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Those stories you hear from previous Datsun people.


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Driving a Datsun is a magnet for conversation. Whether it's your 78 year old neighbor that owned a 610 wagon or some random dude in a parking lot that had a 710 but now drives a PoS volvo, people LOVE sharing stories with me when they catch me with my dime. 

 

They aren't MY stories, but some are just too good to spare. Tell those stories that people tell YOU when you're out and about. Reminiscing is the best. 

 

 

I was in a Target parking lot when I heard a guy get out of his truck and yell at the top of his lungs right next to his wife: "no FUCKING WAY, MAN." It turns out that this 6'5", central coast 50's guy had a '72 510 in the SAME color and he couldn't be more excited to tell me all about it. He dropped it to un-drivability, put a L20 in it for five years, ditched it for an SR, went back to an L18 after the car got TOTALED. He even tried to get his son started on the Datsun trend, but he wouldn't go for it (dumb kid) and settled on a maxima for his first car. 
 

Share your second hand stories.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A lady followed me for several miles until I stopped. She told me her dad had a Patrol when she was young. He would take her and siblings for drives into the mountains many times over the years. He would buy a loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter for lunch. She said he had passed away years prior and damned if I got a tear in my eye. She was in a hurry and had to go. I wanted to give her my Patrol for a weekend so she could take her kids out for a drive in the mountains.

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The 2nd time I came to the Datsun event in Canby I had plans to also visit my niece in Corvallis, and to visit a retired co-worker in Tenino WA, so  I flew into Portland and was going to rent a car.

 

There was the ever dreaded delay to de-board the plane. I was standing in my isle seat waiting to get out into the isle and off the plane. Was driving to straight to Canby so I was wearing my black NW Datsun T-shirt that had Datsun in Script across the back that I bought  at Canby the year before.

 

A big bearded guy three rows back spoke up asked me what Datsun I owned, so I told him. Then he started telling me about his Dad's 620 and how his dad gave it to him and he was making it roadworthy, and mentioned a couple issues. I told him I was on my way to a big Datsun event and encouraged him to come, and bring his 620 if it could make it.

 

All the bored/frustrated folks standing around us were listening in for something to do and pass the time.  When the bearded guy finished speaking another mother (with her daughter) spoke up saying her dad bought her a used 510 to commute to college back in the day. Then a well dressed business guy chimed in telling about his special edition Z.  Other's chimed in about their neighbors and funny stories about them.

 

A bunch of strangers were suddenly sharing Datsun stories for about a half hour standing in the isles of an airplane waiting to de-board. It was the most pleasant plane delay I've ever had. Now I always wear a Datsun T-shirt whenever I fly.

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Don't have a lot of these stories .. yet.

 

Was pleasantly surprised that my first uber ride was from a guy in a San Diego Datsun club , he used to race triumphs against Zs (forgot what track in SD). Said only one Z left in the club , "heavily modified"

 

Said they could corner with em , but up the hill they had nothing.

 

Long ride home , from the body shop. He asked what kind of car when I got in.

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A bunch of strangers were suddenly sharing Datsun stories for about a half hour standing in the isles of an airplane waiting to de-board. It was the most pleasant plane delay I've ever had. Now I always wear a Datsun T-shirt whenever I fly.

 

This is the shit I love to see. The last time I was stuck in a bus because my car was down, I got talking to a guy who had a mazda keychain. Turns out he had an NA miata that he autoX'd. 

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My brother and I recently went to lunch at In-N-Out burger, as I parked the 510, a guy came up and started telling me all about the 510 he had in high school. Mind you, the guy was around 60 or so. He was saying they used to get “fucked up” and rally the dirt roads around his house with his 510 and his friends datto pickup. Most of the time I like hearing the stories of older Datsun guys, most of the time they thank me for still driving one. The only ones that really irritate me are the guys that tell the retarded old “dat soon” joke, I wish they would die of gonorhrea and rot in hell.

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I'm one of those people two weeks ago I was at the grocery outlet in San Francisco by the Cow Palace and I walked out and there was a

 

White Datsun 1200 2 door sedan that was just like my car but had a vinyl top

 

I was standing by it for many minutes waiting for the owner to come out

 

After a while I couldn't take it anymore I had to go into the store and find this person

 

It turned out to be an old man with a cane he had disabled license plates on it and a cane inside the car also

 

The car wasn't for sale he said he would get rid of his wife before you would get rid of that car

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  • 2 weeks later...

The only ones that really irritate me are the guys that tell the retarded old “dat soon” joke, I wish they would die of gonorhrea and rot in hell.

Ive had my 620 for like 10 years and had never heard that joke till like 3 months ago... since then I've heard it like 4 times. It was good stuff the first go round

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I just had a good one a few days ago. A guy pulled up next to me at a light in a mid-70's f150 and the passenger (i think the driver's brother?) started talking about his old Datsun 620. Said it was his "mini-ranch-truck". Light turned green, both sped to the next red, continued the conversation. This happened three lights in a row. Kinda funny, him talking literally down about 5 five feet from his window to mine. 

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I don’t know why, but it seems like Nissan/Datsuns bring people together more than other brands. I’ve had many makes, models, types of vehicles in my life and my 510s have started more conversations than I can remember. They’ve started more than my insane mgb/tbird turbo frankenstein, and my retired cop car combined.

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  • 1 month later...

This is the first summer I've had my 510 on the streets and holy shit! We can't seem to go anywhere with out allotting extra time for conversation about the car. And I can't tell you how many times I've had my picture taken going down the hwy. or when in traffic.

