New Shite on the block

[Uncle Jimmy]

Some time ago communication was made with Sam Glover regarding a Datsun which was polluting the Eastern bloc/Soviet nature of his vast fleet of vehicles...after a period of radio silence a deal was struck and in an utterly uneventful manner not worthy of Autoshite said Japanese vehicle was delivered to my premises not a vast distance from that of the Glover lair. 

After some mild grimacing, a new coil, bodged thermostat housing, many flushings of water through the system and multiple brake bleedings the Japanese Lamborghini is driving after a fashion. 

I hope to take it to its first show next month and will be posting about on ere from time to time. My initial thoughts/feelings about it are very favourable, those chaps in Yokohama knew how to build a car even if they'd never seen one...that sort of vibe. The steering is 'boat like' as it should be in any RWD 70s budget, the clutch and gear change are A1 and it is fast if you are used to driving a Morris Minor.  All in all I am most pleased with it!

Heres some piccies of it outside its garage and another of the master cylinder full of crud.

[N Dentressangle]

Marvellous. Will be popping round for a poke at it on Friday, I hope!

[C1am]

Fantastic! I had a yellow 120Y coupe which I loved. I sold it when I could see the ground through the driver's footwell. They really do like to rust from the inside out but the L series engine is a gem - economical, powerful for its displacement and so smooth. 

[flat4alfa]

Fantastic 

[Uncle Jimmy]

  On 21/08/2019 at 21:23, C1am said:

Fantastic! I had a yellow 120Y coupe which I loved. I sold it when I could see the ground through the driver's footwell. They really do like to rust from the inside out but the L series engine is a gem - economical, powerful for its displacement and so smooth. 

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Is the L series a 1300? The 1200, which this has is the 'A' series, as you'll know a copy of the BMC A. It does run very smooth for a four; once I've replaced the points and timed it, it should idle even better. It was rated at 70bhp which is quite powerful for the day. There are various coloured plastic plugs in the inside of the doors to the sills and in the doors themselves so it looks like it had the Zeibart type treatment hence it's relative lack of grot.

[Skizzer]

Oh wow, love that.

Does it have bonkers hubcaps?

[Broadsword]

That is gorgeous!

[C1am]

  On 21/08/2019 at 21:33, Nibblet said:

Is the L series a 1300?

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My mistake (it was a long time ago). You're right it was the A12 engine, 1171 cc. As Skizzer says it'd be great if you have the golf ball hub caps!

[Uncle Jimmy]

  On 21/08/2019 at 21:36, Skizzer said:

Oh wow, love that.

Does it have bonkers hubcaps?

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No pie dishes I'm ashamed to say, only 3 mock spoked jobs which were also a Datsun fashion accessory in those days- a bit like those on Hillman Imps. I am in four minds as to purchasing some alloys for it.

[cort16]

Cool, that looks fantastic. We had a 120y saloon when I saw a kid my dad painted in a two tone metallic green and bronze.

The coupes weren't even that common back then.

[Uncle Jimmy]

I fondly remember the 120Y saloons and was in childish awe of the 100 Cherry; especially the coupe, the styling was as if the perpetrators had watched a film about GM whilst on acid. 

Most Jap cars wore European styling in the 60s and were understated, sometimes elegant, by the 70s they were attempting their own styling....with varied success! Far better than the dullness that followed in the 80's though. 

[Skizzer]

  On 21/08/2019 at 21:41, Nibblet said:

No pie dishes I'm ashamed to say, only 3 mock spoked jobs which were also a Datsun fashion accessory in those days- a bit like those on Hillman Imps. I am in four minds as to purchasing some alloys for it.

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Start collecting?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352670986003

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352748076752

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352748076390

(Three from the same seller.)

[paulplom]

My step dad had a turquoise/cyan one. I have very fond memories of it. Made a nice change from being ferried about in the back of mk1/m2 escort vans (he used to race greyhounds).

[eddyramrod]

Yep, I had one too, a red and black 4 door.  Thought it was a lovely little car, but I traded it in on a Maxi that, crucially, had MoT.  Oh the folly of youth, the Datsun was a much better car!

[Split_Pin]

Good grief! What a car! 70s Datsun styling was ace, this has to be the pinnacle of it.

Well played chap.

[Jim Bell]

That looks fantastic. Well played. I bet it'll be the only one at any show. 

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

Very nice Indeed.

[tooSavvy]

My 'tame' mechanic had my works Renner5 van in for HG.

Gave me one of these, saloon, as the loaner.... Ziebart f.t.w.

Interesting 3 days [@ not more than 60!!!] 

[theshadow]

had blue estate of one these,great passion wagon,till we fell through the rotted floor??? would have kept it,but i did not do welding back than,and front chassis right next to steering was daylight..

[danthecapriman]

That is cool as fuck! Well bought. 

[trigger]

Sweet ride bro... or what ever the kids say these days! These are fab looking cars!

[Uncle Jimmy]

  On 22/08/2019 at 04:41, Skizzer said:

Start collecting?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352670986003

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352748076752

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352748076390

(Three from the same seller.)

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Fookin how much?? I'd expect a set in fair nick for £25 or so!

[Uncle Jimmy]

  On 21/08/2019 at 21:18, N Dentressangle said:

Marvellous. Will be popping round for a poke at it on Friday, I hope!

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I shall be working but give me a shout out as to what time and I'll slip away

[barefoot]

Any chance of a picture of the square instruments please.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Will do squire...

They glow too.

A rather nice radioactive type GREEN.

[Heidel_Kakao]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Datsuns

[Uncle Jimmy]

Cheers- they are great aren't they?  I had a Toyota AE111 which I was rather fond of, it was a bit too contemporary for me, although a bit on the mental side. Hitting 95 in 3rd gear was fun...

So I have a little form with Jap motors. Of course I am ogling other Jap 70s stuff now. There are, however a couple of other cars which may be heading my way in the future, albeit British ones...

[ETCHY]

Cool shape,looks great.

[AnthonyG]

Absolutely superb. Working in a rural scrapyard in the early 1990s we had plenty of 70’s Japanese chod to play around with, the rust was pretty extensive but the mechanicals and other bits were a joy to work with, a 15 year old Datsun dashboard could be disassembled as if it was 6 days old, no fighting with rusty screws and the like. 

Early Subarus and various interesting Colts such as the Celeste and Sapporo were the ones I remember. We also had a Mazda 1800 saloon, the pre 616/818 one styled by Bertone. 

Plenty of Datsuns, although I don’t remember any 120y coupes. We did have a sort of Corolla equivalent of your car, circa mid70s. 

[AnthonyG]

One of these, great styling: