So how did you get turned onto Datsuns?

[Draker]

14 hours ago, Soundline said:

Stumbled across this image on the internet... said to myself, “Fuchfase, you need this”.

 

Found a 74’ single cab and the rest is history.

drawn by the very talented fisch along with the banner up top. 

[greybeard]

17 hours ago, thisismatt said:

 

Hey neighbor!  What shop do you own/work at?

I started out working in the back rooms of service stations when they still had bays LOL, then worked at a small shop called Downtown Imports. 

that specialized in Datsuns, repairing customers cars and selling restored 510s Pick ups, anything Datsun.

Then spent some years at a shop in Montecito working on everything from Julia Childs 210 to Howard Duffs 68 GT500 and some exotics.

 

Went on to do Machining at a job shop doing mostly Medical and Aerospace parts and just wrenching for myself.

Now semi retired and living in Idaho.  Guess I should update my profile, but I don't get to this board as much as I used to.

 

Where are you, and are you at a shop?

[Soundline]

2 hours ago, Draker said:

drawn by the very talented fisch along with the banner up top. 

The banner here is why I chose this forum initially.  Then I hit Fisch up and ordered a couple prints from him. I had them up in my office before I retired. 

[Draker]

19 minutes ago, Soundline said:

The banner here is why I chose this forum initially.  Then I hit Fisch up and ordered a couple prints from him. I had them up in my office before I retired. 

Same and still have them up.  👍

Edited March 20, 2021 by Draker

[thisismatt]

6 hours ago, greybeard said:

I started out working in the back rooms of service stations when they still had bays LOL, then worked at a small shop called Downtown Imports. 

that specialized in Datsuns, repairing customers cars and selling restored 510s Pick ups, anything Datsun.

Then spent some years at a shop in Montecito working on everything from Julia Childs 210 to Howard Duffs 68 GT500 and some exotics.

 

Went on to do Machining at a job shop doing mostly Medical and Aerospace parts and just wrenching for myself.

Now semi retired and living in Idaho.  Guess I should update my profile, but I don't get to this board as much as I used to.

 

Where are you, and are you at a shop?

 

Ah, ok. I'm near downtown. No shop life for me - I do finish carpentry, although it does occasionally require welding and light metal fabrication.

[Dguy210]

Grew up with them I guess, literally been around Datsuns as far back as I can remember. My Dad bought a 1200 sedan shortly after I was born (came with a free Chihuahua that only liked my mother) because the beetle they drove had gotten in a bad car accident shortly before I was born (Mom driving, 1 fatality in other car, they drove the beetle home).  The 1200 had been in a front and rear fender bender so my Dad got it cheap (this was in the late 70s so still a newish car) he pounded out the worst of the damage and just drove the wheels off. We always had Datsuns and VWs. Parents had a 1200 and 4dr 510, I ended up working on the 1200 which was my Dad's as a little kid with my Dad as a helper, I think I changed my first head gasket around 8-9 or so. When it came time to drive on my own I learned to drive on a VW Van but my daily was the same 1200 sedan (now at 600,000 miles). By the time I was driving it I had spent quite a bit of time fixing it and knew the car backwards and forwards, still miss that car. Wrecked that 1200 at 700,000 miles a few years later and bought a B210 which I still have and drive 22 years later. Had a few other 1200s, 210s and a 521 in the mean time. 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Dguy210

[Draker]

Damn, and I thought mine was high mileage at over 300k. 700 is next level stuff. 

[MikeRL411]

15 hours ago, gracequiles said:

 Answer was always "Strong car.  Good engine.  Never break!"  And Nox Vidmate VLC Datsun 411 was the only car my 4 foot 11 wife could reach the pedals on.

 

Boy !  You sure screwed up my statement !  What the hell is "Nox Vidmate VLC"  That was not in my posting.

