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A trip down memory lane - my 510 from the 80's


mad uncle cliff

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So I bought an 1985 720 ute recently and when I looked at that engine it all came back to me.

 

Rewind about 35 years and in September 1984 my first car was a Datsun 1600 sedan. Original burnt orange and dead stock.

 

5g9hLra.jpg

 

This car was chosen for me by my folks who went to their mechanic and asked for a car for their son. I saved up and payed for it - $1,800 on the road. Now this mechanic was great at hiding things. I went through a roundabout in the rain too fast, lost the rear end, fishtailed for a bit then spun 180 degrees and put the car into a tree branch at sill height. All this filler fell out of the door sill in one big line from rear wheel to front. Then there was the time I changed to 4th and the gearstick came out in may hand, turned out the yoke was broke but the mechanic seemed to think that fencing wire would hold it all together. 

 

I loved that car.

 

Then on my way to an interview for a college placement, I got lost and got hasty. Pulled a right hand turn and got T-boned. Hard enough to write the car off.

 

qfR0WmH.jpg

 

These photos are me taking photos of photos from my old album with my phone. 

 

I think before I get to the next part of the story I will take the rest of the photos into work and scan them.

 

 

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So anyway - dad and I decided to rebuild the car. This was waaaaay before the internet so I had to make telephone calls (!) to wreckers to find a 510 shell. We found one with a damaged front end so that was a good start.

 

GNJcoNR.jpg

 

There were a few challenges as this was a 1965 model and mine was a '68, so the wipers operated differently (towards each other rather than in synch), the dash was different and the tail lights were smaller. Just meant a few more parts is all.

 

Our front yard looked like this for a while. I did all the work, dad watched.

 

pSSes3Y.jpg

 

 

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I can't remember how long it took. I transferred every usable part from my car across to the new shell. A mate of mine helped me to cut the good front end off my orange car and mate it to the new shell to replace the damaged front end. Huge job.

 

I drove the restored car for about a year and then one day I walked out to my car at college and found a note under the windscreen ...

 

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Some guy had spotted my Datto and decided to offer me his for parts. He had one impounded by the local council for all the parking tickets it owed and he offered me the car for $500 to clear the tickets. So for $500 I got a 510 with a 180B SSS engine and some cool mag wheels with new tyres. Bargain.

 

YzVoVYZ.jpg

 

That brown vinyl roof was pretty cool too. 

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15 hours ago, mad uncle cliff said:

 

Thanks edekalil, I had a look online last night to see what was for sale - crazy prices here!

Yes it's wild how things have changed with the 510's. Back when I got my first it cost $800 but it was only 7 years old and everything worked on it like new even the AC. As time went on in the 80's after I had moved to McComb MS there where more 510's than I had ever see and a bunch in the junk yard. You could get one for $300 easy by 2000 and latter everything in the junkyard was being crushed. Now you do not see then at all. There are a few around but I have not seen them. Good luck on your search.

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