yenpit

There are books like that for lots of vehicle specific muscle cars, British cars etc etc, but nothing that I'm aware of for the 510........the market is just too small. Datsun likely published a "crash repair" manual that the body shops would purchase back in the day, but those would be rare today! "Mitchell" also likely had a "crash repair" manual back in the day, might be a little easier to find at an "automotive literature" seller. You won't find any new publications, only old stuff published in the 70's, maybe the early 80's. Good luck with your search!

You nailed it! "We have to be willing to spend the money for new parts. Once we start spending money on expensive new parts, more parts will be made and eventually the parts will become less expensive to produce, because they can produce larger quantities" ..............this is it in a nutshell. We MUST step up, and buy these repro parts, to create our future!

I agree with the grind! I cut the welds on my front spring perches, ground the leftover welds off of the strut tube, used a "split collar" slid down the strut tube a little lower, and cut my springs 1-1/2 coils. Car had a nice stance, not too low, rode pretty well, with new strut inserts/shocks. If you do that, remember that the spring perch will "rotate" on the split collar when you put it all back together (it just sits on top of the collar), so be sure that the "highest point" of that perch is facing the tire, so you get all the tire clearance you can!

Pics........... Slots do not have center caps, no lug nuts. Westerns have center caps, no lug nuts. .

Regarding a NEW body shell, the Classic Mini, MGB, Sprite/Midget & TR6 body shells sold pretty well over the last 10 years, but that "sports car" market was always strong, so the demand was there. I think the same applies for the Mustang, Camaro & 55-57 Chevy's.......the demand was there. I've been involved with the British cars since the early 80's, and experienced much of the growth in that market, as I sold British repair & resto parts. Personally, I see the current 510 parts market in its "younger years", like the British market was in the 80's. Allmusclecarparts taking this step would be a leap ahead for the 510 market, but that is almost to be expected with todays technological advancements in production etc etc. I mean no offense to anybody here or on the510realm, but how many people would be willing to pay $6000-8000 for a 510 body shell? I don't think that the end result value of a completed 510 simply is there..........yet.

PM me your mailing address!

Whut si-eezz? I've got some 13in aluminum slots, some 14in aluminum slots, and some 13in Western Turbines. $100 a set + shipping (likely $60-80).

Nice, is that your Scirocco? I've got a buddy here in town that has a drop dead beautiful first gen Scirocco.........

I bought TWO sets of the 280ZX strut inserts from AutoZone, and BOTH sets were incorrect. You work there, so it's easier to deal with the returns, but be prepared if you don't get the right ones! The inserts were simply too long, and did not allow the upper collar to thread in. :crying:

I think all of that is true! The Japanese thought this stuff out (that's why they became so successful in the automotive market!). For example, they would tool up for one door, with all the "fixings" for all of the different markets, ie JDM, USA, Aussie etc etc, to keep costs down. I don't think the USA-spec cars were ever available with the big padded door pulls in the back, but we did get the small plastic door pulls on the front, I believe on the earlier 68-69 cars?? The rear inner door release handles did "move" between those two spots, I believe 68-70, then 70-73. The actual latch & rod assemblies interchange.......in other words, if you found a perfect set of the door panels with the inner handle in the other position, you can simply move the inner handle assembly to suit the other door panel. It was ingenius stuff for back in the day!

Looks great qwk_snd! Love that Cactus Green color!!

I almost bought a pair of black cloth Recaro's, likely from the 1980's, with orange inserts, kinda similar to the Westfalia pattern, but not as "busy". The insert pattern was horizontal, and basically faded from bright orange to a dark burnt orange. They were cool seats, and would have looked killer in my Hugger Orange 510, but I didn't buy them........... What about a deep orange color for the car, and use the Westfalia orange material? I think your idea is cool as hell! B)

The seller isn't on here much, so............the car sold to a new guy here on the forum, maybe he'll start a build thread! Yes, the car came out of Kansas.

My first Datsun experience was around 1980-81, I had a modified ratty MG Midget, and my buddy had a modified ratty 72 Datsun 1200. His older brother had a really nice Cactus Green 510 2 door, with Mulhouland suspension, silver Z-car steel wheels with some big meats, dual Webers or Mikunis, headers, big exhaust etc etc. He took us out cruising a few times, and it always stuck with me. In 1983-1984, I lived next door to a guy who had a huge 6-8 car garage/workshop, and he raced a 510 2 door BRE replica (Jeff Werth, was an SCCA nat'l champ), and autocrossed a wicked dark metallic royal blue 510 2 door, that was flared, polished & chrome everything etc etc. I helped him out every once in a while, and that really dug into me. I remained in the British car world (still am), and it wasn't until around 1995'ish that I bought my first 510 2 door! I spotted it in a parking lot (very rare to see here in Michigan!!), and left a note on the windshield, asking if it was for sale. It was ratty & worn out, with mostly original burned off paint, hardly any rust at all, but was obviously a running driving car. A few days later, I got a call from the kid, who had just driven it from Oklahoma, and said he's take $75.00 for it. Pounce!!! I drove it home, cleaned out the interior & trunk of all the trash, tuned it up, and drove it around the block a few times. That Monday, I was talking with my long time customer in Ohio, who I knew pro rally raced 510's back in the 70's-80's, and boasted that I just bought it. The only thing he said was "How much do you want for it?". I told him that I wanted to keep it, but he badgered me for tw weeks, until I caved and sold it to him! He wanted to build another rally car, so I let him have it. Another 6-8 years later, some time in the early 00's, I started looking again, and over the next 10 years, ended up buying all the 510's & 510 parts that I could find. I've since wheeled & dealed, bought & sold, & parted out around 20 510's, with quite a few coming out of Colorado. I just sold my last three cars in the last 2 months, will NOT be looking to buy anything here in the midwest, in preperation for a permanent move from Michigan to the Denver Colorado area. I'm confident that I will find more cars once out there, so hopefully I will not be without for very long!

