cars Nissan made right before the Datsun-Nissan branding changeover , so now let's look at one of the first ones sold purely as a Nissan in the United States. The Sentra nameplate replaced the 210 in North America; both were rebadged versions of the Sunny. Except for the SE-R, it's pretty easy to forget the Sentra has ever existed. That's partly because they've long been hidden in the vast shadow cast by the Corolla and Civic... and partly because they're such generic little transportation appliances. This one is a pretty solid daily driver; these things are so nearly invisible that it's easy to forget you're looking at a car that's pushing a quarter-century in age. The '87 Civic 4WD wagon lives on the same block and seems much more of its...
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Since the readers have spoken on the DOTS Pickup Truck question, we're going to look at another old truck today. And, since we're turning Japanese this week, we're going to make it a Japanese truck! And not one rebranded with some Detroit carmaker's name; no, this is a genuine 200-proof Datsun. The old Toyota trucks get all the press, what with their being the vehicle of choice for strongmen and warlords the world over, but Nissan made some pretty solid ones as well. Check out those funky tailgate latches and plywood bed cover. It doesn't matter what continent it comes from- this thing kicks shit! Ahhh, take a whiff of That Junkyard Car Smell: mildew, sun-baked plastic, and decaying foam rubber. This truck probably has 500,000 miles on the clock and no doubt will start right up after sitting immobile for six months. It's a damn shame that you can't buy a truly small, simple Japanese pickup these days. Why, even warlords insist on AC nowadays! This truck parks next to the 1976 Monza we saw...
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Once again, I must rail against the sad fact that just about all the Malaise Era Japanese cars have been crushed by now, victims of their own utilitarian reliability and perceived lack of soul. Now that most of what we see from the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere are scientifically de-soul-ified transportation appliances, we realize too late what we lost when the genuinely quirky Japanese machinery got melted down to make... Avalons. We saw a '76 Civic here not long ago, but it's been two long months since we saw a Datsun down on Alameda 's streets. Known as the Sunny in The Sphere and the 120Y in Europe, we North Americans knew this car as the B210 . While the gas mileage claims for the B210 may have been on the ludicrous side, the car was cheap and (for its era) quite dependable. Look at it this way: You need to drive across the country with no tools. B210 or Chevette? I'd been seeing this car driving around town for a while, but I could never figure out where it lived. Most of...
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