Datsun 510 as seen by collectors/investors...

[carterb]

This is from Sports Car Market – which generally looks at cars from an investment point of view, focusing mainly on auction news and results:

 

 

 

if the articles are too small above, you can see them full size here:

 

http://datsun510.com/photopost/showfull.php?photo=32211

http://datsun510.com/photopost/showfull.php?photo=32213

 

One of the reasons I got into this hobby was due to the low cost of cars and parts.  I’m can’t say I’m thrilled with where we have been going over the last couple of years.

 

--carter

 

 

 

[MikeRL411]

Waiting for them to catch up to the 410 and 411 variants!  Older does not necessarily mean more valuable, but we were there first!  There were even JDM RL411 [yes left hand drive JDM cars] due to the Okinawa market which was then still under USA military control and operated under California motor vehicle rules.

Edited July 4, 2013 by MikeRL411

[Bradinnes]

There's a a big flaw in this article. If you didn't know the 510 scene you wouldn't realize that the 510 was in production up until the early 80's. This article is covering a specific period of 510, 1968-1973. That's really not made clear in the article. If I didn't know better and some one was selling a Datsun 510 but didn't state what year, I could fall into the trap of purchasing a late 70's/early 80's car. Hopefully you would do your homework if this was to be an investment. I would never "invest" in a car! Taste in cars is subjective like all art. It's up to the individual to assign worth. I bought my 510 to fix up and drive for many years to come and not make a profit off of. I just love the car. I'll never get my money back and I really don't care.

[nerdistmonk]

Well pretty much the doors are closing on the "golden age" of datsuns (1980 - 201*?)

 

The golden age being a time when the common joe can buy one up cheap, have a ton of fun doing various what not to it, then make it his ride for a while.

 

Now all the datsuns are beginning to transition to the "historic age" so to speak, being they will become not just rare, but rare and collectable, and when something becomes collectable

it becomes too expensive for common joe to enjoy in any capacity. All things do this, I am computer nerd and a video game nerd in a way, all the game systems i had when i was a child were cheap as dirt at the garage sales, you could get a nintendo with 20 games and all the controllers for $10, now its $300 depending on the games because they became rare sought after collectables,

 

Every automobile will face this transition even the crappiest little ford escort, it just takes time. Datsuns already had a head start on this process because well:

 

1) their stylish

2) Not exactly millions of them on the road

3) good vehicle that doesnt wind up in the junkyard very often

4) geographically limited dispersion

 

 

So if you want a datsun, try to get one soon because time is running out. The clock started counting down once the datsun name was retired. I got my nissan which i was lucky to get in my region, a datsun would be a legend in this area, only spoke of never witnessed.

The second coming of Christ will happen before i see a datsun in this county.

[devilsbullet]

Well pretty much the doors are closing on the "golden age" of datsuns (1980 - 201*?)

 

The golden age being a time when the common joe can buy one up cheap, have a ton of fun doing various what not to it, then make it his ride for a while.

 

Now all the datsuns are beginning to transition to the "historic age" so to speak, being they will become not just rare, but rare and collectable, and when something becomes collectable

it becomes too expensive for common joe to enjoy in any capacity. All things do this, I am computer nerd and a video game nerd in a way, all the game systems i had when i was a child were cheap as dirt at the garage sales, you could get a nintendo with 20 games and all the controllers for $10, now its $300 depending on the games because they became rare sought after collectables,

 

Every automobile will face this transition even the crappiest little ford escort, it just takes time. Datsuns already had a head start on this process because well:

 

1) their stylish

2) Not exactly millions of them on the road

3) good vehicle that doesnt wind up in the junkyard very often

4) geographically limited dispersion

 

 

So if you want a datsun, try to get one soon because time is running out. The clock started counting down once the datsun name was retired. I got my nissan which i was lucky to get in my region, a datsun would be a legend in this area, only spoke of never witnessed.

The second coming of Christ will happen before i see a datsun in this county.

where do you live at? I wanna come drive thru and see this second coming of Christ :rofl:

[danfiveten]

Cough stock example does exist...LOL.  I sent him pictures and corrected him to his email. 

[jser12]

They are geographically isolated. As far as I know, I am one of 3 510s in Michigan. I'm sure there are some more, but it is very limited.

[nerdistmonk]

They are geographically isolated. As far as I know, I am one of 3 510s in Michigan. I'm sure there are some more, but it is very limited.

 

 

We got tons and tons of yotas here in indiana (we have several plants here in indy), if you want to get a yota here no problem, nissan unless its brand new dont bother. Matter of fact the nissan dealership here in our town shuttered last year. Theres lots of new nissans in my town, absolutely no datsuns from what ive seen (the last one i saw was in like 2000), and as for nissan hardbodies, there are 3 or so ive seen in 5 months.

