(first posted 1/17/2018)
I love this ute.
Let’s start with those headlights. It’s such a pleasure to see yellow lenses over here. They’re not so common in Australia, seen more often on JDM fanboi/grrl steeds than on the thoroughbred French where I believe they first appeared.
More impressive are the bezels. Just beautifully shaped and bringing a sophistication not seen on the similarly-sized 610/180B passenger cars.
The contours on that front clip through b-pillar are the primary reason for my affection.
Nissan was at its styling peak during this period, most notably with the 230/330 Cedric and 110 Skyline, but this supremacy did not trickle down to the 710 and below. The 620 shape was mercifully not derived from its size-kin passenger cars. An extra-special flourish is the bullet-side that starts halfway along the shoulder of the door.
I’m getting ahead of myself.
The 620 arrived off the back of the 521, which dominated its category in the US (MY 1971: Datsun 521 – 70,000 units vs Toyota Hi-Lux – 15,000). The body was essentially a b-pillar-forward version of the Pininfarina 410 Bluebird, with updated front clip to mimic the smartly shaped in-house 510.
In the US, the 620 was powered by the same 1600 cc I4 from the 521. In 1974, the engine was upped to 1800 cc and after 1975 to 2000 cc (seen above). Here in Australia it received a 1500 cc engine and there was also a 2200 cc diesel, though I don’t think we got it.
According to Wikipedia, it was called ‘The Little Hustler’ in the US. According to Nissan US, it was the Li’l Hustler, the name given to the previous model as well. Canada called it the Sportruck, South Africa the One-Ton Pick-Up and Australia the Datto 1500 ute.
By 1972, the small pickup category was really starting to expand. Ford’s Courier had been followed closely by the Mazda upon which it was badge-engineered. Chevrolet had tapped Isuzu for the Luv and the Hi-Lux had just received a new body.
So too did the Datsun 620 range expand. Mainstay was the short-cabin short-bed. Optional were tinny-looking kitchen-sink-drainhole hubcaps.
Also optional was a longer bed. The 620 was produced in two wheelbase lengths; 100.2” and 109.6” allowing for a host of new variants including the Li’l Hustler Stretch.
With extra overhang added, the longer wheelbase equated to a seven foot long bed.
Maybe more. According to the text, Too Tall Jones was 6’ 9”. Looking at the image it seems like more than 3 inches from his feet to the tailgate.
The extra wheelbase also allowed for the four-door double cabin to be introduced. It had the same rear overhang as the long-bed, but with a much shorter bed. It also had a higher roof and a really awkward b-pillar treatment.
In 1977, the King Cab was added to the range. Paul captured a wonderfully preserved special-appearance packaged version and wrote it up here.
The King Cab used the longer wheelbase with the shorter tray. It would probably be my favourite variant except for that clumsy rubber-ringed opera window. If they’d done something the same height as the door window with sharper corners and framed a bit nicer, I’d be sold. Instead they went all Caruso in flimsy bondage gear.
So far the long and short. Now for the ugly.
Much in the tradition of JDM weirdness, there was the U620 Coupe Utility. This had (I believe) extra seats in the rear and took that bullet-side body flourish all the way to the rear.
Every time I look at the U620, I can’t help thinking of the Subaru Leone two door.
Not in a good way.
There was also a JDM three-door van, but I couldn’t find any images of it.
Instead I found this, thanks to Ben Hsu at Japanese Nostalgic Car with images by ytseng3
It’s a YLN 753 wagon. Yue Loong (now Yulon) is a manufacturer based in Taiwan, and from 1957 they were building Nissans under licence. This wagon probably gave better comfort than the scary-looking people-carrier bottom left.
It looks to have the 610’s rear side window and c-pillar, and the 710’s rear doors. The bulletside flourish is gone, but that accent along the bottom of the doors into the wheel arches looks unique. Ben made the astute observation that the YLN wheels have six studs, and surmised that this body was built on the 620 platform rather than it being a front-clip transplant.
Even more curious is another 620 wagon. There’s very little out there in the web on this, best I can get is that it’s an Indonesian variant. It’s definitely not the YLN wagon body and actually looks like its based on the crew cab with that b-pillar ugliness. Both these retain the bulletside body moulding through to the end, but the rear door treatments seem different.
Could be custom jobs.
