710 Differences

[Randalla]

Looking to positively identify the 710 wagon I recently bought. The seller said it was a 1975, but some of the paperwork identified it as a 1976. At one point the vehicle was a theft recovery and some of the identity plates look a little suspect. The VIN# I have is JHL710-896843, but I can't seem to find a decoder for the VIN. Thoughts? When I titled the car in AZ they titled at as a 1975 and my Hagerty insurance says 1975 because I told them that was what it was.  

[datzenmike]

Prior to '82? each auto makes had there own idea of what a 'VIN' was. There was no consistency between makers. Some late '81s have it some don't, but it was standardized after that. The first letter of the new VINs was the country of manufacture An earlier Nissan tag had made in Japan printed on it..

 

Model years begin usually in the summer of the previous year. 896843, I assume is the vehicle number, falls into the August to December '75 range of build dates. Making it consistent with a '76 model year.

 

Any 710 wagon would start WHL 710 with obviously W for wagon. KHL 710 would be a hardtop and just HL 710 a sedan. Don't know of any JHL 710s although the new VINs after '81? Sport a J at the beginning to denote a made in Japan vehicle. Do you have a picture of this 'VIN'????

 

 

 

 

[flyerdan]

I have the title for the 710 wagon I parted out years ago, it's from CO and the vin is JHL710858663.  It's listed as a 1975.

Mike, could it be that Canada gets a different designation for models imported there?  I have the vin tag out in the shop, I'll get a pic of it a bit later.

[datzenmike]

I'm thinking that too now. My info includes some Canadian references but also California and federal emissions so???

[flyerdan]

I got a pic of the tag, it does have the WJHL on it but they dropped the W on the title, not sure why as there should be enough fields for any vehicle designation that came along.

 

 

[datzenmike]

That's much better with the W in it.

 

W.... wagon

J...... ????

H.... L20B

L.... left hand drive

[KELMO]

Randalla,

Is there a build plate on the driver's door jamb? If so, does it have the build month and year?

I suppose it is possible it got "dissapeared" when the vehicle was stolen.

[datzenmike]

It's sad... I have a '76 goon and I have no idea if it has anything on the door jam.

 

 

edit: Wait a minute, mine is from Nevada so it should have the J  on the engine tag. I'll look tomorrow

[datzenmike]

[flyerdan]

So between the oldest and newest, there are about 57000 vehicles, which seems excessive for wagons.  Since the serial number line has JHL would it be logical to assume that is for the entire range, and the type line at the top has the extra letter to designate what configuration it has?

[Randalla]

I wish my I.D. plates were in as good of shape as yours Dan. Here are the tags on my car. The dash tag appears to be original and not re-attached. The door tag (with a single rivet) has obviously been removed and re-attached. The firewall tag, that is pretty much unreadable, does not obviously appear to be original to the car as it is screwed on rather than riveted. Not sure these do anything further to positively identify the year, unless the "12" on the door plate means December, making it a 1976 model??? Dan, Mike, it appears my car was built between the two of yours 896 vs. 915 and 858 (first three numbers in sequence). 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Randalla

[datzenmike]

Perhaps but I don't have a Canadian 710 wagon. I have sent a PM to a Canadian 710 wagon owner named Opalbeetle to confirm if they do, or not, have this J ... and he indeed also has the J so I guess they all have this I just don't know what the J stands for.

 

On 12/8/2022 at 1:39 PM, flyerdan said:

So between the oldest and newest, there are about 57000 vehicles, which seems excessive for wagons.  Since the serial number line has JHL would it be logical to assume that is for the entire range, and the type line at the top has the extra letter to designate what configuration it has?

 

 570,000 vehicles??? What yo talking about Willis???

 

I get about 70,000 wagons built but form 'Nov '76 to May '77 is unknown so well over 70k wagons.

[flyerdan]

Looks like you attributed an extra zero to me there Mike, I was going by the differences between our firewall tags.

Phillips screws were the standard for the firewall tag, your door tag has a 12 stamp, so it would have been built in 75 but quite possibly titled as a 76.

It would be interesting to see if Mike's door tag has a 12/75 or later date, since his is about 18k vehicles later.

I didn't keep the door tag, wish I did as it would be interesting to see where it fell for comparison.

 

[datzenmike]

Sorry, finger troble.

