Did you own a Datsun in the 70's & 80's-memories

brownie4583

I owned several Datsun's as i worked at a Datsun garage around the early 80's.
I had a 100A(1976) the 1 with the dodgy gears,a 120Y(1978),a 180B SSS twin carb(1986)and also the new sunny(1988).
When i was learning to drive my dad had a Datsun 180B (1979) and he used to take me out at night on the L plates.
My boss had a new 280ZX which i got to drive once or twice and it was a great car.The worst 1 was the Cabstar van,the gears were a nightmare.I also drove a Sunny 120Y van on my parts deliveries.
What are your memories,good or bad,of the legendary Datsun cars!

ankspon

My mate had a bright red Datsun that we called Darryl,many miles and trips in the old boy.

Ranger8

Never keen on Datsuns and don`t like Nissans now

split_second

i drove a few 80s nissans if that counts?

first experience of driving was in a 89 sunny 1.4, loved it and wanted one although i would have been laughed at and the insurance would have been huge, my dad had an 87 sunny 1.3 with a clutch that felt set in concrete but he kept it for years, also i briefly owned a 1 lire 84 micra, the rare shape, and had to get rid as couldnt get a front wing off same shape of micra

brownie4583

I used to love Nissan's but not really now,the range of vehicles isn't really too good at the moment.They cannot be beaten for reliability tho.I had a Nissan Primera 2.0i (1998) i bought it with 11,000 on the clock,ran it for around 6 and a half years,sold it with 108,000 on the clock,and only had a new clutch in all that time.

split_second

sounds like the nissan i drove first time round, nearly 300k on the original engine. i like the note but cant afford one. we dont run cars for the sorts of mileages nissan/toyota/volvo were legendary for anymore though

brownie4583

When i worked at the Datsun/Nissan garage lots of these cars were used as taxi's and they had like 250,000 miles on the clock

SHIPSHAPE

brownie4583 wrote: »

When i worked at the Datsun/Nissan garage lots of these cars were used as taxi's and they had like 250,000 miles on the clock

Yes, like Lada's.

Today it is more like the Mondeo, I have seen several on 200k and 300k+. They are almost bullet proof which is why they are used a lot as taxis.

SHIPSHAPE

My first car was a Talbot Horizon and a wheel fell off on a roundabout.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Dad had a Bluebird 180B estate and i had one too but the later square jobbie RWD also, always wanted a FWD Bluebird but never got round to buying one.

The most reliable cars i've ever owned or in Dads case worked on, when i say worked on i mean simply servicing them for nothing ever went wrong with them.

I used to service several Japanese cars for people around that time, Corolla, Carina, Supra etc, and Bluebird, Stanza, and a 1500cc MPV the name of which escapes me...the only ones that ever went wrong were the Supra gearbox needed a bearing replacing, and the Datsun people carrier thingy that burnt an exhaust valve out, both simple economical repairs and easy DIY if you didn't mind a bit of dirt under your finger nails..

People are a bit too precious these days to do anything mucky for themselves, so they pay hansomely for the service.

pinkmouse

My Uncle had a fair few Datsuns when I was but a little mouse. He had a Datsun Sunny and a Bluebird and it also runs in my mind he had a Cherry too. Happy days