Junkyard Find: 1978 Datsun 510 Sedan
Wait a minute— this Malaise Era heap, with its solid rear axle and AMC Hornet-esque lines, this car can’t be a 510! That’s what I thought when I spotted this car at a Northern California self-service yard last month, having forgotten that Nissan’s American marketers slapped 510 badges on the 710/Violet/Stanza/200B for the ’78 and ’79 model years. This is the first time I’ve seen one of these things in at least 20 years.
This car was no doubt a perfectly serviceable commuter, with its L20 engine and nicer-than-the-Chevette interior, but it’s no more a 510 than the ’91 Olds Calais Quad 4 was a 442.
This factory FM radio was probably a $300 option when new. Yes, the old days sucked in many ways.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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What junk yard is this in? I need parts!
(Australia) I had a tan coloured one of these. Drove it through my university years and for a total of 9 years all up. Went brilliantly before eventually rusting out under me.