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"Southwest" surprise !!


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Well as some of may or not know back at Reso 07-08 we ran into Makato from truck trends magazine & he deemed us "620 maniacs" ! I /we take that as a compliment of course :D so i was bored at work & made this............

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Steroid knows the story of the person in the pic..........PM him or me for details.

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  • 9 months later...

Y'know, the routed plexiglass plaques could be edge-lit with LEDs (white or colored) for a pretty cool effect at night - all the routed areas would light up (just don't use blue lights if you're planning to have it lit while the truck is on public streets or highways - the police generally don't take well to blue lights on vehicles, whether they're moving or parked on the street).

 

All it should take would be to fabricate a channel out of opaque plex or ABS plastic for the plaque to sit in, get an LED light srip at any PepBoys or AutoZone store, run it in the bottom of the channel & wire it into your tail light circuit and presto - lighted plaque!

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Ok guys, it is time to share My "secret". For quite some time I have made a commitment to tracking down anything related to Datsun truck activity during the 70s. You have seen that I have even located yearbooks with dealer photos. I also have made quite a "quest" in tracking down older Datsun owners. I have been able to locate almost everyone that I hung around from 1974 through 1981, when I left mini trucking with the purchase of a 1956 Ford panel truck. Upon returning back to 620s, I figured that I would try to correctly re-create a Fontana styled truck. I had no idea that SWDP would be formed or what would "lie ahead". One significant find was the group of photos that Dave Bednarczyk had taken of the Escondido chapter of SCDP. The basis of that photoshoot was an idea the the mother (Fontana) chapter had done in either late 1974 or early 1975. At the original Fontana dealer all vehicles were removed from the sales lot and the entire Fontana club was professionally photographed from across the street from the top of a ladder!!! I had known about that photo for years. I am still trying to track down the photographer. I DID, however, finally locate one photo in what I can only describe as a blessing from God!! Of all things, the neighbor of a person that came on to Ratsun was in SCDP. I visited Him a while back and in conversation He admitted "I have that photo"!!!!! It was graciously loaned to Me and I had it retouched with distracting items like powerlines and such removed. This photo is incredible!!! 20 Fontana trucks lined up with the members standing with military precision in Their club jackets in front of Fontana Datsun!!! This photograph has been held back and will debut shortly on only the SWDP website. It is really something to see!! But as awesome as this find was, can You imagine My emotions when another SCDP member told Me "My wife shot 8mm movies of Our club back then"!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, indeed She did! After a 2 year period in what I describe as "proving Myself", the films were loaned to Me about a month ago! The first set has been transfered now to DVD after being totally cleaned and restored. There are 5 more films still being worked on but if the material is anywhere as awesome as what I now have, You will be totally blown away when they debut!! The footage I now have includes the club at a motocross event in 1975 complete with pans of the club, detail shots and a few dirt "burnouts" and powerslides of Fontana trucks!!! The next film is a caravan from Cajon Pass on 138 up to Silverwood lake!!! The member's wife photographed the footage while standing up backwards through the sunroof opening!!! These films will be added one day to the SWDP website. I am hoping that the films still being transfered will have footage that was admittedly taken at the original infield of Ontario Motor Speedway, which has now been torn down. SCDP held a run there called "Truckin' Your Blues Away". I will be showing these films at events in the near future. I had hoped that there would be a lot of minutes or even an hour or so of footage but so far the material is less than 10 minutes. This extremely rare footage is, however, an incredible glimpse into the past of a truck club that was total class!!!

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  • 3 months later...

Sunday the 19th, 2010 was Our 3rd annual Bar-B-Que. What a day!!!!

 

First off, I want to thank everybody for all of Their help!!! You guys did an awesome job!! Everyone pitched in an made things actually go very smoothly. It started out with trying to obtain as many parking spaces as We could, which was 28. As trucks started arriving, We tried to keep them in order from the front to rear. I had thought that the gorgeous sky blue 520 that was at JCCS was going to be coming so that spot was left open. It worked out, though, when the 320 arrived so we had trucks in consecutive order. I would like to do this for years to come also...... 320s, 520s, 521s, 620s, kingcabs (Including Ray's 521 kingcab), 720s and then hardbodys. We accomplished this and I thank all that helped in this arrangement!!!

 

Next was the usual setup...... photo table, cooking areas, t-shirt sales, etc.

 

The day went well and NO E.A.O.K.S or Drama!!!!!