 

The facility where I work is next to a very high volume carwash. A lot of their patrons, against are wishes, pull into our parking lot to finish drying and detailing their cars. When ever I have my car at work I hear it from the guys in Shipping, who can see the lot, about all the people that walk over to check it out. Once when I was leaving work there were two fart can style cars that had angled in to the front of my 510 which blocked me in. They were checking it out. It turned into a 45min. conversation which defeated the purpose of me leaving early that day.

 

They certainly attract a lot of attention but as one person stated it never gets old.

 

 

 

2017-05-31%2015.37.20_zpszbjg9cay.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah something I've noticed is that having a datsun invites ALL KINDS of conversation. Sometimes with people that... just... don't get it. i.e. Fart Canners. 

 

On 7/22/2018 at 5:47 AM, Tikka said:

 

2017-05-31%2015.37.20_zpszbjg9cay.jpg

 

Hell yeah! It helps when you have one of the most classic 510 looks out there! There's something about the fat tire on the 13" libres. I absolutely love the color, too. Reminds me of someone I know who needs to get THEIR orange 510 back on the road...

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  • 2 weeks later...

You really do have to add time to your commute to talk to someone, you will get more thumbs up in a Dats than anything else out there.

 

Especially in a 510 since they were used by everyone in different forms through the 50 years its been around, I met many friends in my 510 and also got pulled over by a cop cause I didnt have my shoulder belt on, it was still folded in the upper door part of the headliner, and we talked for an hour about him growing up with his mothers 510 he inherited with super low 50k something miles.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

I love driving all of my 510's around town and getting the attention from all kinds of people old and young. Seems most of them had one at one time or another, or want to know if I want to sell them. One young black fella came up in haste all excited and asked if it was a Skyline. That was wild coming from a young fella from McComb,MS  in the middle of no where.

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  • 1 month later...

My B210 hasn't had much public exposure yet. In a month or so it will be two years since I had her hauled out of the junkyard, and as of now she's sitting in a tent in my driveway, her interior stripped out and her engine mounted on a stand in the garage. When I first got her, my problem was always money, and now that my financial situation is better, I just don't have the time; and my workspace leaves a lot to be desired too. I think I'll swallow my pride this year and farm out most of the work so that I can hopefully have her back on the road by the beginning of the 2020s. 

 

Regardless, she's already put me in the Datsun nostalgia confession circuit. Back on the day when I went to the junkyard to await the tow truck, at least two guys stopped to admire her, remarking to their wives/girlfriends "oh wow, it's one of those little old Datsuns." Unfortunately, Redding junkyard people aren't that friendly, so I wasn't able to get them into conversation.

 

From the junkyard I had her towed to a storage unit where I'd visit her and do minor repairs for a few months until I was able to bring her home. One day, as I was preparing to shut the unit for the night and go home, a meth-head looking woman walked by and stopped, excitedly telling me how her father had a B210 on his ranch when she was growing up and taught her to drive in it.

 

I posted a few pictures on my facebook page and several older women I worked with excitedly told me about how their first cars had been B210s.

 

A little less than a year after buying the car, two B210s showed up at the Newark branch of Pick-N-Pull down in the Bay Area. It's odd how different junkyards have different cultures, but the Newark yard seems to attract a much friendlier group of pickers than the Redding yard. Before getting started on the first car, I got into a half-hour long conversation with a guy working on a 280ZX just across the row. Later on, as I was struggling to extract the bumper corners, a Mexican man walked by and talked about seeing so many of these cars on the road in his country when he was young, and how they were used as police cars and taxi-cabs there. His eyes almost seemed to mist over as he looked over the car and remembered. The second car in the yard was a hatchback, and as luck would have it, just as I was crawling around in the back struggling to free the stuck lift-gate, two other Mexican guys stopped to admire the car, and helped me get the gate open and braced from the outside. 

 

I can't wait to get mine out on the road and enjoy a bit of celebrity...until it gets old.

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Hey Emanistan

My 620 doesn't need as serious repairs as yours, and it's been off the road 5 years due to my old age and financial situation! I hear exactly what you're talking about, wanting to get her on the road sooner than years later.

 

Just be sure to find someone who has some familiarity with Datsun's or is an old school mechanic vs. a tech who simply swaps parts in/out. I've had some really bad work done by a couple local "professionals."  One was an alignment shop who installed lower A arm bushings and a front sway bar kit. They drove the lower bushing in from the front vs. the back, and shredded the outer edge of it. And the sway bar kit was the wrong one with over length bolts. They did not compare the old ones to the new ones to ensured they matched,  and installed them anyway. The nuts bottomed out on the over-length bolts and luckily they rattled as I drove it home.  Otherwise I would have kept driving it and wouldn't have jacked it up to check their work. Lesson learned.

 

I'd like to drive the 620 to the new Powerland Event that is replacing Canby this year (the second weekend in June), but I doubt  I will get it completed in time.  Hopefully, I can get the dash back in my 200sx and drive it there instead. If so, I'll give you a shout and maybe we can meet up as I drive through your neck of the woods on my way up?  Maybe you'll come to Powerland too?

 

Last, Perhaps the guy in your story whose eyes were misting up... was  because he was remembering riding in the back of the police car? lol

Seeker

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I was in the airport on my way to the Monterey Historic races last year when a guy in line behind me noticed my Datsun shirt and started talking to me. He was telling me about the 510s he had before and asked me if I had ever seen on the internet where some "stupid guy put an S2000 engine in a 510"? I asked him if it was yellow and white and he said" yes, so you have seen it?" To which I answered, "yes, I am the stupid guy that built it" LOL

Ran into him at JCCS about a month later and it was all cool

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