Came For The Marketing, Stayed For The Car

Until recently, I thought I was a member of a tiny group who remember and love the Datsun 510.  But twice in the past month, somebody has said, more or less out of the blue, "I drove one of those--it was a hoot."  One of them I've known for years; we talk cars all the time.  It just happened that I hadn't mentioned that I owned a 510.  What jogged our memories was this:

BRE Datsun 510 "tribute" car, VSCDA race, Blackhawk Farms, June, 2012.  This restoration is remarkably faithful, down to its American Racing 4-spoke alloys.  The carbs are Solex, though, not Webers, with the biggest throats I've seen on a 510. The blue/white colors were for Mike Downs, BRE's second driver.  John Morton's car was red/white as shown below.

John Morton with the (restored) Datsun 510 he drove for Pete Brock in Trans Am races.  After winning the SCCA's      C-Production "amateur" championship with a 240-Z in 1970, Brock's team went undisguisedly pro to win the Under 2.5 Liter Division in Trans Am in 1971 and 1972. 

Back in the day: Morton contemplates his car (and probably Alfa GTVs and BMW 2002's) in the Lime Rock paddock.
Although BRE won two championships, the cat-fights were season-long, between closely matched cars.  Nissan had just introduced the 510 in the States and was looking for some publicity.  They got it.

The 510 was a marketing home run, at least in my subculture.  It was the first Japanese car to "leapfrog" in the U.S. market: not only did it not look like a cheap little car, it looked clean and stylish, like a Bimmer.  It was the first Japanese car to have an overhead cam engine.  It had fully independent rear suspension--unheard of in the econobox class.  The magazine testers raved about it being a "poor man's BMW."  And BRE (Brock Racing Enterprises) was winning the small bore class in pro sedan road racing.  We Euro-centrics had to admit that the 510 was a serious car: affordable, and superior in its class to anything else.  (Remember the Chevy Vega and the Ford Pinto?)

I had to have one.  And it had to have alloy wheels with wider tires.  It was my first "real" car, at least as far as I was concerned.  And I had to identify.  So some tape stripes went on as soon as it got home.  And a front air dam, purchased from BRE.  And more usefully, a rear anti-roll bar, the better to dial-out some understeer and go BMW-hunting:

Well...the Continental tires were terrible.  My driving skills weren't a lot better.  I almost spun it chasing a BMW 2002 through some twisties, as he disappeared into the distance.  That wasn't happening to John Morton.  

But it was a good car.  It did handle fairly well.  The engine was lively and powerful compared to other  econoboxes.  It had four doors because we had two small children.  It transported all of us, all over the upper Midwest, for eight years, until they were large children.  Luggage for four for a week was doable with thoughtful packing.  The interior was comfy and livable.  So was the car on Interstates--and a lot quieter and faster than the European sedans that Toyota and Nissan were busily running out of the U.S. market.

It never stranded me and parts were cheap.  It was still fun to drive even after it began to show rust.  I  sold it only because a promotion at work required a more presentable car, with air-conditioning, for calls on customers.  So I got a Mercury Zephyr.  And missed the 510 immediately.