Datsun Bluebird (actually a 120Y) v Vauxhall Viva HB - Prace bets now!!!!!

[Vin]

I've recently been transferring a load of 35mm slides to JPEG for my Uncle (He's not really my Uncle, just the fella my Auntie has been living with for the past 32 years...)

 

Anyway, I thought these images might interest fellow shiters...

 

Datsun Bluebird v Vauxhall Viva, near Louth, Lincolnshire circa 1976/77. Apparently the Viva driver came round the bend on the wrong side, hitting my 'Uncle' in his Datsun...

 

That white thing on the Viva's passenger seat is a washing machine, which the driver was also trying to keep hold of...

 

Apparently it took them 6 weeks to repair the Datsun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vin]

Is it actually a Bluebird?? or is it a Sunny...

[LoftyvRS]

Looks a bit like my Dads 68 HB Viva SL90, even the same colour! Can’t ever thinking they were big enough to get a washing machine in though!!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

What a photo! Looking at it, I reckon the Datty only just survived being written off. I bet the Viva was a gonner, looking at the age difference. Great place to store your washing machine though. I wonder if he was mid-cycle?

 

Edit - isn't the Datsun a 180b?

[Angrydicky]

Fantastic picture, love seeing scenes like this!

[Vin]

Edit - isn't the Datsun a 180b?

 

It's difficult isn't it...(God knows how SpottedLaurel does it!!...years of practice obvs)

 

After quite a bit of googlin, it's a 120Y, like this...(I will now change the thread title...)

 

[trigger]

Great photos!

[BorniteIdentity]

SpottedLaurel likes this (!)

[oldcars]

Those Datsun trims are great.

[junkyarddog]

I like viva's.

 

I like 120y's

 

But which is better?

 

There's only one way to find out.

 

FIGHT!!

 

 

The old viva did really do a lot of damage to that Datsun.

I reckon it was drivable (just) after that,while the probably 120y wasn't.

 

Great photo.

[lisbon_road]

I had a similar accident in my Viva HB which was repaired.  Would have been about 1989 when I had the accident.  I don't think I was quite that far over myself.

 

From a recent long journey in the Viva, I'd say that the experience of being in them on the motorway is quite similar enough to being in a washing machine already without actually having one in there too.  If that makes any sense.

 

I did take a tumble drier in mine once.  Had to take the seat out though.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

What a photo! Looking at it, I reckon the Datty only just survived being written off.....

 

Those were the days when insurance companies were more likely to sanction repairs (and there were panel beaters and skilled people who could do all the pulling on a jig, etc.) rather than just look at the bottom line.

 

 

Apparently it took them 6 weeks to repair the Datsun.

 

PICT0001.JPG

 

I can see the copper who was called out to deal with this one, but I wonder who are the two spectators standing on the bank on the left of the photo? Were they passengers in the Datsun?

[Des]

You might want to cover your uncles reg No. or he'll be getting plagued with personal injury cold callers.

[Dirk Diggler]

[Spottedlaurel]

Interesting to see. The accident appears to have had no effect on the usual 10-year lifespan that almost all 1970s Datsuns suffered - DVLA says first registered March 1975, untaxed since the beginning of May '85.

 

I dread to think what would happen if I did that in my tiddly little 1200, which is the model that preceded the 120Y. Leaving aside its general smallness, I suspect it would show the car to be mostly made of chicken wire and filler....

[Amishtat]

I can't believe how much damage a ten year old Viva could do to that poor Datsun, always thought they were quite soft on the front.

[davehedgehog31]

Back in the good old days, when men were men and minor car accidents hurt. 

[mercrocker]

Frontal extremities on HBs seem hard as nails - my mother managed to devastate the side of a Volvo Amazon with hers....

[inconsistant]

Proper crash that, none of this new fangled bouncing off each other and driving it home leaving a whole cracked front bumper on the grass verge.

[plasticvandan]