[KELMO]

Thanks for the heads up .....I have 3 so I'm good.....for now :thumbup:

[datzenmike]

There's a a big flaw in this article. If you didn't know the 510 scene you wouldn't realize that the 510 was in production up until the early 80's. This article is covering a specific period of 510, 1968-1973. That's really not made clear in the article. If I didn't know better and some one was selling a Datsun 510 but didn't state what year, I could fall into the trap of purchasing a late 70's/early 80's car. Hopefully you would do your homework if this was to be an investment. I would never "invest" in a car! Taste in cars is subjective like all art. It's up to the individual to assign worth. I bought my 510 to fix up and drive for many years to come and not make a profit off of. I just love the car. I'll never get my money back and I really don't care.

.

Not following you. The article states '68 to '73 production years several times right on the first page. No where does it say they were made up until the early '80,s..... and they weren't.

 

 

 

As to investors, they are only going to buy good examples not $2000 pieces of shit. Unmodified, stock or full restoration.... and stock. You aren't buying anything that needs work. It will be stored and saved until the price goes up... like a bottle if wine.

[nerdistmonk]

well yes and no, even if collectors dont want modded out or non-stock stuff, it can have the side effect of driving prices of all dattos up to the point where joe schmoe is now uncomfortable and us ratsuner's are miserable, i mean we can only keep buying each others dattos so many times before everyone has owned each others vehicle twice hehe.

 

Ive seen many old cars that were commanding ludicrous prices and what ended up happening is the guy just hangs onto the car till he gets his ludicrous price or it gets wrecked and becomes worthless.

 

Like my seeing a 68' chevy truck with a $20,000 price on it....ugh

[MikeRL411]

 

"Like my seeing a 68' chevy truck with a $20,000 price on it....ugh"

 

 

 

 

 

Well, technically the Dollar Sign has two vertical slashes [representing the pillars of Hercules on the Spanish silver dollar "Piece of Eight" which was USA legal tender until our mints got their acts together]  A "Dollar Sign" with a single vertical slash is among other things a Mexican Peso, so your truck may well be worth 20,000 Mexican Pesos already.

 

 

 

Pulling your leg here, We need a bit more levity on this site!

 

[a.d._510_n_ok]

my 510 is too new to be a !!!510!!! buuuuut I dig it. I have only seen one other 510 on the road here in Oklahoma and it was either an '80 or '81 wagon like mine but it was white. I spotted mine parked under a tall pine tree in some elderly dude's yard getting no love. I bought it to replace this 1991 Corolla wagon that I loved.

 

 

when I bought the 510 I assumed it was FWD. I actually checked the oil and didn't notice that the engine was RWD configuration. the seller told me it had a new muffler and when I went to check I noticed a differential......well, son of a bitch.

 

I've been a car guy for 30+ years but 510s are a sub-genre that I knew nothing about. Ratsun and JNC schooled me. Having said that, I have since met lots of car guys who know a little bit about 510s but not enough to differentiate between the more valuable early models and the later stuff. I guess there's some potential for newbs to snookered into paying too much for the newer models but not much potential because it seems like the older dimes had a greater rate of survival.

[Bradinnes]

.

Not following you. The article states '68 to '73 production years several times right on the first page. No where does it say they were made up until the early '80,s..... and they weren't.

 

 

 

As to investors, they are only going to buy good examples not $2000 pieces of shit. Unmodified, stock or full restoration.... and stock. You aren't buying anything that needs work. It will be stored and saved until the price goes up... like a bottle if wine.

 

From Wikipedia..............  The Datsun 510 was sold in Canada till 1981, it had rectangular front lights since previous models had round ones and in 1982, they changed it to (Nissan) Stanza. The 1981 model had a 2.0L (L20B) with 96 HP

[Bradinnes]

 This picture was labelled "1981 Datsun 510" and even if you don't believe that, the badge on the back clearly spells it out. What ever year it is, it sure isn't the 1968-73 models. Maybe the writer of the article didn't realize 510's were made up to the early 80's either, but he/she should've. I've seen ads that state Datsun 510 and when I went to view the ad and pictures, like on CL for instance, there's something like the picture below starring back at you. I'm saying that an article meant to educate potential investors on the 510 sure missed out on giving the whole picture.

 

[datzenmike]

From Wikipedia..............  The Datsun 510 was sold in Canada till 1981, it had rectangular front lights since previous models had round ones and in 1982, they changed it to (Nissan) Stanza. The 1981 model had a 2.0L (L20B) with 96 HP

.

