Any older car is worthy of my attention, but I can’t deny that there are certain cars that always tug at my heart much more than average. And when two of them happen to be side by side…it’s nothing less than a ray of sunshine on a rainy afternoon.
CC Outtake: These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things…
– Posted on October 31, 2011
I think the last Datsun 510 I saw was…on CC.
Can’t remember the last one I saw in real life…here in Northeastica, the salt took ’em out pretty fast.
But besides the 240Z, the 510 remains to this day my favorite Nissan product.
I see them quite often around Eugene and Portland. Good market for them here, apparently. They don’t rust away here like in the rest of the country.
Those old Datsun 1600s are more plentiful on CC than here in Aotearoa where old Japanese cars thrive. They were however a renowned rust bucket for many years and our 6 monthly WOF inspections have removed many good classics from use. Benzs that model are common and cheap and havent they suddenly shrunk in comparism.
You don’t see too many 510 wagons around. I like the oh so 70s orange colour.
My next-door neighbors had one of these while I was growing up, in the common medium blue color. I remember getting a ride in it down to a local park for a field trip during school, and I can still picture the round air vents in the dash (all of the American cars at the time were using rectangular vents).
My brother-in-law just got rid of his last 510 wagon, which had been sitting for about 20 years since he last drove it in high school.
Would you believe…a 2015 E-Class Mercedes that weighs 2,860 lbs?
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/30/benz-working-on-carbon-fiber-e-class/
Note the question mark at the end of their headline. Throwing blue-sky PR stuff around like this is pretty common…I’ve been reading it for decades. Possible, but none too probable.
That’s not to say that progress in weight and aerodynamics aren’t on the way.
I thought 2,860 lbs was pretty specific, maybe a prototype? Until I divided by 2.2 and got exactly 1300 kg. Like you said, we can look forward to something someday. In the meantime there are plenty of cars at 1300 kg and below, mostly curbside classics.
Ed’s all over the new Toyota (Scion) FT-86:
HP: 147kw (200ps) / 200hp @7000rpm
Torque: 205nm (151 lb/ft) @ 6600rpm
Weight: 1210kg (2662 pounds)
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/10/ft-86-the-specs/
Good luck with crash repairs on carbon fibre! Which will of course be reflected in insurance premiums
1200-1300kg your looking Holden Commodore weights of the 80s and early 90s even with only a 3800 V6 they went ok.
I see 510 wagons periodically, but the only sedans I’ve seen in the past three years were at the Japanese Classic Car Show.
I was surprised that the wagon has a different rear suspension than the sedan. The sedans had semi-trailing arms, à la BMW, but the wagons had Hotchkiss drive — the explanation I heard was that Nissan was concerned about camber change with differing loads.
A legitimate concern – the VT-VZ Holden Commodore (1997-2005) has large amounts of camber change and chew out their tyres quickly when loaded.
Still see 1600’s occasionally including wagons but a lot of them have been rallied to death. A few years back I met a guy who still had a spare roof (cut off ~4″ above hood/trunk level) from his rally days, quite an unusual spare I thought.
I would probably prefer a Colt/Galant wagon myself
My uncle had a ’95 E320 that he later sold to my grandparents, and I drove it quite a bit. Great driving car, it was. Loved the huge steering wheel on the power-telescoping column (no tilt and it didn’t need it.) Loved how the outside rear would hunker down when you got hard on the throttle in a curve, and it was not perturbed one tiny bit by the 2-gear downshift no matter how early you gunned it.
It was very comfortable for 4 people, but no more. Had the great Germanic seats with the slightly-springy bottom cushion. What a road car. I always wanted to drive a 500E, the only other car I remember Jean Jennings really getting giddy about besides a 300Z Twin Turbo.
Still, it was an expensive car to own. The evaporator replacement cost finally got the grandfolks to sell it, they bought an Avalon, and the rest is history…
So is Papa’s Pizza any good, or is that incidental to the photo?
you know, there are virtually zero 1970’s era japanese daily drivers in the ny metro area. you still see 1960’s & 70’s detroit hulks prowling the streets occasionally. says a lot about the quality of ‘merican steel.