Datsun changed my life.

[Dj Technick]

Just a few years ago I was Mr. Honda FWD. I've had a big roll in the import scene here in Des Moines, IA and let's just say it's full of FWD hondas as far as the eye can see. So naturally this being the car of choice around here when I started off I was sucked into the trend. I learned a lot and built several nice cars, the last one I owned was my prized show winning 97 civic hatch. I thought this was the greatest car I would ever own, quick in the straights, turned like a champ, and looked like a trophy.

 

 

 

Then one day while helping a friend out, I saw one in person for the first time. I had only seen them in magazines and had no idea what they were like in person. It was a 280z for sale, covered in primer, littered with rust, and has had some better days. I don't know what it was about the car i liked so much, I think it was mostly because it was something different to me so I bought it and my life hasn't been the same since.

 

 

It opened my eyes more. Made me realize why so many people laugh and joke about hondas. Why everytime I would show up with my civic to a car show and have all these people give me crap for "wasting" my money on the car. It really wasn't anything special, it wasn't as fast as I had perceived it to be, nor could it turn as amazing as I thought. It was just a show car that in all honesty wasn't that great of a show car. I looked at all these different Z car builds and found them so amazing, they have such great style, people do some amazing fabrication with them, also they turn and turn well.

 

Anyway, a few years later I ended up selling a 91 crx. It was my daily driven car that I had had forever! This lead to buying another RWD machine. A 240sx. I've always had a passion for drifting, I was a big follower of D1 and anything else that Nomura and Tsuchia would do. So of course now that I had a chassis that was well known for performing as a great drift car I built it just for that and attended my frist competition in June.

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F22NrxAN3U&list=UUox7k28lllSEGVdful1eGlw&index=1&feature=plcp

 

This car has gotten me more into building and making my own things. Not everything is as easy as turning 4 bolts like it is for a honda. I've run into several issues with the car that I've had to overcome and fix. This lead me to becoming friends with the local machine shop, where they let me use their CNC mill to create a custom Hydraulic handbrake.

 

 

I like where things are going now, I've left this little kid stuff behind me and am starting to move towards better cars and learning how to do bigger and better things. I have to thank Datsun for that, because if I had never found my little Z i wouldn't be doing things like this. I would still be rocking a honda and thinking I was the best when in reality I've come to find out, I don't know jack squat!

 

So now just as of last week I said goodbye to the Honda world and sold my prized civic so I can begin to look at another Datsun.

[darrel]

mission accomplished.

[Alec 720]

That E-brake is really cool!!

[Dj Technick]

That E-brake is really cool!!

 

Thank you, I've got a complete build on how I made it on another forum. Hopefully I'll make some more cool things like this that I can post on here.

[INDY510]

I've left this little kid stuff behind me and am starting to move towards better cars and learning how to do bigger and better things. I have to thank Datsun for that, because if I had never found my little Z i wouldn't be doing things like this. I would still be rocking a honda and thinking I was the best

 

Not shure how the Datsun is to blame for you switching from the Honda crowd, to the 240sx drift crowd..... :rofl:

[Dj Technick]

Not shure how the Datsun is to blame for you switching from the Honda crowd, to the 240sx drift crowd..... :rofl:

 

Datsun, Nissan. Don't have the skills to do a restoration or the money to pay someone to do it, looked towards a car from the same company that's more within my price/skill range 240sx is what ended up coming to mind. I liked drifting back before I ever even had a car which is what let me into more of the drifting crowd. Plus as for Datsun wise, I'm not looking towards a drift car, I'm looking for something to get that'll help with learning restoration and fabrication work along with gaining the experience with figuring out how to do things. I can do this sort of stuff with the Z I have but it's just way too rusted out for me to want to attempt restoring it.

 

You guys might think drifting is a kid thing or is dumb, that's fine. If you don't like it that's your own opinion, I'm not looking to please anybody but myself.

[twofouroh]

Yeah, I thought I would drive American cars forever, but that all changed when I worked on a friend's 89 240, and saw what 'right' really looked like. Ended up buying that car, and haven't even looked at anything else since then. 2x 240sx, 2x 720 4x4, 2x '74 260z, now I'm looking at an 810. Guess I'll have to find another one too, since I seem to do them all in 2's.

 

Drifting takes skills, theyre just not much use outside of drifting is all. Also, the only way youre going to get the resto skills is to get into the resto! It doesn't have to take a lot of money, as a matter of fact, the more you spend, the less you're learning IMO.