Speaking of which.
Enough said.
I’m more of a styleside kind of guy, but for those of you seeking the genuine utilitarian aesthetic there’s the California Stepside. Also available in Luv, Toyota and Courier.
For even more authenticity, there’s the tray top brochured as the flat body.
The other day I saw a Japanese cab chassis though I can’t remember the model. It had nothing over the rear chassis rails, not even a tray although there was a long metal box sitting transversely up against the rear of the cabin. The whole setup was fully rat, both in patina and attitude. Again, not to my driving taste but great to see, and entirely possible with this, the most strippo 620 variant.
You could get all trucky with optional high exhaust behind the cabin, but I think they were just for show. On a plastic scale model.
This one goes just a little too far for my personal aspirations, but it’s very nice to look at. Car by Landon Brown, photo by Mike Burroughs.
Back to our feature CC. As mentioned, I prefer a styleside rear. Those bumperettes offer very little functionality but cling to the shape so well. I think later US ones got another larger bumper underneath that actually juts out (which may have been an option all along).
I’ve consulted with my JDM CConsigliere Papa Squid who tells me this style of wheel/tyre arrangement is called stretch. It originated with drifters for getting big rims under the guards, stretching the rubber wide to fit. Also appealing for its resultant lower stance.
This 620 is a really desirable unit, with a long bed that complements the masterful front section well and adds that extra special touch of rarebience.
Love it.
These were once so common in the US (at least the standard bed) and almost always in yellow. Two colleagues owned yellow 620’s, when I started working out of college in 1977, and I remember driving one of them. It seemed quite nice … in hindsight, it’s hard to imagine many young engineers driving such a basic vehicle today, at least in this area, but it had quite a sporty “lifestyle” reputation at the time, and there were no higher trim or equipment levels. Less than ten years later I bought my own Datsun Pickup, a 720, but by then I could get 4wd and a King Cab. Almost all the 620’s are gone now, the few left either modded and slammed or getting premium pricing; usually both.
Wow, mind is blown, I’ve never seen or heard of the station wagon, and Ute versions of these, very cool.
I do think these were a good looking truck and as mentioned they sold way better than the Toyotas of the time. Looks I think were a big part of it, though the offering of the King Cab and the fact that Datsun had a larger dealer and more proper dealer network probably played a big part too.
By the way, the comment editor is acting up again, but I wanted to confirm that these were indeed called ”Lil Hustler” in the US (not sure about apostrophes). Wikipedia is wrong ?
Correct. This is the same era that gave us:
– Chevy LUV
– Isuzu P’UP
– Mitsubishi Mighty Max
I owned a 1972 PL-620 (in yellow), the first vehicle I ever purchased. $150 down, $59.49/month for 36 months. Styling was sleek and modern, relative to the frumpy Toyota Hi-Lux against which it competed.
My 620 was bulletproof and reliable until replaced in 1979 because our then three month-old daughter, whose car seat was in the middle of the bench, figured out how to kick the transmission out of gear.
The Hustler was the four wheel drive version in NZ and OZ the number model variants were not used out here those utes were called Datsun 1500, there was at the same time a Hillman Hustler on the market in Australia so Datsun would have avoided using that name in that market, Quite good utes the cloned Austin engines were rugged and reliable but rust devoured Datsuns rather rapidly in coastal areas in NZ.
Hillman Hustler. hehehe
As usual this site is very educational. I haven’t seen a 620 Datsun on the road here in years, but I used to see one of its predecessors on the road regularly at a local lumberyard, still going strong hauling building materials. I didn’t know Datsun produced a double-cab version of this truck; I always thought the double cabs came with the mid-’80s model because that was when I first saw that variant in my part of the world.
Also those things surrounding the tail lights are not really bumpers, they are thin sheet metal and mainly serve to mount the tail lights. I can’t say I remember them in chrome, silver grey paint was the norm. In the US at the time rear bumpers were not standard equipment on pickups and weren’t required. There were a number of aftermarket mfgs that specialized in pickup rear bumpers with quite a wide range of styles. They quickly moved into the “roll bar” market as the popularity of these trucks increased, though one too many law suits forced them to start calling them light bars instead.
