When the acclaimed 510 arrived here in 1968, it was only available as a four door. R&T reviewed it, and quite positively at that. But it was priced one notch higher than the real heart of the import market, meaning VW Beetle territory. In 1969, a lower cost two-door sedan arrived, with simpler trim and details but also lighter weight and better performance. This combination quickly became the preferred 510 version, for obvious reasons. For all of $97 more than a 54hp Beetle, this was a bargain, with its 96 hp OHC four, four-wheel independent suspension and spunky performance and handling.
No wonder the 510 became a legend.
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The lead shot with Corvair and Dodge pickup is a classic in itself. Not every car on the road then was one of the Big Three sedans.
My first new car, A ’72 510 two door. Wonderful car. $2022.00 with all four options. AM/FM stereo radio, sill stripe, tach, and I forget the other….. After burning up the bias ply tires, I did koni shocks and sears road handler radials (Michelin). Transformed the car, taught me everything about car balance, handling, heal and toe down shifting. Wish I’d never let it go.
I recall BRE Racing offered a ‘Yuma Rocket’ engine upgrade that got you close to 200 hp or so, but it was out of my meager budget range. My how 50 years ago seems like just yesterday.
Good write up!
Same with UJM motor bikes of the period, replace the ” Teflon” non grip tyres when they wore out quickly with Avon Roadrunners and the saggy rear shocks with Koni’s or Spax. You have a nicer handling bike. Oh yes replace front brake pads with EBCs so you can actually stop!..
The 510’s integral sportness should let it Datsun tak\e the lead; instead my nieghbor let me in on the collapse of Nissan in the ’70s. They’er next car, a 610, was a but odd and didn’t pick up the 510’s throne. The X-10 was cheaper, bigger, and uglier. Things looked up in the ’80s with a Nissan Stanza then 310, 300SX, 610, 810/Maxima Nissan could have been Honda before Honda was.
pirelli p7 all season plus ii 205/55R16 H81
The sad thing is that with the addition of a plastic grille (that the last JDM cars had anyway), open-faced styled steelies and maybe cloth seat inserts, oh and of course big bumpers, the 510 would’ve been able to last in production at least until 1978-9 before the FWD hatchback 310 and a growing 210 rendered it surplus to requirements.
I’ve always liked the older Japanese brands when they were simple and very basic. Some of them had lots of chrome and the WW tires were cool.
Compared to a VW beetle they must have looked wonderful, radio and heater was standard and OHC engines and two door models we didnt get could have been stiffer in the body shell than the flimsy four door editions,
In the mid 1960s 2 VW mechanics opened up a small VW repair shop in Bethesda, MD. They named the shop Volkswagen of Bethesda, but were quickly sued by VW of North America. The lawsuit was quite costly, and they had to change the name to VOB.
Fast forward a few years and the guys were being offered multiple chances to pick up various Japanese and other import makes. They took on Subaru, Datsun, Volvo, BMW and Triumph. Eventually they sold off the Triumph and Subaru franchises, and moved the Volvo to a stand-alone dealership location, making their main facility Datsun and BMW only. Once the 2 fuel shortages of the 1970s hit, all the Datsun cars they could get were being pre-sold before they even hit the docks in California, and VOB became the largest selling Datsun dealership on the east coast.
When it was looking grim for VW sales in north America, VW came to visit these 2 same guys, both now very wealthy men. They claim Volkswagen was begging them to take over the nearby failing VW dealership, and after reminding the VW visitors about the earlier lawsuit, they asked the VW people to leave.
One of the 2 guys once told me that taking on the Datsun dealership established them as a major player in the automotive sales field, and the BWM franchise gave them a level of prestige that Datsun didn’t have. It also resulted in BMW owners buying Datsuns as a second or third family car.
What issue is this from?
I’m out of town, so I can’t tell you right now. Late 1968, IIRC.
Nice .
-Nate
Interesting anomalies in the photos vs the ’69 4 door I had, specifically the side markers. The fronts were sort of boat hull shaped, i.e. curving up from the bottom to meet the flat top while the rears where round, about the size of a toonie ($2 coin here in Canada). Not sure the Canadian market cars would be different than US? I still have one of those front markers someplace as well as the wheel chocks it came with. 100,000 miles in 5 years, a great drive.
The front markers on ’68-9s were used worldwide, and at least in the Japanese home market were wired as turn signal repeaters. Most sources say the round rears were used on all (and unique to) North American ’69 models, and I’d expect absent here because this was a very early press-fleet car that may have been titled as a ’68.
1970 brought the rounded-edged not-quite-rectangular reflective ones, for US and Canada only.
Yes. Just to confirm, in Australia the fronts were turn signal repeaters, and no rear ones, just like the JDM cars.
That is a 1968 two door model press car. Note the horizontal grill badge, wipers that park in the middle and the lack of round side markers in the rear. Front marker lights are different than the 69. Can’t tell that from the picture though.
My BIL had one for commuting to college approximately 300 away. That’s how he met my sister. He traded it in once he started working since it didn’t have A/C. He regrets letting it go.
These were not on my radar back then even a newly licensed driver in Los Angeles. We drove VW’s and Japanese bikes. The Corvair behind it was something I would have considered buying.