They say sleep deprivation helps you write better. Sure! Let’s give it a go; what the heck? n
(Note: Apparently a couple of the effects of sleep deprivation are those wonderful human glitches simply known as False Memories and Mania. So what follows may or may not have happened. In any case, I feel an irresistible urge to write it.)
I’d like to say that trying to write a coherent article while running on fumes was my idea. Actually, it has mostly to do with the fact that I’m writing it on New Year’s Day, and my sister decided that it would be a brilliant idea to have a New Year’s Eve bash with all of her friends. Leaving the rest of us to hold the fort in case one of them decided to have some drunken great idea. Apparently she forgot that my mother was contractually obligated to attend New Year’s mass at 0700 on January the First. If she did know, she just didn’t care or assumed that sleep would eventually win her over despite all the noise. It certainly happened to me at around 3:30 in the morning.
Two hours later I was woken up to a strange but disgustingly familiar smell. Sure enough, we lost guard for a second and one of her guests got lost on his way to the bathroom and vomited on our couch. You know, to add the missing touch to that New Year’s experience. After cleanup and liberal amounts of Lysol I realized that she was getting ready for mass. And looking like someone that had spent an entire night just waiting for someone to try and set fire to her house. So I decided that because I had literally a couple of hours of sleep in me I decided that I should be the one to drive her. A decision I didn’t regret when we were on our way and we saw that, despite the streets being incredibly quiet, there had still been a three-car crash and police had shut down the road we’d normally use to get there.
We arrived downtown and, because everyone else was probably still asleep nursing a hangover, and we quickly found parking. Except apparently in between the last time I parked and today I had completely forgotten how to park a car within a foot of a curb. I managed it a couple of tries later and as we walked to church I found this: Sitting all nice and shiny by the curb.
It was a very confusing moment. I could’ve sworn that the Datsun 210 coupe didn’t look like this, in fact, it wasn’t even so much a coupe as it was a two-door sedan. It was, wasn’t it? David Saunders had one for a while. But then I remembered that this comes from a time that wasn’t subject to Just-in-Time production and Kaizen efficiency practices, so you could justify a more stylish coupe to sell alongside the plain Two-door sedan, the four door and the two wagons. And to top it all off this one, with its chrome slot wheels, checkerboard door guards and Yosemite Sam mudguards, is sporting all the modifications that were popular when these were new. I had to take out the potatocam.
Hopefully all that visual eye candy is backed by something nice under the hood. None of the engines were what you would call “powerful”, but they were adequate to move something with all the heft of a paper clip. So (in my mind) this one is benefiting from the most powerful engine offered on the 210: A 1.5-liter producing 65 horsepower and mated to a five-speed manual. To fit this engine with something with a torque converter wouldn’t be the wisest of choices, but a three-speed automatic was available if you had to.
A neighbor of mine, the only person I have ever known that felt the need to drive at full throttle downhill, owned one of these. A primer (later primer gray) 4-door sedan that got a full cosmetic restoration before going away and being replaced with a Tercel EZ. Which I always thought it was a step-down. The 210 was produced until 1984 when it was replaced by the B11 Sentra, which was a comprehensive update on a new front-wheel driven platform.
There was another thing too, this well-preserved example made me realize that I haven’t seen a 210 in a long time. They had their run in the ranks of the terrifying Tegucigalpa taxis and been replaced by the current crop of ‘90’s Corollas. So to see one in such good condition was certainly a treat for tired eyes. Tired eyes that for the next hour and a half would be forced to remain awake in mass, lest the TV cams caught me sleeping in church (again) . But hey, at least I got a free breakfast.
I actually like these cars .
They’re not even in the So. Cal. Junk Yards often anymore .
-Nate
I actually saw an early 80’s Datsun 210 2 door coupe with the trunk located at a local college parking lot and the car appeared to be in good shape, I agree these cars are rarely seen anywhere anymore.
A wagon lives not far from me but thats about the only one I see regularly, the rust bugs gobbled the rest.
Sorry to hear that one of the guest hurled on the couch. What a bummer.
I took my first driving lessons in a blue 210 saloon. Unfortunately, 2 days before my test, my instructor bought a Vauxhall Chevette, which had a different clutch biting point, so I stalled it a lot and failed, dammit.