One other note concerning the lack of a bumper if you look closely at either side of the license plate you’ll see little rubber blocks for the tailgate to rest on. If you unhooked the chains, it would open almost 180 degrees making loading heavy items w/o getting them over the tail gate easy. Of course that is assuming that it is lowered like this one, nor do you overload it significantly.
I have a theory that makes this truck largely responsible for the “trucking of America” state we’re in today.
Before these came out, trucks were for people who worked them, period. Nobody would have even *thought* of commuting in a pickup.
But by the mid 70’s, one could choose a small Japanese sedan or pickup, both around the same price and both around the same MPG.
Young, single fellows, having no need for a back seat, bought small Japanese trucks in droves. These were guys who did not necessarily need a truck, they just liked the idea of one.
And that’s why I believe these were the first “lifestyle” pickups, and began the trend that it was perfectly okay to drive a truck as a daily driver/commuter.
I think your comments do make sense.
But I wonder what happened to the small truck market today? All of the offerings by Nissan, Toyota are big and beefy ones. Seems like the smaller pickups like the Ford Ranger has faded away.
All those young, single guys had kids (grandkids, by now!) and they needed more room in their truck.
In FL where I live, people with an ‘active lifestyle’ seem split among current ‘compact’ trucks like the Tacoma, small/midsize SUV/crossovers, full-size trucks and jeeps. All of these have a back seat and the ability to carry most of what an early compact truck would carry and so the compromise of having a two/three seat vehicle is not necessary anymore.
An excellent point. Also, would these have been the first trucks (at least since the 30s) that drove as nicely as passenger cars?
Actually, these rode miserably, when empty; no comparison to sedan is possible. In order to make a truck like this that weighed maybe not even or barely 2000lbs have a payload capacity of about 50% of its empty weight meant that the rear springs were hardly working when empty. Every expansion joint in the freeway was a jolt back there, never mind rougher pavement. Many owners took to carrying sand bags or other dead weight, and this is not in snow country. Speaking of…these may have been just about the worst vehicle ever for that.
The first time I drove a Japanese minitruck, a Chevy LUV, in Iowa in about 1974, it was an eye opener. Very crude, but effective, rugged and durable.
It explains why the overwhelming majority of their owners back then were young guys, who could take the jolting, noise and other downsides.
My ’66 F100 with the twin-beam front suspension rides like a…’73 LTD in comparison. 🙂
Yes to the ride comment. No amount of attention to the right shocks or tires could overcome all that springing. I heard that some people just removed a rear leaf or two, but I was never that courageous. And the seat cushion was down on the floor, exacerbating the torture. I found with my Toy Truck that if I ran it empty with about four pounds under rating in the rear tire pressure the ride was almost tolerable, and it helped to make the horrible understeer a little less noticeable. (Kind of opposite to the Corvair) With a full load it settled down and rode about like you would expect a small truck to ride. We were a lot younger then. But they never broke.
Ok, so the miserable ride of my father’s 81 King Cab was not merely due to its being a 4×4. I don’t know why but I had always assumed that 2wd versions were softer. I guess not.
In a comparison between these, the Toyota equivalent, and the Chevrolet El Camino/Ford Ranchero in 1971, Motor Trend recommended that buyers of the Japanese trucks buy some sandbags and put them in the bed when not carrying some other load, to spare your dental work.
One of the contributors to ride quality was a 1/2-inch “helper” spring at the bottom of the rear leaf stack. Load an upright piano or 800 lbs of honey (ask me how I know . . .) and the ride was glass-smooth. The sand bag trick also worked to enhance (create?) traction when driving after the first rain of the season.
Before these came out, trucks were for people who worked them, period. Nobody would have even *thought* of commuting in a pickup.
That reminds me of an apartment complex in the area where I grew up that generated a lot of controversy back in the mid-1990s by enforcing their “no trucks, including pickups” rule by not allowing one of their tenants to park her Nissan pickup in front of her apartment. That rule was apparently written decades earlier when, as you say, pickups were only driven by people like farmers and construction workers and such, but they were still enforcing it in a time when pickups had become normal, everyday vehicles for a lot of people.
Before these came out, trucks were for people who worked them, period. Nobody would have even *thought* of commuting in a pickup.
