Displaying Items By Tag: Datsun

Have you been waiting for that perfect Japanese classic to hit the used car market? If so, you might want to take a look at this Datsun 240Z.

Actor Paul Newman's other great passion was auto racing, and unlike some with boldface names who dabble in the sport, Newman didn't just race, he won. He also co-owned racing teams. An early highlight of his decades-long motorsports career was during the 1970s and '80s driving for the Bob Sharp racing team, which campaigned Datsuns/Nissans. This Datsun 280ZX racer was driven exclusively by Newman during the 1979 season. In it, he won races at Summit Point, Watkins Glen, Brainerd (Minn.), Lime Rock, and Road Atlanta, culminating in an SCCA National C-Production Championship. (That same year he would race at Le Mans, finishing second in a Porsche 935.) Now restored to its '79-season spec and livery, this ex-Paul Newman racing car is for sale at Motorcar Classics on Long Island.

The car is sold with documentation including the notarized bill of sale from Bob Sharp. After Newman's race-winning season, the 280ZX was sold in 1984 to a privateer, who campaigned it for several more years before putting it into storage. At the time, it was just another used-up race car. Eventually, though, it was exhumed and brought back to its original condition. Recently, the car turned some laps at what was effectively Newman's home track, Lime Rock Park in northwest Connecticut, at the Lime Rock Vintage Festival.

TOKYO — Nissan Motor Co plans to cut $2.8 billion in annual fixed costs as part of its restructuring plan, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, as it braces for a drop in sales that could complicate its recovery from years of poor profitability.

Following a three-year spell of tumbling profits, Nissan will announce its restructuring plan on May 28, its latest attempt to slash costs after a strategy of aggressive selling to chase market share has pummeled its bottom line.

Datsun's Z-Car turned 10 years old in 1980 (in North America), and so Nissan decided to celebrate by selling a small run of limited-edition 280ZXs commemorating that anniversary. 2,500 Black Gold 10th Anniversary cars were made, plus another 500 Black Red cars. I managed to find a discarded Black Gold 280ZX in California, way back in 2009, and I ran across this Black Red 280ZX last fall in Colorado.

North American sales of small Japanese pickups got stronger with each passing year of the 1970s, helped along by ridiculous gasoline prices. The Toyota Hilux of that era (which became, simply, the Toyota Truck over here) gets most of the attention now, but the rugged Nissan 620 (known as the Datsun Pickup in North America) sold as well as or better than the Hilux for much of the decade. Here's a '76 Datsun Pickup, retired in Colorado after 44 years of hard work.

The introduction of the North American version of the third-generation Nissan Sunny couldn't have been timed better: just months after the global economic gut-punch of the 1973 Oil Crisis. This car, known as the Datsun B210 on these shores, was a flyweight rear-driver with endearing looks and excellent fuel economy, and it sold like mad during its 1974-1978 run. Rust killed most B210s quickly in the corrosion-prone regions of the continent, but this orange '78 lived in Arizona and managed to hang on until age 42.

A little over a week ago, we told you to check out this spectacular, 21,000-mile 1971 Datsun 240Z on Bring a Trailer. Your chance has come and gone, but the good news is you probably couldn't have afforded it anyways. This gorgeous green coupe now appears to have earned the title of the most expensive example of a first-generation Z ever sold on the premium auction site, fetching a winning bid of $310,000.  When we first laid eyes on this immaculate Z car, we said it would be hard to imagine it not setting a record price. It appears we were right. With the winning bid, this Z nearly tripled the sale price of the previous record holder, a 1970 model that sold in June of 2019 for $124,240. It should come as no surprise that prices for clean, first-generation Z cars have climbed in recent years, but the good news is that aside from this and a few other particularly noteworthy and clean examples, most sale prices have been hovering around the $20,000 mark. In fact, only three have fetched six figures; even a minty 1973 race car topped out at just over $77,000 in back in late 2017. This Z cleared the $30,000 mark in just the first day of bidding.  This rare Racing Green over brown was given to the son of an Indiana Datsun dealer as a dental-school graduation present. It was alternately stored at home and the dealership, and was rarely driven. A dealer mechanic maintained the car for the owner until their passing in 2019. Thanks to this arrangement, the Z still shows fewer than 22,000 miles on its odometer, and none of it in foul weather, so the listing claimed.  This unrestored, almost mint condition Z shows its originality well. While there are some signs here and there of its age, it's in remarkable overall shape. BaT commenters nerded out over details like the original (green) distributor, original radiator cap, and original hoses. The only obviously non-original parts appear to be the wheel covers; some of the interior parts are still covered in protective shipping plastic.  If you missed out on this one, fear not. There's a very reasonable 1971 with a 5-speed swap still for sale on the auction site, along with a 1973 rocking a full-on L28 from the hotter 280Z, and those are just the two available at the time of publication. Z cars are fairly common on BaT, so more will come along soon enough.  Note: At publication time, the 240Z's winning bid was listed as $310,000; due to issues with the Bring a Trailer web site, this figure may not be accurate. We will update this story if necessary.

