(first posted 6/14/2013) There were three key ingredients that that made the Datsun 510 fly: the BMW 1600, “Mr. K”, and a certain sharp rise taken flat-out on Bunker Hill Road.
In the history of affordable enthusiast cars, there are obvious milestones. Pre-war Fords created the genre by yielding a seemingly infinite source of frames, bodies and drive trains to keep hot-rodders busy, even yet. The tri-five (’55-’57) Chevys combined a trim and sturdy body with the ubiquitous small block V8. The MG roadsters birthed the whole sports car genre in the US. The VW was the closest thing to a Lego-mobile, a source of building blocks for seemingly infinite possibilities. And the legendary Datsun 510? It changed the low-bucks performance equation forever, and spawned the whole ricer scene. It’s earned its beatification and immortality, and now sits exulted at the right side of the holy trinity of ’55-’57 Chevys.
The little boxy Datsuns that Nissan was pushing in the US during the sixties were a modest effort. The 410/411 (CC coming soon) was still a dyed-in-the-sake Japanese-market affair, too small and weak-chested. Yes, the twin-carb SSS version was a zippy little number, if you were vertically-challenged enough to actually climb in, but only very limited numbers found their way here. Datsun’s early success was heavily dependent on their pickups, which pretty much had the mini-truck market to themselves.
Let’s start with the first two pivotal ingredients that made the 510 the high flier it became: the BMW 1600 (later 2002) was a revolutionary car in its own right. Its formula of a small, light, boxy body; a rev-happy 1600cc OHC four; and all-wheel independent suspension took the market by storm and spawned the 3-Series legacy that took BMW from obscurity to the head of the class.
Yutaka Katayama, known reverently as Mr. K and “the father of the 240Z”, was a rebel outcast of hide-bound Nissan. Exiled to the US, he became the founding father and president of Nissan USA, and fought tirelessly for more competitive and sporty product. Certain aspects of the 510, especially the size and performance level of its engine, were the direct result of his back-door lobbying, inspired by his admiration of the little BMW.
So it wasn’t exactly coincidence that both the BMW and the Datsun had 1600cc SOHC engines with 96 horsepower, front struts and rear semi-trailing arm IRS. While the 510 was just a tick above VW Beetle in price ($1996), the BMW was a whole notch dearer, and zoomed even higher as a consequence of exchange rates. The 510 quickly established itself as the bargain Bimmer.
That’s not to say it was its equal. But you had to drive both of them to appreciate the BMW’s substantially more refined ways, especially in the suspension department and general quality of materials and finish. In unadulterated form, the 510 was nevertheless a blast, but the limits of its handling could be a bit abrupt, and adrenalin-inducing.
My high school buddy Nick came by a new 1970 510 when the family Volvo 122S spun a bearing. I will never forget our first effort at “getting lost” in the 510: heading out into the endlessly undulating and windy country roads of north Baltimore County at night without any plan of action or map, never knowing where we would end up, just as long as it wasn’t in the ditch.
The 510 was a rite of initiation and an eye-opener after the VW Beetle, Dodge Dart and other fine machinery I was used to flaying around these facsimiles of English country lanes. The little Datsun four spun its heart out, redline-cheating-shift after banging shift. Nick was a naturally gifted driver, and we were immortal anyway, so exploring the 510’s somewhat unpredictable limits on blind, narrow curves late at night was just the counterpart to the somewhat unpredictable psychotropics whose limits we also explored regularly. Sometimes at the same time, other times not. The Datsun was entertaining either way.
Enough of the psycho-brabble. But I assure you that catching air on that rise was not a hallucination; we confirmed it for ourselves via the scientific method: repeat and verify the results. Nick went on to take ownership of the 510, and embark on that series of suspension, brake and engine mods that became so typical of the enthusiast owners of these cars. I had moved away by then, and he eventually moved on to bigger and more expensive flying toys, but he still pines for that 510. I know why too: he now lives near that rise in the road, and it’s calling for him to relive that first flight.
Well, there’s plenty of old 510s in Eugene. I’ve gotten familiar with at least a dozen or so. My friend Mike, who owns the ’51 Caddy, has three of them, two of which are wagons, which came with a solid rear axle.
