mad uncle cliff Posted September 22, 2019 Report Share Posted September 22, 2019 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. 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. 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. 1 Quote Link to comment
mad uncle cliff Posted September 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 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. 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. Quote Link to comment
mad uncle cliff Posted September 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 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 ... Quote Link to comment
mad uncle cliff Posted September 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 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. That brown vinyl roof was pretty cool too. 1 Quote Link to comment
mad uncle cliff Posted September 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 After another engine swap and a wheel swap, I ended up with a fun 510 that I drove for another year before some guy made me an offer to buy it. So I sold it and bought some clunker of a Mazda and never got back to the Datsun brand until this year. So good to be back. Here is how it looked when I sold it. 1 Quote Link to comment
edekalil Posted September 23, 2019 Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 Looks good and welcome back I hope you can find another one. I have several I have collected over many years. I got my first in about 79 and still have it and am glad I never sold it. Good luck. 1 Quote Link to comment
mad uncle cliff Posted September 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 8 hours ago, edekalil said: Looks good and welcome back I hope you can find another one. I have several I have collected over many years. I got my first in about 79 and still have it and am glad I never sold it. Good luck. Thanks edekalil, I had a look online last night to see what was for sale - crazy prices here! Quote Link to comment
edekalil Posted September 24, 2019 Report Share Posted September 24, 2019 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. Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted September 24, 2019 Report Share Posted September 24, 2019 Great story, thanks for the pics. Got any of the 720? :) Quote Link to comment
mad uncle cliff Posted September 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2019 7 hours ago, ]2eDeYe said: Great story, thanks for the pics. Got any of the 720? 🙂 Yep - in the 720 section 1 Quote Link to comment
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