Two points of partial rebuttal:
Slide-in (and shell) pickup campers were quite popular, starting in the mid 50s and really accelerated in the 60s. Typically dad drove the pickup to work (without the camper) and mom had a sedan or wagon. I knew several families like this, both in Iowa City (1960-1965) and then in Baltimore. My boss at one job in the Towson area commuted all the way from Pennsylvania every day in his Custom-cab GMC 3/4 ton pickup (’69 or ’70) that he used for hauling a big cab-over slide in camper (he drove it in one Monday with the camper still on it).
American pickup makers saw that pickups were becoming a lifestyle vehicle not long after WW2, and that explains some very well-trimmed and even special versions like the Chevy Cameo and its competitors, from 1955. Custom cabs, V8s, automatics, and other amenities were becoming ever more popular and common. The lifestyle aspect started back then already, and just kept growing decade after decade.
The second point is that this generation’s predecessor was already madly popular, especially on the West Coast, and it really started the boom. Even in Towson in 1968-1971, there were already several of those around. In California, they were everywhere. And yes, primarily driven by young guys, with a dirt bike on the back to take out to ride in the desert on weekends. Or camping gear. Or..
Yeah they didnt ride very nice, a guy I worked with bought a Datsun 1500 used he replaced a 63 Morris Oxford with it which had visually the same motor, the ute was much better at towing his boat but unladen it was horrible, they were all like that though Paul mentions the Luv we had those and Mazda B series utes as runabouts at the power station I worked at all very cramped inside with uncomfortable seat and hard rear springs, but they were generally reliable with regular maintenance and could carry a decent load.
These all went extinct in my area years ago but I recall seeing one on a trip to San Diego a few years ago.
I always admired the looks of these. I did not drive one, however, until my father purchased a King Cab of the following generation.
These were quite popular for converting to 4WD using Jeep CJ parts back in their day, I remember many magazine articles about it. And the longbed was preferred for better driveline angles.
I like the stepside conversion (narrowed Chevy/GMC?), but don’t think I could pull off the requisite mustache. These stylish vehicles were the first small pickups to catch my attention, probably resulting in our purchase of the 1981 Toyota that is likely still running around Louisiana somewhere. But they all rusted out long ago around here.
Basic, small trucks like these were for a time the “cool” new vehicle for people who had little down payment money but wanted some style and didn’t want to be seen in a small sedan. They had a very high load rating for their size, making them remarkably useful at the stage in life when you moved around a lot. Even the cheapest ones sold in this country came with four speed transmissions and usually had big enough motors that you could keep up with traffic, something that couldn’t be said as easily for a Chevette. And we were young enough that the buckboard ride didn’t cause injury, just yet. I guess those people just buy something used now. What, a used CR-V or RAV4? F-150?
That coupe utility is grotesque and utterly, utterly fascinating. Was there ever any other JDM coupe utilities like that?
I don’t know about grotesque William. Ridiculously silly might cover it better. But you are right about the fascinating part. As in, who thought this was a good idea?
Toyota did a Crown pickup similar in concept in the early ’60s.
They seem to have been a genre of their own, William. 520 and 521 had it, so did the first gen Crown as well as the s40 cjiguy shows above. Howard Kerr commented that he used to see them around Tokyo back in the day pulling light trade duties. The face on the white 620 suggests they were made up till 78 or 79.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-1962-67-s40-toyota-crown-the-generation-gap/
Found a really nice one in Aspen last fall. Couldn’t believe the lack of rust. My Granddad had a ’72 just like it. This and the 510 are my favorite Datsuns.
Oh, In Aspen.. I see, I assumed from the pic, it was from…ah..DOWN UNDER! 🙂
Partial CC Effect …
– CC Effect because not 30 minutes after posting my comments above, I saw a 620.
– Partial, because it was just the bed, converted to a trailer and being towed behind a late model Japanese crossover.
The bed was indeed (once) yellow, heavily patinated, but the period graphics, still intact, confirmed once and for all the correct naming: Li’l HUSTLER with apostrophe and upper/lower case as written. Unfortunately the light turned green as I was struggling to pull my phone out of my pocket and the rig turned off toward the local home supply store. Still working after all these years …
There’s still several of these on the streets here…
You really opened my eyes with those “wagons”. I had no idea. Wow.
Oh dear, this dates me. I remember the neighbours buying the predecessor to this, a new 521 with the dropside tray for their fruit shop. It was always spotless.