The beauty of the 510, and its oft-repeated similarity to the ’55-’57 Chevys, lies in its interchangeability with later Datsun/Nissan engines and parts. The L-16 engine was just the first step of the long evolution of that family, so that the 1.8 and 2.0 liter engines drip in as easily as swapping SBCs. The popular the Z series, which were produced through 1989, are also based on the L-engine block. Then there’s Nissan’s later hot DOHC fours. And from there, the sky’s the limit, like this rotary-powered 510. It seems pretty typical for 510 enthusiasts to get carried away.
Let me quickly just add that the 510 had a spectacularly successful career in racing too. The hot 2.5 liter class of the Trans Am series was pretty much owned by the Brock Racing Team’s 510s. Bob Bondurant started his racing school with 510s, and Paul Newman got his start in one of those abused Datsuns. It was terrific advertising, and Datsun rode the tails of its racing/sporty image way longer than it deserved to into the seventies.
The 510 was like an automotive mayfly: it seemingly went as quickly as it came. By that I mean, it successor utterly lacked the 510’s qualities, and the 510 became a frozen moment in automotive time. The bigger, heavier and bizarre-looking Datsun 610 (above) was the ’58 Chevy to the ’55.
But the 510 had done its job, propelling Datsun from relative obscurity to a very competitive number two behind Toyota. Datsun went on to wretchedly ugly cars and a confused image, allowing Honda to pass it by. The pathetic Datsun/Nissan 510 revival in the early eighties certainly wasn’t successful in recapturing the magic of the original. There’s only one way to do that: buy one. Are you listening, Nick?
I’ve only ridden in a Bluebird when I was twice on Okinawa, in fall 1970 and winter 1972. An associate had one – no idea of the year, but it was light blue – weren’t they all?
A competent-enough car over there where the top speed on the island was 30 mph – and they meant it!
Compared to the odd-ball Japanese kei cars and trucks, and even three-wheel Isuzu trucks – see photo – on the island at the time, it was a near-luxury car in terms of room, if not comfort. A Toyota Crown was pretty much the top of the heap.
As an aside: I got a hearty laugh every time some GI had his car shipped over there. It’s really funny seeing a Corvette putter around all day in 2nd gear, or a RoadRunner, GTO, Chevelle SS moseying along at little more than idle speed.
On Kadena, there was a taxi service that used olive-green Valiants exclusively. Off base? whatever you could hail, and occasionally I took a bus with wooden plank flooring and chickens, goats and barfing-out-the-window kids (and the results on my sleeve) along for the ride, which was all of 10¢!
FWIW, gas was 12¢ per liter in those days, whereas in California, gas was 25¢ per gallon!
I can see where the inspiration for the cycle front end on that truck a few articles back came from. If the Koreans are doing 3wheeled flat beds why not an S10 truck?
Another local shop owner who is into performance Buicks, among other things, has a 510 sedan in a hard-to-view mustard color but it belonged to someone in his family. He kept it ver clean and put rims on it so it looked sprightly. But the Soviet style interior is too Spartan for me.
I’m quite sure I’ve seen one of these in person before, probably when they were new and I was a kid. But like the various Kias and Hyundais of today, I barely paid attention to them. These all seemed like crappy disposable cars to me. Especially given the pro-domestic bias so strong here in the Midwest at the time.
I’m probably missing out on some fine Kias and Hyundais today, too.
Interesting regional comparison. If you grew up on the West Coast in the 70s and 80s, you saw these, and their grinning teenage drivers, all over the place.
However, they pretty much disappeared in the 1990s, unlike vintage BMW 2002s, which you still see from time to time. Given the younger, rowdier demographic behind the wheel of the little Datsuns, they were probably driven a lot harder… and wrapped around more telephone poles.
The orange color paint is so 1970s.
Oh how I wish that an automaker of today would give this formula a try, once again: Decent performance, decent handling, impeccable materials and build quality in a light, no nonsense, affordable package.
Problem is, I doubt it would sell, and the temptation to add complicated – and profitable – technology gizmos is too great for the manufacturers.
But hey, I can dream…
Subieyota, wouldn’t you say?
Like those, may look at them when I’m ready to buy, but not quite as practical as the 510. The Subieyota is really more of a sports/GT model, versus the very sedan-like 510. As you stated in an earlier post, I like boxy, sporty cars.