[yenpit]

I had MG Midget's back in high school in the early 80's, with mod'd 1275's.  A buddy had a Datsun 1200 fastback, with a mod'd 1200.........I remember mostly Clifford Research parts.  We raced home from school every other day.  His older brothers had a couple 510's & a 2L Roadster over the years.  One of the 510's was a beautiful Cactus Green 2dr, lowered on Mulhouland (sp?) suspension, dual carbs, wide silver steel wheels (maybe 240Z?).  All I remember was getting that first ride in it, thinking how bad ass cool it was!  That car got T boned sitting in his driveway by a drunk driver.  I then rented a house with some buddies, next door to a guy with an SCCA BRE tribute car & a wicked built-to-the-hilt Solo2 autocross/show car, which stirred me up again!  Took me until around 1995 to get my first 510, after I had moved to Michigan.  Spotted it in a parking lot, saw Oklahoma tags, left a note saying "If ya ever want to sell it............".  I got the call a month or two later!  "$75 it's yours...............I just used it to move here!"  Drove it home!  Had minimal rust......VERY dry car, but worn out!  Boasted to a customer on that Monday, who had SCCA Pro Rally raced 510's throughout the 70's-early 80's.  All he said was "How much do you want for it?".  That went on almost every day for about 6-8 weeks, badgering me constantly!  Eric was a great guy & I knew he wanted to build another 510 to run in vintage rally events, including The LeJog in the UK, so I finally sold it to him!  Took me another few years to find another & never looked back!  In 2007, Eric got the news that he had terminal cancer.  He called me, said "Come get ALL of my Datsun stuff..........I'm a goner & don't want Susan (wife) to have to deal with it after I'm gone!"  That got me started heavily in selling parts (parts guy by trade, so natural evolution), as it was two cars (the one I sold him years before) & a rotten modified parts car + 5 truck loads of parts.  I'm guessing I've bought/sold/parted out 20++ 510's.  Now, even here in Colorado, they are getting extremely hard to find, but I'm ALWAYS on the hunt!

 

TJ 

[russaroll]

2013.  I was driving a couple of Hondas, civic and crx.  I sold the civic and was on club4AG looking for another car.  Lurking the build threads i found someone building a 510.  i thought it looked neat, so i bought a wagon.  picked it up in tustin and drove it home, central coast.  the carb wasn't adjusted very well so every time i hit traffic it would die.  drove it it the garage when i got home and it puked oil all over the floor, rear main went out. 

[Dguy210]

15 hours ago, Draker said:

Damn, and I thought mine was high mileage at over 300k. 700 is next level stuff. 

I actually used parts from the wrecked 1200 on my B210 too. The B210 has over 300k on it now and I put most of those miles on it (2nd owner effectively) so I've got a few 1200 parts that are damn near a million miles now on the B210. 100 mile+ daily commute for years just adds up fast.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Dguy210

[EDM620]

On 1/7/2021 at 5:04 AM, KELMO said:

only mode of transportation I had was a 76 (?) Honda 550Four

LOL I been there too, really sucked when your jacket wouldn't dry out for a couple weeks

mine was a '75.

 

My first car was a B210 that needed a head gasket and the LF fender straightened out, paid $250 for it. Totalled it a couple years later and the insurance pay-out got me the 550F.

On 1/6/2021 at 9:59 AM, MikeRL411 said:

"Strong car.  Good engine.  Never break!"

Neighbor had a 521 that was our daily ride to work, odo had been wrapped a few times and front fenders flapped like wings, trans was so worn you could shift 2-3 or 1-4 in a straight line, and even though the block was cracked & it hated having water in it, it refused to die. We abused the shit outta it for 2 years, eventually buddy sold it for $300 - he'd only paid $200 for it!

[john510]

At 16 i bought my friends 4 door 510 for 700 bucks.His grandfather was the original owner.I beat the shit out of it and sold it and bought a nicer 2 door at a used car lot for 1,200 bucks.This one was very clean and original.I'm on my fifth one now and have had it for 32 years.If i had only known what they would be worth in the future.

[VFR800]

As a teen, a few people I knew owned Datsuns and I did some learning to drive in Datsun 1200's (a sedan and a ute).

 

Liked how they drove etc . 

 

[A guy named Rick]

Always loved the Z-cars and wanted a project. it was kind of a middle finger to my dad too at the same time, because ever since i was a kid he's been promising that one day we'll restore his '68 Torino GT fastback which, which his dad bought new in '68. I'm 30 now and nothing has been done to it. At 19, I bought my Z, and it's sat more than half that time frame. Then i started looking for an 80's mini truck and decided to go with the 720 as opposed to a Toyota, which I also like too.

[sedition88]

Grandparents had this '72 510 sitting outside a barn for as long as I remember. When looking to buy my first vehicle came across a '74 620 and snagged it. Still own the 620 and I also ended up snagging the 510 as well.