Right now’s Good Worth or No Cube Datsun 510 is an previous automobile that performed on nostalgia for a beloved and even previous mannequin with which it shares its numerical identify. Let’s see if this traditional wagon’s price ticket has the precise quantity as nicely.
We suffered a little bit of bait and swap on final Friday’s 2020 Tesla Mannequin 3 Lengthy Vary. When first I noticed the advert, no title info was listed. After Friday’s story had gone reside and we have been all deep into it, the vendor up to date the advert, dropping the bomb that the automobile wore the scarlet letter of a salvage title. As a lot of you identified within the feedback, the $31,100 asking worth was not commensurate with a salvage title on a three-year-old Mannequin 3. The end result was a stable 85 p.c No Cube loss and our well-founded scorn.
Now, we is probably not beginning this week any higher than we ended the last as the advert for at this time’s 1980 Datsun 510 wagon doesn’t record the automobile’s title standing both. That’s a flaw of Fb Market automotive listings which, not like Craigslist’s, doesn’t require title standing to be a part of the advert. In reality, happening Fb Market is type of like trolling storage gross sales in sketchy elements of city: you would possibly discover a deal otherwise you would possibly get a shiv within the eye to your hassle.
Our Datsun is situated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and based mostly on the photographs, it seems to be in a pleasant neighborhood so I feel we’re going to be protected with this one.
Datsun launched this mannequin 510 in 1977 in a full line of physique kinds. In Japan, they have been offered underneath the Violet nameplate, however right here within the U.S., in addition to in different markets, it glided by 510. Each that nameplate and the automobile’s squared-off styling recalled the sooner 510 of the late ’60s and early ’70s. That automobile was based mostly on the home-market Bluebird, and within the U.S. was dubbed “the poor man’s BMW.” Beloved for its frisky sporting natiure, the earlier 510, together with the 240Z, have been the 2 fashions that established the Datsun model right here within the States. The 510 mannequin line was changed by the 710 which in flip was outdated by the backward-glancing 510 like our automobile. That mannequin morphed into the Stanza within the ’80s and finally into what we now name the Altima.
Trying again on the second iteration of 510 exhibits that it wasn’t the poor man’s (or girl’s) something. What it was, nevertheless, was a good sufficient compact automobile with adequate options and elegance to compete with the likes of Toyota’s Corona. Appreciably, it was additionally a rattling sight higher than the small vehicles American producers have been turding up {the marketplace} with on the time.
This wagon, in what the vendor describes as “Buckskin,” appears to be a wonderful instance of the breed. And, with simply 69,000 miles underneath its belt, it’s a complete time capsule. That beige-hued paint appears to be in respectable situation and unencumbered by highway rot or different notable flaws. Full polished wheel covers assist to decorate up the outside, as does a helpful roof rack and a few JDM-style fender-mounted mirrors.
These mirrors are in all probability the automobile’s solely black eye for the reason that mounts probably required drilling into the fenders and therefore would require vital work and repainting to take away.
The cabin is splendidly outfitted and appears to have solely suffered modestly for its age. The upholstery is old-school vinyl. It’s not “leatherette” or “Vegan Leather-based” like in a contemporary cheap-seat automobile, however unapologetically sweaty in summer season and creakily chilly in winter vinyl. Together with that, the automobile comes with a plasticky sprint repleat with the manufacturing facility AM/FM radio and, remarkably for the period, a full set of gauges.
The drivetrain is fairly easy. Beneath the hood lies a 92 horsepower Z20S 2.0-liter inline-four. Mated to that’s Nissan’s 3N71B three-speed automated with console shifter, driving a leaf-sprung stable rear axle. It ought to be famous that the unique 510 additionally used a reside axle on the wagons quite than the unbiased setup of the sedans and coupes, so priority is there for establishing this mannequin’s legacy.
In keeping with the advert, the automobile is in “unbelievable unique situation” aside from the Bluetooth stereo that sits elf on a shelf-like within the glove field. It additionally notes that the automobile has A/C, known as out as being a rarely-included possibility. The vendor closes the advert by claiming “Completely one of the crucial unique and nicest 510’s you’ll ever see.”
We in all probability received’t see many 510s of this technology in any respect since this mannequin didn’t engender the identical type of love and want as did (and does) the sooner mannequin. That being mentioned, it is a fantastic and wonderfully-quirky ’80s throwback and would make for an excellent companion to a like-era Z automobile in anybody’s assortment. It’s additionally a center finger within the face of Nissan for having modified its U.S. model to its company moniker from the extra beloved Datsun.
The asking worth to take all that on is $13,900.
What’s your tackle this Datsun and that $13,900 asking? Does that really feel like a deal for the automobile in its elegant traditional situation? Or, is that an excessive amount of for a 510 that isn’t a Bluebird?
You determine!
Fb Market out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or go right here if the advert disappears.
H/T to Robin Davies for the hookup!
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