Subieyota shooting brake. If we can do ‘what if’ powertrain combos, why not bodystyles?
+1. Would love a Miata fixed head 2+2 shooting brake, how hard could it be?
2007-08 Honda Fit in the US. This car (Honda Jazz elsewhere) went back to 2001, IIRC.
No doubt, a nice car (my sister loves hers).
But with 64% of its weight up front, not quite as balanced as I’d like.
I refuse to start a flame war over my slight preference for RWD of this fantasy vehicle, even though I happily own a FWD sedan as my current DD.
Funny, I saw a BMW 128 last night and thought of how much I like boxy, upright sporty cars. It’s the stance that says “fast,” no need to sacrifice headroom for a look.
I’ll take a stocker in orange, please. (As if there are any in New England in 2013!)
I know, four years late, but… I last saw a real 510 in New England in an Auto Zone parking lot, and I thought “no way”. Sure enough, it had Colorado plates and the owner told me he’d just moved to N.E. We do still see BMW ’02s (1600 and 2002), but never in winter, too many body locations to suck up road salt and sand.
This 510 is currently being worked on by a mechanic neighboring my new studio.
That’s not the “real” 510, but the neo-510 from the eighties. Not a bad car, but not a genuine 510.
You mean it’s been re-badged? I know very little about old Datsuns.
Nice car, in any event. The interior is mostly stripped. Maybe it’s becoming a racer.
The original 510 was made from 1968 to 1971. It was replaced by the 610 and 710. I showed one in the article above. In 1977, Datsun/Nissan sold their Violet in the US with the 510 badge; that’s the car you saw. It’s a different car, badged a 510 in the US in order to ride on the old 510’s coat tails. There was a link in the CC about that; here it is: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-1979-datsun-510-revived-in-name-if-not-in-spirit/
I don’t remember if the 210 came out before or after the 610 and 710, but the transition in the early and mid-’70’s from the cleanly styled 510 and 1200, to the bulbous 210, 610 and 710 was the most dramatic transformation of a manufacturer’s styling and image, that I can recall. Perhaps Cadillac’s decades-later shift in the other direction matches it, though the latter is really outside my circle of interest. But for young import enthusiasts, Datsun’s move was the kiss of death. “Datsun – we are driven … to destruction”, we would say, parodying he advertising line.
Just to correct the years that original 510s were available – 1968 until fall 1972(the 1973 model year with unique bumper guards and only as a 2DR – the photo above with the BRE race car is from the ’73 brochure).
I owned a 1967 model, bought in Australia in1982 for $1500. It had 19000 miles on the clock and still had the plastic on the doors. It smelled new. Bought it off an old lady who bought it new. She drove it to the shops and to church. My friends that drove XB Falcons and HQ Holdens laughed at me, but after a while realized it was a classic, even back then. They were even more envious of my repayment terms offered by he old lady which were interest free loan repayable at $5 per week. My model had no radio, no carpets, no heater, but it did have a lateral speedo and a 4 speed. After a trip to the wreckers, I bought and installed a heater which came in handy even in our mild winters. In Australia they were sold as the Datsun 1600.
We campaigned one thru farNth Qld it fell apart kept going yep but large cracks appeared in seams along the rear quarter panels and in the boot floor that was in 85 and the car cost $500 Au
It may have the underpinnings of a BMW, but it has the skin of another favorite fun car of the era – the Ford Cortina. Look especially at the C pillar and it’s vent along the bottom. Very cool either way.
Cortina Mk II
Very good making the connection between the Cortina Mk II and the 510. I remember when both were new but I never realized it. I think the Cortina has the better looking interior. Especially with a dashboard with a wood background around the gauges. It’s probably heresy to say it but I think their exteriors look better than the BMW 1600.
My 1st car was a ’72 510-blue, 4 door, 4 speed. Learned maniacal driving on that car. Glad I survived!
“…it seemingly went as quickly as it came…” Yes, into a big pile of iron oxide. Where I grew up (eastern Ontario) these were pretty much gone from the streets by 1980.
call me nuts but that whole square design of the 510, Fiat 124, 131, 132, Bmw 2002, BMW E12, E28, with a nice 5 speed and those dual round headlights, is what makes for a beautiful car. Never driven a 510 or even seen on in person but definitely on my bucket list.