I always loved the styling on these; they seemed too good-looking for a truck, and made the Toyotas look positively homely.
Love the wagon and coupe utility. Datsun had done this style of coupe utility in Japan back to at least ’60. I remember seeing one on an old magazine cover announcing the possible import of Japanese cars to Australia, with the headline “Are they any good?”…..
Yes the early Buebird was available in single and twin cab ute, Datsun came in ute Datsun got into the game right away when the ditched the Austin bodies.
The way the door “bullet” leads into the top of the bed side is a really great bit of design IMO.
The coupe utility is not super unusual for Japanese pickups apart from the roofline, they often had a small rear seat area presumably so a small business owner could use it to transport the family too.
The 6-stud wheel of the wagon is a key point, and a version that still exists today as pickup-based SUV’s, here a Mitsubishi.
Not much to add, except that these rusted badly, the jutting rear step bumper was indeed an option/accessory, and imo the California Step Side’s 1973-up Chevy-inspired rear fenders don’t look as good with the Datsun cab as the alternative ’53-79 Ford-looking ones.
Also, that MPC model kit has just been reissued and should be about as widely available as model kits get these days.
Yes, these were horrid rusters, even here in southern CA. The yellow held up better than the other colors especially the red. Most were rust splotched pink after 4 to 5 years. Rough riders too, but they did run well. I wonder if a small truck would sell today? Todays monsters are ridiculous for commuting and difficult to load with their high bedsides.
Just came back from 10 days on the island of Crete. The largest collection of daily-use Datsun pickups left on earth appears to reside in Greece, with a particular emphasis on them in eastern Crete.
I never had a chance to photograph them, alas. I was the sole driver (BMW 216d rental) and my passengers weren’t in the mood for me to stop and take pictures of old trucks as we passed them by. Oddly, I saw very few current Nissan models of pickups… the new-truck market appears to have been cornered by Toyota.
December/January is the olive harvest season in Crete. The various forms of Datsun pickups littered the sides of the roads wherever there were olive groves. Many of the trucks were stacked seemingly to heaven with burlap bags of olives while their owners wacked away at other trees in the groves. They then rushed to the local pressing plant at the end of each day with their loads to press and pack their harvests. The owner of one hotel we stayed at had 400 trees dotted around the countryside. It took her the entire month to harvest the olives from them. I forgot to ask how many liters of oil she got each year, but I did buy three cans from her…
Did I just post this? I tried to correct the picture orientation, and it seemed to have gone in, but I can’t see it. apologies if duplicated.
Sorry, Signor Andreina, but I am quite unmoved. These creatures of misery were first purchased only by those unable to afford the Holden or Falcon or Valiant alternative, or by skinflints at large (hence the popularity with farmers). They were not bought for their flowing bullet shoulders, nor busty bezels. They were bought because they were cheap. These things simply did not accomodate Western-sized personages, except for those willing to develop a newly-intimate relationship betwixt ear and knee. Slowly and noisily, they acted as a grants scheme for the now-booming chiropractic industry, and even in a kind climate, they got pustules and holes, they took up smoking young and generally resembled a poxed urchin forever after. They added a final sting by then proving unkillable, even when down to just a bent chassis and steering wheel (grim hatted farmer still behind the wheel) too often vastly outliving the civilised alternatives. The survivor of this nasty plague that you have here is proof of that.
Their distant relatives now, ofcourse, rule the land, but some us have not forgotten their dark and unseemly ancestry.
Can’t argue with this. I imagine there were cheaper options too, I came across a photograph of my grandfather’s over Christmas, details to come… Yes he was a farmer!
Don makes a strong case for the styling of these, which I’d never really given much thought, but is fairly handsome for what it is. (I’m not a truck fan!) I had never seen or even heard of the coupe utility version, though. What an odd duck!
Actually, I did mistake that coupe utility for a Subaru. I wonder whether Mercedes considered turning the GLE/GLC coupes into a pickup before they settled on modifying a Navara?
Late to the party on this one — stellar as per usual, full of Japanese weirdness… Gotta love those utility coupes (so ugly they’re cool) and that strange double cabin pickup-based Indonesian wagon. So many obscurities I had to turn my monitor’s lights up.
The Long Bed didn’t come out until 1975 (in the US anyway).
any idea how to get one of those long bed covers?