I've got a really nice set of the 280ZX 15 inch Swastika wheels, that came out of Colorado. They all still hold a nice polish, with only very minor road rash. Sorry, no center caps or lug nuts! $300 FIRM, as these are getting harder to find! Shipping is EXPENSIVE for wheels, so expect $80++++, depending on location. Sorry, I can NOT quote an exact shipping cost prior to a sale, cuz the only way to do that would be to actually box them up, and I won't do that unless they sell. Local pickup is great. I will dismount the crappy tires once sold.........I can not ship with tires, except via truck freight, which is even more expensive.

Thanks Ratwagon! If he were alive right now, he'd just laugh and say "Why are you wasting time, talking about me!!?? " B)

I'd ignore all of that BS, forward it to eBay, cuz that's all part of the hack job............I've seen it before!

Here's a pic of the car, as Eric raced it. Sorry, I have few pics, and the ones I have are small. Hard to believe it's the same car, but he had sold it in the late 80's, the next owners painted it, then rolled it to smitherines. Eric bought it back for parts, but never ressurected it..............

A little off topic here, but after posting the model build, I went back to read my post on the510realm, from 2008. It's a good read.............. http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10484&hilit=eric+jones I just met up with Eric's widow, Susan, and his business partner Bob, a few weeks ago, and we laughed & reminised about Eric! Good times. :thumbup:

This has been a long term project, that I started about 2 years ago! It is based off of the Revell kit, a combo of the original BRE kit, and the later purple street car version, cuz the street car version had a full interior, which I needed for this build. The model is a replica of my old buddy's 510 pro rally car, that he ran in the early-mid 80's, sponsored by Red Roof Inns (a big hotel chain here in the States). The ignition wires are made from yellow thread, the wire harness is made from black thread and runs all the way to the trunk, the seat belts are made from simple construction paper made red with a magic marker, the buckles are thin plastic pieces painted silver, etc etc. Okayfine (Julian) on the510realm helped me make the decals on the computer, and I simply printed them on blank decal paper, available at any good hobby shop. I'll get it done one of these days! Eric passed away in 2008 from cancer, and we all miss him terribly. :sleep: The last pic is of the actual rally car in early 2008, and its grossly unfortunate demise, just before Eric passed. I took that pic, but it simply did not hit me at the time, how significant that beat-to-hell body shell was! I stopped in to see Eric while on a road trip, and only had 2 hrs to hang out. I kept looking at it while I was there, but I didn't stop him from scraping it. I kick myself every time I think about it, but it is long gone now................ .

OMG that Dad'z Custom is crazy!! I love the deep dish steel wheels, and the neg camber!! Wonder if he's in Japan, cuz that's one of those style trends over there. Can't remember the name......... Ratwagon, I'm gonna copy you..........that Ute looks cool as hell! You know that we never got any of the Ute's here in the States? I think JB Weld might be my new best friend!

Dat-side, who made the Kenmeri.....Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Jada? Ratwagon, yes, beer often helps the artistic juices flow....................

The other thing that I just realized, is that you can remove all of the crappy Hot Wheels decals, and end up with some decent paint colors...........white with blacked out hood, blue, yellow with blacked out hood, black, copper etc etc. I think the white sides on the BRE car are actually decals (along with all the other decals!), which would get you a red car.........haven't messed with that yet, cuz I only have two of those cars!

If you thin down some flat black paint a little, just dab it into the horizontal grille slats, and it should "flow" the length with just a l'il help.........adds depth to the grille! I use a flat-style (not the round style) toothpick, sometimes "whittled down" to a smaller point. If you get paint on the raised chrome areas, just wipe it off with a cotton Q-tip or a tissue. Also, on this Ratsun build, I realized that the front turn signals are actually molded in, just above the front bumper! They are difficult to paint, but they are there! I really like the totally blacked out wheels on the red car!! So is the white car a Hot Wheels body on a different chassis?? It's definately........ummmmmm........different!! :thumbup:

Cool, I'll try that!