Drive a good one its fun dont be too hard on it hough they is kinda weak in the body.
The 510, unlike the predecessor 410 and successor 610, was crisply styled. Somewhat boxy, I did hear people confuse the 510 with Volvo’s 140 series. There is a resemblance, but where I felt comfortable in the Volvo, I felt absolutely claustrophobic in the Datsun — to the point that I climbed out and left the dealer without turning the ignition key.
Oddly enough, I didn’t get the same feeling in a 240Z which could not have had much more interior room.
Still think the 510 was a great-looking car. Even in burnt orange.
A great little car, followed by a bloated, goofy looking vehicle designed for suburban trips to McDonalds. The 1958 Chevy was definately better than that, even compared to the 1957.
510-pre Malaise
610-MALAISE
Always admired the 510 for its clean lines and exotic specs (SOHC and IRS wow!). Never drove one before and am afraid to now because of such high expectations!
What a great crop of affordable sport sedans to choose from back then. The 510, Alfa Berlina, Mk 2 Cortina, Opel Kadett and for a little more the BWM 1600. They were remarkably similar when they debuted around 1967, like all were inspired by the same thing, probably the early 60s BMW New Class (which the 1600 still was). But Alfas and Cortina were always original so maybe things just sort of converged.
The 510 of course had to duke it out with the Corona for US low end sales. Its small size versus the Europeans helped performance. What a steal it must have been!
I encountered more of the wagons than the sedans. My wife’s parents had two 510s when she was little; an automatic and a four-speed. This being Hawaii, those 510’s would rust from the top down. Japanese sheet metal on cars were very rust-prone until about the mid-80s. The gooey Quaker State rustproofing or Ziebart would slow it down, and constant washing and waxing would retard it somewhat, but even with that degree of care, a-pillar, trunk lid lip and lower door “bubbles” would plague these cars.
Currently on Oahu, there is a car club of about a couple of dozen guys running 510s – coupes, wagons, sedans. Nice to see these again. In the day, I loved the orange color.
I have actually seen a red 510 wagon where I live (Salem, MA) several times recently, which is amazing as it should have turned into a pile of rust 20 odd years ago.
My BIL has a treasure-trove of 510 sedans & wagons rusting away in his back yard (that he drove while a teen back in the 1980s). Like many wishful-thinking projects, it’s highly unlikely that their condition will improve anytime soon. One of the wagons closest to running condition was actually sold off a few years ago, to drive another day.
I’ve been in these, and in BMW 2002s (roommate had one, I did a lot of work on the thing, don’t EVER try to replace the driveline U-joints yourself, be warned) as well. Fun cars, but I don’t know if I can get myself to own another car with a carb on it. Having them on lawnmowers is bad enough.
Great article. My second car was a yellow, with black vinyl top, 1971 510. It still remains my favorite car and the closest I got to owning a “Z”. Only a blown engine (blown because the shop that rebuilt it didn’t connect the oil sending unit properly and replaced it with a different engine that never run as well as the original) forced me to part company with that little jewel. It was a rocket between the stop lights and took the winding mountain roads of Northern California like no other car I’ve owned. Oh…and it got 35 mpg with a four speed, no overdrive.
I lived just down the road from Bob Sharp Motors in Georgetown, CT (Wilton). In the early ’70s you could walk into their shop and buy a new 510 with lowered suspension and wheels that mimicked those that were on the race cars they campaigned. Paul Newman drove cars prepared by Bob Sharp.
BMW built a car to take the Triumph 2000 market it didnt sell to people who bought Datsuns the price differential was immense and while the Datsun may ape the BMW in mech spec its market was against many other 4 banger cars already on the market Cortinas Hunters and anything else with sporting ambitions.
You can have a grat deal of fun punting a 1600 Dustbin stay on the bitumen though the rally Dattos have thousands more spot welds in them to stop the appaling body shake watching B pillars shudder as you pound thru a gutter on a dirt road speaks volumes about the build quality of these. The sure aint strong like a Hillman Hunter, these cars reinforced the tincan reputation that Japanese cars had thru the 70s with shocking rust problems and headgasket munching engines at least in that respect they echo the bmw. The 610 or 180B was too heavy and softly set up for any real spirited driving as all the weakness of the 510 bodyshell had been adressed
Glad you point out things Aussie and NZ drivers experience but few other drivers ever will.