 

There's a a big flaw in this article. If you didn't know the 510 scene you wouldn't realize that the 510 was in production up until the early 80's. This article is covering a specific period of 510, 1968-1973. That's really not made clear in the article. If I didn't know better and some one was selling a Datsun 510 but didn't state what year, I could fall into the trap of purchasing a late 70's/early 80's car. Hopefully you would do your homework if this was to be an investment. I would never "invest" in a car! Taste in cars is subjective like all art. It's up to the individual to assign worth. I bought my 510 to fix up and drive for many years to come and not make a profit off of. I just love the car. I'll never get my money back and I really don't care.

.

Maybe we're not talking about the same article....

http://datsun510.com...php?photo=32211

http://datsun510.com...php?photo=32213

 

It does not say the 510 was in production up until the '80s and it wasn't. The last PL510 (or WPL510) was built in '72 for the '73 model year. In '73 it was followed by the 610 and then the 710. In '77 the S10 (200sx) was introduced and late '78 the A10 Stanza badged a 510 but that's a close to a PL510 as it got. It had nothing 510 about it and was a ploy by Nissan to capitalize on the former glory of the true PL510 by putting a "510" badge on it.. If you look at the VIN stamped on the cowl behind the valve cover it will say  A10 NOT 510.

 

BTW the A10 did have L20B motors through '79 in the States and through '80 in Canada. In the States after '79 and after '80 in Canada the Z20S motor was used so don't believe everything you read in Wiki

[nerdistmonk]

wikipedia is absolutely worthless, designed for deception from the beginning, i use it as a cliffnote, nothing more.

 

your basically using a encyclopedia based on opinion of the most powerful editor, not of the people nor of scholars.

 

I remember trying to correct an obvious error on a page and having it erased by the guy who put the error there to begin with.

or even just trying to add to a article stub so that it has content, always reverted back to the original.

[Bradinnes]

.

 

.

Maybe we're not talking about the same article....

http://datsun510.com...php?photo=32211

http://datsun510.com...php?photo=32213

 

It does not say the 510 was in production up until the '80s and it wasn't. The last PL510 (or WPL510) was built in '72 for the '73 model year. In '73 it was followed by the 610 and then the 710. In '77 the S10 (200sx) was introduced and late '78 the A10 Stanza badged a 510 but that's a close to a PL510 as it got. It had nothing 510 about it and was a ploy by Nissan to capitalize on the former glory of the true PL510 by putting a "510" badge on it.. If you look at the VIN stamped on the cowl behind the valve cover it will say  A10 NOT 510.

 

BTW the A10 did have L20B motors through '79 in the States and through '80 in Canada. In the States after '79 and after '80 in Canada the Z20S motor was used so don't believe everything you read in Wiki

 

 Yep, we're talking about the same article. I think that if there were cars badged as Datsun 510's during 1979 - 81, even though they're A10 Stanza platforms, it would be worth a quick mention. Maybe even a little warning that they're out there. That's all. I've seen them for sale as 510's and know that they're out there. That's why I found it weird they aren't mentioned. The Wikipedia entry I copied is misleading and wrong it would seem. I won't argue that. 

[Bradinnes]

In retrospect and with datzenmike schooling me, I guess I should retract the comment about there being a "big flaw in this article". It's at best a minor over-sight or maybe the author didn't think it worthy of mentioning. I respectfully apologize to all those whom I offended with my comments. The smack down is complete. :bye:

[datzenmike]

:lol:  No one is offended.

 

I think the author is being correct in not mentioning the A10 as it isn't a 510. Ask any '68-'73 510 owner about the 'later 510' and he will erupt with indignation and tell you in no uncertain terms that 'they' are NOT 510s. That "they' are suitable for a few replacement parts to keep real 510s on the road. I'm half kidding here, as I love the A10s.

[Unicornowner]

I personally own an A10 and I love the sucker. It's down for the rebuild right now, but will be back. When it was on the road, she ran good, never had any hiccups, and was recognized all over the place. I didn't realize it wasn't a "real" 510 though. Thanks Mike!

[bananahamuck]

The article posted is about the older style not the newer A10 style ,, we have both the old and new style 510s, and we cruise around everywhere together, and both cars have their admirers ,, they just seem to be a different type of people.. The old 71 seems to attract old ladies that drove one to high school or old men that are astonished to actually see one on the road.. The newer 79 A10 seems to attract a much younger crowd that are mostly into rusted out, dumped to the ground , 80s Toyota corollas and such that are all the rave today,,  and being younger they have substantially less money..

[datzenmike]

I personally own an A10 and I love the sucker. It's down for the rebuild right now, but will be back. When it was on the road, she ran good, never had any hiccups, and was recognized all over the place. I didn't realize it wasn't a "real" 510 though. Thanks Mike!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

 

:lol:  No one is offended.

 I'm half kidding here, as I love the A10s.

 

I really do. I think the round eye the smartest looking and would love to have one.