 

Presentation was very cool with Our two newer members and Our First Honorary member, Steve Vaughan. Steve was the person that loaned Me the photo 2 years ago of the SCDP group shot at Fontana Datsun in late 1974 or early 1975. It is the basis of this photo that We do Our historic recreation each year during that cruise!! Steve was a natural choice for Our first recipricant of the plaque. Our plans are to add one honorary member each year at the Bar-B-Que. Steve and His brother, Larry (who has passed on) both had Fontana trucks. It is truly an incredible story on how I met Him!!

 

Those of You that stayed around at the Wigwam know how cool Our "wind down" pool party went after the sun set!! We are invited once again next year so plan to bring Your swim trunks!!!

 

Anyway, thank You all again for an awesome day

 

One last thing!!!!!!! I have a dozen Large and a dozen Extra Large t-shirts that still need to be sold. This will help in the price of holding the event as well as the new routered plaques that SWDP is now having made. I also have a limited supply of last years "plaque" shirt in Large and Extra Large. Please contact Me at steroid620@yahoo.com to get Your collectable shirts!!! Each year will be different so You will never get the "official" shirt once they are gone.

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  • 7 months later...

Our newest "addition" to SWDP is Our embroidered jackets. These are only available to members with a plaque or by voting, a member running a sticker in good standing. We have also had hats made. This is drifting Us closer into the catagory of a "club" but We still do not have meetings, dues or officers. Here Mark is "modeling" His jacket.

 

 

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hey steriod nice pic of jacket. how about a pic of hat? what is the cost of hat n jacket. oh, thanks for the sticker you gave to tom(dat620)to give to me. i have not been wrenching on the truck lately due to family member passing just recently in mexico and my trip to maui also. trip to maui was great. i did get to see some datto's while i was there (z-cars/620's/720's)

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

You guys are awesome!!! In 6 years We have grown to become the first truck group to be represented at JCCS!!!! Thank You all for attending and listing SWDP as Your "club"!!! Here is what YOU earned!!!!

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

More exciting news!!!! The former president and vice president of SCDP have been located and emailing is going back and forth from both!! YES, more old pictures are surfacing!! I will be filling in most of the gaps into the history of SCDP. When they formed, who the members were and what trucks they owned as well as questions I have had for years finally answered!! Don't be surprised if next year at Our Bar-B-Que there is a very special reunion!!! One exciting find was an original SCDP jacket that hadn't been worn since about 1975!!!

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With all of the excitement posted above, I totally re-read this thread. I had thought that long ago I had posted the club photo at Fontana Datsun, where SCDP held Their meetings and such. On another thread I had posted the two black and white photos. This was taken from the Fontana High School yearbook

 

 

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An enlargement showing a custom 620 inside ready for sale:

 

 

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So here finally is the classic view of So. Cal. Datsun Pickups circa late 1974

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And enlarged some for detail:

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This is the reason that each year SWDP holds a historic photoshoot at the same building that 38 years ago this photo was taken. Note the professionalism in the photo: Nothing out of place, no "slouching", no unfinished or primered trucks. Trucks with camper shells on the ends only, everything in place. We still try today with SWDP to keep the same practices in place that these members did back then.

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  • 1 month later...

I finally found this rare oic of Larry and Steve Vaughn's trucks, both Fontana styled. Steve is the person that loaned Me the club photo above and can be seen the 4th truck (orange) from the left. I am not sure if Larry was present that day.

 

 

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Steroid,

Its great that your keeping the Classic Datsun Trucks alive. I remember back in the day looking at all the magazines that had the cool California trucks. Living here in Arizona we all wanted a "Cal Style" Datsun!

I bought a new 620 in 79 and started on my "Cal Style" Datsun. Man if I would have been living in Fontana, I'd have been right there with you!

Here are a couple old picts of my 620 named "Cloud9" I'd love to have this truck back.

 

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Hey Dale,

 

I've got a set of those same rear rims!!! Also all of the fiberglass, You could build Her again!!! Scott will be starting the red one pretty soon. He picked up His fiberglass wrapkit last week. Maybe see You this Year (2012) at the Bar-B-Que? Take care, Mike

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too bad you don't have any pix of any cal-style 521's that would be so cool. i don't think they did a 521 cal-style truck but what if there is 1 lurking in the shadows or from out of the backwoods just trying to get recognized and back on the streets

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Hey Dale,

 

I've got a set of those same rear rims!!! Also all of the fiberglass, You could build Her again!!! Scott will be starting the red one pretty soon. He picked up His fiberglass wrapkit last week. Maybe see You this Year (2012) at the Bar-B-Que? Take care, Mike

 

Yea I would love to make it to your Bar-B-Que next year. Glad to hear Scott is starting on the red one. That is one really nice 620.

 

Dale

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