Anyone who tries to sell cars there often finds out the hard way. I think the North American cops who drive Holden-built Chevy Caprice PPV’s will find them to be much tougher than anything they’ve ever had.
Very realistic 1:10 scale …
http://www.hpiracing.com/kitinfo/100594/
I bought a new ’71 4-door 4-speed as a second car and loved it. Handling improved significantly when I replaced the original skinny bias-ply tires with a set of beefier radials. This was the last car I knew of that had a manual choke. It also had a manually-operated hot air riser for the carb. Fail to flip it “on” in cool, wet weather and the carb would ice up every time. Fail to flip it “off” in warm weather and it would ping like a bear. The previous comments about rust were correct. In four years in Northern Ohio there were actual structural problems with my 510 from rust. I had to get rid of it, and it was quite a while before I was persuaded that Japanese corrosion protection had improved.
It looks like the car with the interior shot may have had an aftermarket A/C unit. They were very popular in that era.
Over here cheques and apologies were sent out over rust issues Japanese cars are not meant to last in their home market like American cars in theirs and shocking rust problems easily overcome mechanical reliability to keep demand up we are poorer and expect our cars to rust at least only at British standards which is bad enough so cars that didnt even last the warranty period were not popular.
Bought a new 71 510. Perfectly fit the definition of “tin can”. Had terrible lean surge until bought and installed kit that included bigger jets and lighter springs for faster distributor advance. Huge difference in throttle response. Swapped out the stock 13″ x 4″ wheels with 13’x 5.5 from a Corvair with larger tires.
I never owned a 510 but crossed paths with them quite a few times. First experience was in college … I took an ME class on combustion engines with focus on emissions, and wrote a paper on modern (1972-73) emission control systems. Neighbors had just bought a new 510 wagon and I used it as my case study. No catalyst then, of course, but EGR and a host of vacuum lines. Around that time my aunt, in DC, replaced her 122S with a 4 door 510 automatic. On a visit there from California, I snagged the car for a whole day and drove 500 miles all over Maryland, southern PA and West Virginia. As a teen who grew up on twisty mountain roads, and assumed the West had a monopoly on great driving roads, the back roads of those states were an eye-opener, even in a 510 automatic with bias ply tires. Several of my friends had 510’s, and the budget wheel setup (if you couldn’t afford “mags” – no one called them “alloys” then, unless they were Campagnolos or Cromodoras) was 5.5″ Corvair steel rims with Vega GT trim rings. Sure enough, my own Vega’s trim rings disappeared one night and I’m sure ended up on a 510. This was around the time California (or maybe just the Bay Area?) instituted smog checks and briefly required a hokey aftermarket EGR system be retrofitted to certain year cars. The installation required drilling and tapping the exhaust manifold, and cars with factory tubular headers were exempt. Since the Ford Cortina GT was one of the few cars in our price range that was sold with OEM headers, and non-GT Cortinas could be fitted with used, rusty headers that looked like they came from the factory that way, most smog techs never knew they cars weren’t actual GT’s. Most techs weren’t that familiar with Cortinas in general, so while it was hard to get away with dual Webers on a 510 (a pretty common car in stock state), the Cortina was a very popular car to mod in the mid-’70’s – helped by the poor resale value of a five year old orphan import. I probably had as many friends with Cortinas as 510’s (including one Mk 1 Lotus Cortina, another car I forgot to put on my cars-driven list). I still see a 510 once a month or so, but haven’t seen a Cortina for years.
The mk3 cortina was a much better car than the Datsun ever could be.But not the MK2 pictured they were fairly lightly built it gave them a marginal performance gap over their rival Hillman Hunter the Datsuns were like the early Falcon a great idea for American roads and fairly gentle use in climates where everything but the main highway is gravel Im sorry but Japanese cars do not excel. Cortinas were used as dairy company rep cars here and spent their lives being hammered along gravel roads based on limestone and covered in cowshit.NO Datsun you could get could withstand that sort of treatment. We otoh could get a Datsun for this kind of use or rally racing depending on your particular bent it was developed in New Zealand from the 1200 assembled here with a local Humber80 racers cylinderhead mods and called the SSS If I ever find a survivor expect a story.