This jaw-dropping 1971 Datsun 240Z has just rolled onto the proverbial block at Bring a Trailer, and it's hard to imagine that it won't end up setting a record price for a first-generation Z. First of all, we have to take a moment to appreciate the rare Racing Green over brown color combo. And the factory rocker-panel stripe. Oh, man. The story is that an Indiana Datsun dealer gave this car to his son as a dental-school graduation present. The owner drove it sparingly, and the car was kept at the dealership and later at his home. A mechanic from the dealership continued to maintain the car for the owner until the owner passed away last year. The car has traveled less than 22,000 miles, none of which — it's claimed — were in inclement weather. This 240Z is said to be unrestored, and the condition certainly lends credence to the claim. Commenters are nerding out over details like the original (green) distributor, original radiator cap, and original hoses. Note also the factory AM radio, and the plastic still covering some of the interior bits. One knock against it: The wheel covers are from a later 240Z. Somehow, that seems unlikely to dampen the bidding, which at this writing is at $30k on the car's first day. One suspects it has a long way to go.

Nissan had a couple of smash enthusiast hits in the 1990s with the S13 and S14 Silvia, known as the 200SX and 240SX on these shores. Before those cars came here, though, the groundwork for affordable, sporty rear-wheel-drive Nissan coupes was laid by the S10 Silvia, sold with 200SX badging here from the 1977 through 1979 model years. These cars didn't sell in huge quantities in North America, and the handful that did sell tended to rust in a hurry, so you won't see many today. I keep my eyes open for such historic machines while making my appointed junkyard rounds, though, and so this well-worn '78 200SX appeared before my camera lens in a Denver-area self-service yard a few months back. It's rusty, oh yes, and it's crusty as well; the combination of harsh sun and snowy winter here in Colorado has been rough for this corrosion-susceptible little Datsun. I think this car has been sitting for quite a while, but the United Airlines bumper sticker and Denver International Airport parking pass indicate that it was running as recently as 1995, when the Home of Blucifier opened for business. Before that, this car's owner may have used it to commute to the old Stapleton Airport. In Japan, this car got the 1.8-liter L18 engine, but the North American 200SX received the 2.0-liter L20 engine made famous by the Datsun 510 on these shores. In 1978, this engine was rated at 97 horsepower, which was pretty good for a 2,323-pound car in the darkest years of the Malaise Era. For comparison's sake, know that the 1978 Chevy Camaro Z28 had a 20.5:1 lbs/hp ratio, while the 200SX had a not-so-far-off 24:1 ratio. The 1978 BMW 320i, meanwhile, had a 24.1:1 lbs/hp ratio... and it cost $9,315, while the 200SX sold for just $4,399 (or $18,100 in 2020 dollars). The body on this car has been corroded well past usefulness, and S10 200SXs really aren't worth any serious restoration investment nowadays. Junkyard shoppers stripped most of the dash and interior components before I got here. Still, an interesting piece of Nissan history, and it's sad to see another S10 headed to the crusher. With a standard 5-speed manual transmission (reasonably exotic in 1978) and AM/FM stereo radio (a pricey option in most cars in 1978), the 200SX was a steal.