Thats what I liked about Nissan in the 1980’s, they were not afraid to offer many styles under a single name plate. The B210 replacement, the Sentra had the following in 87-90:
4 door sedan
2 door coupe
3 door hatchback
5 door wagon
2 door sport coupe (which looked nothing like the other cars in the lineup)
I had 2 B210 4 Door sedans as my first and second cars. Both had automatics and they got along fine.
A good friend of mine (that actually just bought a brand new Acura from me today LOL) had one of these. It was a light blue 210 coupe, with a 5-speed manual transmission. That car was as slow as molasses. In fact it smelled like molasses, too! It was a nice little car, but sadly the tin worm ate that car up in a matter of 7 years. In 1987, it was so bad that her mechanic told her it was only a matter of time before it wouldn’t pass inspection. I think she had under 100k miles on it too. I know her Dad drove it for a couple of years until it had to be junked. And as far as the molasses smell, it was strange. When you turned the heater on it really smelled like molasses!
The most dangerous subcompact car (and therefore, CAR) of the era! Worse than the Pinto, Beetle, and everything else.
Average annual occupant fatalities per 1,000,000 vehicles
AMC Gremlin 294.5
Chevy Vega 299.0
Ford Pinto 310.0
Toyota Corolla 313.0
Datsun 510 317.0
VW Beetle 374.0
Datsun 1200/210 405.0
source?
From Gary T. Schwartz, “The Myth of the Ford Pinto Case,” Rutgers Law Review, Vol 43, p.1029 (via 101 Things I Learned in Engineering School).
*jots down*
should make for a cracking read.Thanks for sharing.
🙂
That grey B210 sedan looks like it has Malaysian license tags.
Wasn’t that the one where the tranny did not have to be dropped for a clutch replacement? Everything just kinda slid out of the bottom of the bellhousing, once a pin or bolt was removed from the tansmission mainshaft?
My grandfather had same car when I was 11. It was automatic and very slow and would struggle on hills. It was a washed out yellow color and it had an annoying dinger. It was uncomfortable and cramped. I sat on the hood and it acquired a but shaped dent when it was new. Back then you could sit on an American car. It started to rust in like 2 years. He surprise surprise got rid of it and got a 300zx.
Later in 1990 my friend bought one. It was rusty probably the rustiest car I ever saw that still ran which lasted him a long time. These in spite of the rust and discomfort and slowness held up well mechanically very well.
Another friend has a waggon that had a slipping transmission that kept going another 5 year’s.
I had the same car in red and mostly rust. Eventually the heat couldn’t be shut off and the body and brakes lines rusted so bad I had to junk it, but the engine would have run forever.
This was Chris Mccandless’ ride in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild. Readers of the book will remember that Chris had driven the car all throughout the US on solo sojourns before abandoning it at Detrital Wash, AZ after draining the battery. It was subsequently turned into an undercover drug-sting vehicle by the police who found it. These were definitely reliable vehicles!
There’s a low mileage “Time Capsule” example on Ebay right now. Starting Bid: $14,981.
Here’s a link if anyone’s feeling REALLY inspired by this post: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-Other-SL-/391353315285?forcerrptr=true&hash=item5b1e79afd5:g:GwYAAOSw~bFWGBZe&item=391353315285#viTabs_0
Yes but $15,000.00 ?! .
That’s ridiculous .
-Nate
My thoughts exactly. I appreciate finding something like this in good condition. After all, these cars are “Of My Era”, so I agree, it’s kinda cool. But c’mon. I may be proven wrong before my time is up, but I just don’t think something this mass-produced and generic deserves to command this kind of a premium at this stage.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as addicted to American Pickers and the Mecum Auctions as probably lots of us here, but I think this recent cultural shift to the belief that anything old and not frequently seen is “RARE” and “PRICELESS” is just plain bunk.
If this price is realistic and indicative of an actual bankable trend, then I’m going to have to strongly encourage my mother to put her ’06 Altima in climate controlled storage while it’s still got under 30k on the odometer. Hell, in 2041 that sucker should be worth about $70,000.
It’s been so long since i’ve seen one of these coupes that I also forgot they existed. Long. long time since seeing any 210 as a matter of fact. Cool find (with bonus CC Tercel SR5 wagon parked in front of it.)
Were these produced all the way up until ’84? I thought the B11 Sentra showed up earlier than that…