It’s old Datsun time today, with this find uploaded at the CC Cohort by car_spots_aus. And it’s one of those you don’t see anymore, a 1974-1977 Datsun 180B wagon, or 610 in the US; a true curbside classic survivor with its fixed rust patches and faded paint, but from what it seems, still going strong.
These are rare. Unlike the early Datsun Roadsters, 510, or 240Z, not much of a fan base grew for these. The previous models had a certain, let’s say, “feel” that these new Datsuns of the early 1970s lacked. Still, they sold decently back in their day and served well enough, even if they rusted to oblivion in quick 1970s fashion.
Today’s 180B is the Australian version of the Bluebird, part of a line of vehicles that had been Nissan’s mainstay in their native land. However, by the early 1970s, a respositioning of the Bluebird line was needed, partly as a response to Toyota’s new Corona Mark II, and partly to create a new identity for the model in Nissan’s sprawling roster. Launched in 1971 as the Bluebird U, this generation was pushed toward “luxury,” or “economy luxury”, more precisely. A concept that I find funny, but heck, time and time again, it’s proven to work.
Softer in feel, slightly larger, and filled with more amenities, plus carrying Nissan’s newfound fondness for swoopy MoPar influenced styling, they were quite a break from what had come before. Emissions requirements also took quite a bit out of the previous generation pep, but with the cars aimed at “luxury”, perhaps not so out of step with the model’s new mission.
Mechanically, they carried much from the previous Bluebird (510), and in the case of today’s find, that means there’s a Nissan 1.8 SOHC L18 engine under the hood, mated to a 4-speed manual or 3-speed auto.
Australian production went from 1972 to 1977, and the large turn signals up front make this one a post-1974 model. As is, this old 180B is a 1970s time capsule from a period in Datsun’s history that we hardly see around anymore.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1974 Datsun 610 – Datsun Takes A Bold New Direction: Down
Quite a rarity, and not often seen here back in the day. Off the top of my head, the wagon wasn’t part of the original range Down Under as launched, but got added into the mix later – possibly in response to Toyota’s Corona RT104 wagon. Mitsubishi had a Galant wagon, but it seemed smaller. Ford had been selling a Cortina wagon for a few years, but it was noticably wider and roomier. Holden didn’t bother with a small or mid-size wagon yet.
Very common in California at one point, though my memories may be a bit influenced by having a colleague who drove a yellow 610 wagon, and another who had a 710 sedan, that I saw every day. But i haven’t seen one in many years. Compared to the 510, the 610/710 certainly seemed like step backwards, styling-wise but it doesn’t look so bad now.
Old Datsuns, serious collector cars now .
-Nate
Sadly true.
It was a cold wet Saturday morning in 1975 when my parents and I took a test drive in a bright blue black vinyled roofed 180B sedan.
Sitting in the claustrophobic shiny black vinyled back seat was a miserable experience, I had already tried to explain there was nothing wrong with our 4 year old Valiant wagon, but it was to no avail, Dad was after something called fuel economy.
At least he didn’t buy it, we ended up with a (Mitsubishi Colt) Valiant
Galant wagon, which I begrudgingly thought was a better car than that Datsun. The Galant was painted in Chrysler Australia’s Lime Light which helped ease the pain, A bit.
.
Apologies, I don’t think vinyled is a word but decided to use it anyway.
The back seat on these was indeed claustrophobic, akin to being trapped in a sticky vinyl rubbish bin, no view out, no leg room, and a vinyled* horror seat base that collapsed onto the floorpan when even my (then) bony arse sat on it. Designed for blind, small people, by sadists.
*it’s now in use!
I wish I could write like Justy.
The 180B was something of an abomination, and especially compared to the 1600/510. It was the like the
Fiat 132, inferior in about every way to its predecessor, the 125.
I also briefly rode in the back seat of an early sedan. The sloppy Australian assembly quality only underlined the noisy claustrophobic experience. I actually felt more comfortable riding in the back seat of a 260z 2+2.
The sound of a Datsun L series 4 cylinder revving is a crime against humanity.
The only interesting thing about the 180B was knowing they had fuel injection on some JDM models and there was also a long nose 6 cylinder model.
I actually find the styling of the 189B not too bad (anything that does not represent SUV hell is OK by me lol) as it avoids the upturned rear window line of the sedan and hardtop.
The wagons were fully imported and I usually saw them in nicer colours, some metallic, than the sedans. However this example is painted in that horrible orange shade that 50% of the sedans seem to have.
Still, it was, probably no worse than the 200B….
I’m fine with making up words that get the point across. On that note, I kinda like ‘Vinylized’.
Collector cars now, as Nate notes. Well, they’re welcome to the nasty things: I wouldn’t take a free one.
I hated these with a passion back in the day. Compared to the previous 1600, they looked like a chunk of baroque gargoyle that had fallen off the church roof. Awful, over-done, plastically detailed, bigger car concepts ineptly applied to a small one. Worse still, they handled worse. They were noisy as hell, had terrible, terrible seats, no room, poor visibility, boat-tiller accurate steering, no apparent damping, and no respect for passengers. Worse again, they all looked just like this one when they were five years old, in a dry country!
Yes, yes, they went very well, and actually made good rally cars, and they refused to die even in extreme old age, but they still (to me) represent everything I detested about Japanese cars of the time (and for quite a bit after). Only the 120Y is lower in the dung heap.
That this particular one has fallen out of time looking exactly as if it’s a well-used one in, aw, about 1988, is a real oddity – but I do wish it would go back.
I didn’t have a 610, but my first car was rather a 1974 710. It took me through my undergraduate school days and the start of my first professional job. I didn’t appreciate it much when I owned it, but it turned out to be the ideal car for a student…not much power, but you couldn’t get into much trouble either. Utterly conventional, so I learned to give it traditional tune-ups, it really didn’t need much and was mostly dependable…only repairs were a rebuilt alternator and replacement heater hose which let loose on my interview trip to my first job in Massachusetts . It was parked outside the whole time I owned it but only refused to start the week of the blizzard of ’78…I still remember getting into the vinyl driver’s seat which felt like it was a rock, trying to get it going.
The 710 wasn’t very popular…which seems odd today, the equivalent sized Altima seemst to be all over the place…the 610 was more common as well as the B210, being the economy model. Sedans and wagons were most common, but they also made a coupe which you hardly ever saw…I think eventually it morphed into the Datsun 200SX line. Interestingly, my 2 younger sisters have owned qty-4 between them…all Nissans, one 200SX and 3 240SX’s…my surviving youngest sister still has her 1997 240SX she bought new.
Wonder if the 610 was as oddball as the 710 trim wise…mine was medium blue, with white vinyl seats and brown carpet. Maybe all of them had brown carpet but I don’t think that goes well with a blue exterior and white interior color matching. I took out the seats to transport some of my furniture to my first apartment, wasn’t too roomy but did the job.