 

Damn I have never looked at my door tag. 915,634 It fits in the Jan '76 to Oct '76 group (898501-920000)when 21,499 wagons were built. Ten months and an average 2,149 per month (I don't have the monthly production numbers) so late Aug or early Sept build date. It's blowing rain and dark but I'm curious what it is. I'll look tomorrow.

[angliagt]

     Oh,come on........it's just water.

[datzenmike]

At 0. C and in the dark under a tarp in the wind. Power shut off for 2 minutes so branches flying around. 

[Randalla]

If my car was built 12/75 in the U.S. that would have made it a 1976, as model years typically start in the Fall here. Since my car was built, and probably tagged, in Japan not the U.S.,  I'm not sure whether that would differ or not. I wondered if there was any difference in content (the car itself) between 1975 and 1976 which might provide a clue. I do have an actual 1975 showroom catalog that was printed 12/74 according to the back cover. That might suggest my car is a 1976. If I had a 1976 710 catalog I'd check the print date on it. 

[datzenmike]

 Up to July '75 the door cards ended just above the door release pull handle and the metal between that and the glass was painted the body color. From August '75, (likely a '76 model year) the vinyl covered door card extended all the way to the glass. My '76 is this way, my '74 was not.  

 

 

[datzenmike]

21 hours ago, datzenmike said:

Sorry, finger troble.

 

Damn I have never looked at my door tag. 915,634 It fits in the Jan '76 to Oct '76 group (898501-920000)when 21,499 wagons were built. Ten months and an average 2,149 per month (I don't have the monthly production numbers) so late Aug or early Sept build date. It's blowing rain and dark but I'm curious what it is. I'll look tomorrow.

 

I hate wet water.

 

OK 9/76 so September it is

[flyerdan]

Looking at a side pic from your original thread, it appears that the trim extends a lot further and is a bit higher on the side than mine was.

I had a pic already scanned, wrong side but you can see the difference.   I don't have any inside pics, but it seems that the door panels were flat and didn't go all the way up.

 

Edit:  I did find a pic from the back with the hatch up and was able to zoom and lighten, the panels were flat and the top of the door was painted orange.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by flyerdan

[opalbeetle]

Good evening,

 

Mike reached out to ask me about my car's information.  I'm pretty sure sure it's a Canadian car.  It has 11/76 stamped on the door tag.  It's titled here as a 1976, but I imagine that it would been sold as a 1977 model.  

 

Seems like the "J" designates the "rigid rear axle".

 

I recalled that my shop manual had this page in it.  Here is the "MODEL VARIATION" page.

[datzenmike]

All 710 were rigid axle so why show it as a J in the first place?

 

The 610 has IRS and solid axles but it's not designated. So???

 

W........ wagon

K......... hard top

blank ..... sedan

[Randalla]

Dan, you're right, the bodyside moldings are definitely higher on my car, but I'm almost positive those were "dealer installed" after arriving in the U.S. My catalog doesn't show bodyside moldings at all, only rocker moldings. Here are a few pictures of my inside doors. Unfortunately all the door cards are gone, but given the door lock opening appearance, I have to believe my car originally had door panels extending up to the glass. My car also does not have any sill plates and I'm interested in what the design may have looked like, and if they were plastic or aluminum. Sorry to have made this such a scavenger hunt, but these orphan cars are just not that well documented. Really appreciate everyone's help.   

[datzenmike]

Yes, I believe the side molding was dealer installed... which would have been alright if they were glued on but they drilled holes and riveted them on. Believe me the car looks 10X better with them removed and the rusty holes patched.

 

[opalbeetle]

Good morning.

 

I don’t have sill plates on my car. There are plastic pieces that cover the inner rocker in the back seat. The plastic pieces that are used in the front have a “tray” between the seat and the sill but nothing on the top of the rocker. My car was complete when I bought it, so I’m assuming there never had been anything there. 
 

The lock hole on your car suggests to me that your door cards didn’t go all the way to the glass. The short card doors had a different opening (like the ones you have) for the lock than the tall card doors. I changed my tall cards to short cards when I did mine. I like the look better. 
 

Here’s the link to my thread that shows the door locks and the differences that I noticed. 
 

https://ratsun.net/topic/33242-1976-wagoon-710/page/10/

I got rid of the trim on my car as well. It just didn’t look good. Of course it required me to weld the holes that Mike talks about that were used for rivets. 
 

Hope this helps.