(car engine revving)
- Nissan, they're freakin' awesome!
The Silvia, the Z, the GTR.
But what about the legendary model
that really started it all?
The 'poor man's BMW' blew everyone away
with it's unique, lightweight style, monocoque design
and unibody construction.
Here's everything you need to know
to get up to speed on the Datsun 510.
(computer game music)
In 1914, Kaihinsha Motor Car Works
introduced it's first car, the DAT.
But the country wasn't quite ready
for a passenger car manufacturer
and the company struggled for about a decade
and almost went out of business in the mid '20s.
I struggled for most of the '90s
to get my boy band off the ground.
To all the former members of Boy Talk,
hit me up, I think it's time for a reunion tour.
To stay afloat, they merged with Jitsuyo Motors
and became DAT Automobile Manufacturing Co.
In 1930, DAT Auto got a big boost from the government,
who declared that cars with engines below 500cc's
could be driven without a license.
DAT developed a car just under that amount of cc's
and called it a Datsun, or Son of DAT.
If you're a Son of DAT,
make sure you hit that subscribe button.
Back to the story.
Four years later a new company had formed, Nissan.
And they wanted to take over struggling--
- [Woman On Phone] Please remain on the line,
we value your call.
- And they wanted to take over Kaishinsha's business.
Now it fell to Nissan to start cranking out Datsuns.
It was well on it's way to car making success
when a little thing called World War II happened.
You ever heard of it?
Nissan's passenger car productions stalled
and it refocused it's energies
on building trucks for the imperial army.
After the war, Nissan's passenger car production
ramped up again, and in 1947 they joined forces
with British car maker, Austin.
Hi, Austin.
Their first collab came in 1958
with the Datsun L210 Bluebird
which did nothing for American car buyers.
It was a little bit too small and too British.
In comparison, it's main competitor,
the Volkswagen Beatle, was a lighter car
with the same horsepower, give or take a pony.
Given the option, I would take a pony.
And then I'd eat it.
(horse neighing)
And speaking of ponies,
the Datsun L210 Bluebird actually drove like one.
It had bad brakes, it's ride was bumpy
and it shook like crazy, just like Michael J. Fox.
Sure, it wasn't all bad.
It got great gas mileage, but this was the 50s.
Gas was, like, 23 cents a gallon
and nobody really worried about fuel economy.
Nissan's designers went back to the drawing board
and in 1959 dropped the Datsun Bluebird P310.
The P310 was larger, with a roomier interior,
updated styling and independent front suspension,
which was a monumental innovation at the time.
In 1960, 20,000 units were shipped to the US.
The Bluebird performed a little better.
But the car was still deemed too English for American taste.
Like blood pudding.
Then, President of Nissan, Yutaka Katayama,
wanted to change all that.
Mr K had faith in his company and it's products
and believed beyond a shadow of a doubt
that his company could build a car
that US buyers didn't just settle for, but really wanted.
Mr K was Nissan's outspoken wildcard,
which earned him a bad rep among company execs.
Your boy can relate, mon cheri.
(singing)
So, they sent him to Los Angeles in 1960
because they wanted him to get the hell out of Tokyo.
It turned out to be the perfect timing
because Nissan's agreement with Austin
expired that same year, giving Mr K If You're Nasty
a clean slate with which to do his damn thing.
Nissan's next release was the 410 Bluebird,
and while it was an improvement on the 310,
Nissan still wasn't there yet as far as Mr K was concerned.
Some say Mr K was too much of a rebel
but he was a rebel with a cause.
He was Japanese James Dean.
Facing an uphill battle convincing Nissan
that American car owners were a different breed
and wouldn't respond to the gentile way
models were named in Japan.
Bluebird and Fair Lady wouldn't cut it anymore.
After a lot of pushing and prodding
he saw to it that Nissan would only use
numerical code names for the US market.
He also insisted on a design change
for the next line of Datsuns, the 510.
Nissan designer, Turoro Uchina,
Ichino, Turo Ichino.
Let's go back.
Turo Uchino was tasked with creating a car
that looked less Italian or British than it's predecessors
and had it's own unique flavor.
Jessica.
He drew up a design that was efficient,
clean and kind of American looking.
The only carry over from the 410
was it's side crease or supersonic line.
(whooshing)
While Nissan execs agreed on the name and design changes,
they put their foot down on the cars engine size.
Although rival Toyota was offering a 1.9 liter engine
in it's largest American model,
Datsun's capped out at 1.4 liters.
Mr K did have one ally in his corner,
company exec Kaichi Matsumura,
who also thought the engines should be bigger.
And with the help of newly acquired automaker, Prince,
which you might remember from our GTR episode,
they approved the creation of a 1.6 liter engine.
Hey, two tenths of a liter more is better than nothing.
And the Datsun 510 made it's US debut in 1967.
Just like my dad.
This was a car Katayama was passionate about
and he believed in it so much
that he required all employees,
from the executives to the guys working in the cafeteria,
to take the new car for a spin
just to prove his point.
Uh, can anybody guess what happened?
Yes.
- They hated it? - Wrong!
- They freakin' loved it! - Wrong again.
- The 1.6 liter four cylinder engine
produced a claimed 96 horsepower and 99.8 torques.
And it went from 0 to 60 in 13 seconds,
reaching a top speed of about a hondo.
Americans bought about 45,000 510s in it's first year,
and by the end of it's run in 1973,
Nissan sold an incredible 400,000 510s worldwide.
The world finally saw
what Mr K had envisioned from the get go.
It was an instant classic
from the day it rolled off the assembly line
and the choice for those wanting a bit of a sports car
in their daily drive.
Plus, Cool Hand Luke had one.
- Oh, the salad dressing guy?
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Ding ding!
You like Nissans?
Check out this episode of Up To Speed.
You like cops, you don't like cops?
Check out this episode of Wheel House.
It's donut season,
we got a ton of new shows coming this summer.
Again, subscribe.
I love you.