Sorry, one more piece of personal 510 trivia … in the early ’70’s a Pete Brock racing 510 (under 2.5 litre Trans Am) was driven in some events by NASCAR superstar Bobby Allison, proving that at least one good ol’ boy could turn right in a “furrin” car. I included a picture of his car that I took at Laguna Seca, on my high school yearbook page, where other guys had pictures of their baseball or football idols. That was the year (1972) another very competitive TransAm car was the Triumph Vitesse, a total ringer which hadn’t been sold here for years, but perhaps helped sell Spitfires and GT6’s in their twilight years.
Yeah dont get me wrong those things went well they were nowhere near the top of the 4cylinder performance tree at the time but nor were they in price and on smooth roads bitumen concrete and the like a great little toy for the money and more fun than the equivalent Toyota Corona. Suitably modified they make great little gravel rally car that can handle quite well tail out usually with later 2L motor and are really the last Datsun this size with any real sporting pretensions. The 180B came in a sport coat with SSS on the cuff links.
I got to meet Paul Newman at Lime Rock during his Bob Sharp days, 1980-82. Really nice guy, hella racer, wicked grin. I used to run my Corolla hardtop with the 3TC engine. Fun times.
Where are you, Mr. K., when Nissan needs you?!
72 Datsun 510 was my second car, after a 62 VW bug. Sure liked the increased power of the Datsun, 95 hp versus only 40 for the bug. I look at the Nissans of today in 2014, and can’t think of any I’d really want to own. Most of them are just plain ugly.
In the 70’s the 510 made a great rally car. This one pictured belonged to a friend of mine. We rebuilt the engine and installed 240Z flattop pistons and dual weber carbs.
I had a ’69 510 4 door as my first car, in red. It had 50,000 miles on it when I bought it in 1979 and 150,000 5 years later when I got rid of it. A cousin was a co-owner in a garage in Victoria and he rebuilt the motor, we added a Nissan rally cam and duel SU carbs. This brought it pretty close to the SS specs. A nice set of Datsun alloy wheels and away I went. No suspension lowering/tuning since I liked to do a lot of backroad (read gravel logging roads) driving. It was a blast.
I got very good at changing out the outboard u joints since they got hammered by the dirt and due to amount of flex grease nipples just sheared off. Had to do them every 10,000 miles or so.
Unfortunately two accidents in a week within 10m of the same spot in Nanaimo (rear ended with minor damage but then t-boned by someone coming out of a driveway with a lot more damage) combined with the rust did the poor beast in.
Overall a great car to have and it never seemed so small as they look to me now.
Thanks for a great right up.
How does the Triumph Dolomite compare ?
When I was a kid the family across the street from us had a 4dr Datsun 510, I can’t remember if they owned it concurrently with a 1972 Chrysler Newport (they had a daughter who was of driving age) or traded the Chrysler for a used 510, both cars were green. In the mid to late 1970’s the cars in our neighborhood rapidly changed. In the 1970’s my Dad went from a ‘69 Ford Econoline to a used ‘71 Ford Country Squire to another used ‘73 AMC Hornet to a new ‘75 VW Rabbit. My mom started the ‘70’s with a ‘65 V-6 Buick Special to a new ‘73 Ford LTD then a used ‘77 Olds Delta 88. The Chrysler/510 family ended the 1970’s with a ‘76 Ford LTD and their son was driving a ‘75 VW Scirocco.
I had a friend in high school who would often drive a BMW 2002 to school, I think it was his brother’s car, I never understood why he was embarrassed driving the little BMW!
You know, the 1602/2002 are always cited as an influence on the 510 design, but given the timing of their introductions that’s really not possible. The 510 would have been far along before even the 1602 was launched. And, the 510 was developed with 2 door and 4 door, plus wagon versions, all in the family vs the 2 door only BMW. I will agree that the 15001800/2000 Neue Klasse was influential for the 510. Here’s a 510 I spotted just a few weeks ago near my house, photobombed by a ProMaster.
Your ProMasters are initially rebadged Fiat Ducatos, which are coconstructed with Peugeot and Citroen. That´s the Evil side of FCA.
Can anyone verify that the L16 engine was adapted from the Mercedes-Benz 1900 design?