I had a 720 in early 1970’s. Moved my household towing a loaded small trailer from Michigan to Colorado. Literally had gas pedal to the mat while in 3rd gear the whole way! Never missed a beat. Went on to use the beast for Rocky Mountain off roaring excursions for many years. Added a cam, headers and Weber carb so she scooted pretty good for what she was. Great little tuck & good times.
That’s my truck, I’ve owned it for years, looks a little different these days
I had a green 1974 short bed I bought new.. I even added that Lil Hustler racing stripe myself. I owned it till traded for yard work with 180,000 miles in 1991. It was noisy and buzzy, freeway speed was about 3,000rpm+, at “55 stay alive”. I f you hit a dip in the road at speed, you better duck or GONG would go the top of your skull as it bounced off the tinny roof.
I was the best and worst vehicle I have ever owned. I am not sure which since I was 18 when I bought it and had no real experience with reliability of cars and I beat the h- out of it in the years I owned it. It was the lightest vehicle I have owned since according to the firewall sticker, the weight was 1,760 pounds. I think it was that low because of 1) The Chicken Tax(look it up) and 2) I was the flimsiest material all around. When my truck was new I leaned against the fender because I looked cool. It crushed in about 3 inches. NO problemo, just reach underneath and push it back in place. I did this many times. Flimsy like I said. All the rubber(hoses/belts) and plastic was the usual cheezy Japanese stuff which cracked all to heck or wore out. My vinyl seats were good friends with duct tape. The dash board looked like the Missisippi delta.
Almost everything was an option if you looked in the owners manual. Things like heater, windshield wipers, mirrors etc. I must have bought the deluxe model, I had wipers and heater, but no AC and had real vinyl seats AND floormats.
With no AC , fogging was a beast and driving thru the Ca/Az deserts in summer was a tough decision between windows open blast furnace or closed steam bath.
It was best because it survived all the abuse I gave it including running over a boulder and driving without oil til it stopped, changing the oil pan in the snow, fun.
It was the worst since I was always fixing it and it had several maintenance items(besides routine) that needed attention like clockwork… ALL water hoses every 25,000 miles because one was sure to burst +- 1,000 of that, so just do them all, cost me all of $25. Rebuild alternator every 50,000 miles, once had to replace one in the snow near Mojave on Thanksgiving eve. Why was I always fixing it in snow, I live in sunny So Cal? Rebuild brake slave cylinders every 50K+. Rebuild transmission at 80,000, I liked to “bang shift it” eeedioott, I stopped doing that. Replaced rod bearings regularly after I hit that rock. I became really good at this, I timed it to about 30 minutes after I had done it a couple times, but after awhile the one damaged journal smoothed out and I had to do it much less. Replaced the biggest Diehard battery every 2-3 years. I think because it was too big to fit snuggly in the tray and bounced around and I think maybe it never got fully charged since it had huge capacity and the alternator was tiny. And, maybe my running with 4 really cool looking fog lights all the time sucked the life out of it. I could go on and on.
I was always fixing it. Probably due to my own fault but I learned a lot about car repair which has saved me millions over my lifetime.
I will say it was probably the best car for a stoopid teenage boy, since it was slow but capable and surprisingly with big fat tires it handled quite well. I had a ton of fun with it and learned plenty about driving and repairs. All fine and well but I probably wouldn’t like driving it today, oh my aching back and ears.
I know someone who has, because he is the original owner, a 1970 510 pickup. While I have seen his other vintage Japanese cars I have never seen this truck in person. I especially want to see the photograph of his truck towing an F-18 Hornet at Moffett Field.
I currently drive A 1981 Luv diesel. It’s the most handiest, convenient vehicle imaginable. Easy to drive, great handling, and dependable. Contrary to the above comments, it’s very comfortable with a smooth ride. Mine is the long wheelbase, that might help. I think its a shame that these compact trucks aren’t made anymore.
These Datsuns turned up over here just in time to replace the Austin A55/60 Pickups and vans that were ubiquitous in NZ there really was little difference between the two brands, Don may not have seen the Austin versions I never saw one in OZ and by the time I came back to NZ they were extinct here too
Both brands surface as barn finds now worn out and abandoned years and people get all misty eyed seeing them at shows, rose tints removing all the faults.