[Indey]

Nice, I had a really nice del Sol, and now it's a shell in my garage that's being sold off because I got my Z :P so your story sounds quite familiar haha.

[Z chopper]

I grew up in a Ford family, but in my early teens we moved into a new house and a neighbor had a few 510s. I had my mind set on a mustang but I saw those 510s my heart got set on a Datsun.

[Spoona_Jay21]

I grew up in a Ford family, but in my early teens we moved into a new house and a neighbor had a few 510s. I had my mind set on a mustang but I saw those 510s my heart got set on a Datsun.

 

i know that one. i was die hard VW, with a few Chrysler things here and there, then my dad got his first 620.

 

 

it's great to see another Honda guy go proper =P good to have ya here man!

[Rotary510]

Dude, great story, I had bad ass Honda's before (high school) and now after 10 years owning Datsuns. Datsun 510's are part of my life and will always be. Plus I can be an old fart driving a 510 and will still get attention from all the younger bastards :thumbup:

 

This was me back in 1998 :

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is me today:

 

 

Thanks for the story :) :console:

[MantisX620]

I still have my honda(1993 integra turbo) that I just cant seem to part with. The reason I fell in love with my 620 is the reason I love my integra. Easy to work on, styling like no other, and when I sit in them, I just "fit" lol. I will say I think the datsun bug has bitten me harder than the honda bug did.

 

One thing that is no contest though, the datsun/nissan crowd/owners are 20 fold cooler than the honda crowd/owners.

 

MantisX

[yenpit]

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!

[sedition88]

Loving the stories! My grandpa had an orange 4dr 510 (which I now own!) sitting outside his barn sence at least '91 and inspired me to buy my 620 as my first vehicle. I've had my truck sence '04 I beleive and picked up my grandpa's car almost a year ago. I wont let them go for anything. The 510 my mom actually helped pick out, brought out of Montana, her and two of my aunts learned to drive in that car

[Mr.Dean_Yates]

it always makes me happy when honda kids renounce their beliefs :) welcome to the big boys, may your datsun take you to new never before seen places with a new scene and some awesome people

[2JZ260z]

Ugh. I can't believe I'm going to do this. Here was mine. After it got stolen like 4 times, I got bit by the Subaru bug. After selling my subie and having about 20k to play with, I found a Z for 300$ and have been building it ever since. Aww yeahhhh.

 

Then:

 

Now:

[72240z]

Jesus christ the fact some of you made it to datsun from all that nonsense is nothing short of a miracle! lol

 

My 1st car was a jeep, then explorer xlt which I sold to get a 1st a z32 n/a with blown heads which was the only way I could afford the car at the time, worked the heads, rebuilt the motor, was going to do a TT/awd project and it got stolen in front of my shop. Which blew because it wasnt insured at the time I was building it. Then I got a TT, again needing some work, got sick working on other z32s so sold the TT. Then a 72 s30, 89 d21, 69 roadster, z31, 01 xterra which I still have and a 73 s30 too.

 

I wish I could find a 320 nl shell on this side of the country to drop onto a 4x4 then I would sell the lifted x. Dont care about back seats but I have to own a 4x4 workhorse at all times lol. Think I'll hold onto the 73 and go modded 432 copy.

[Rotary510]

Dude, we made it out of the RICE sceene alive, WTF!

[Skib]

 

 

seriously..............

 

 

 

 

really?

 

 

 

jesus eric........

 

its a good think you met me now and not then or Id be slapping the shit out of your for driving that :rofl:

[Skib]

Iv never built anything but Datsun/Nissan for myself.

just a few Toyotas, Mazdas, and one Corvette Stingray for other people lol

 

 

hondas where always gay..... even before I cared about cars.

 

 

glad you kids all go your engines turned the right way round :rofl:

[2JZ260z]

how about you get an engine in your car running dude!

[Skib]

it is in my car :rofl:

 

even a choped up b210 is better then that hondderp :rofl: hahahahahaha

[72240z]

 

even a choped up b210 is better then that hondderp :rofl: hahahahahaha

 

:thumbup:

 

 

Its a shame kids have turned Hondas into what they have here. In Japan Honda is actually more prestigious then Nissan.

[ISPKI]

Whats so bad about hondas? I still have my 96 civic for daily driving...just so I can pump all my time and money into my 280. I mean, it is tough to beat the reliability and fuel economy of a 90s civic 5spd. Not to mention how cheap they are to fix.

[72240z]

Nothing is wrong with Hondas besides kids screwing the image up. They are a solid car manufacturer.