It’s a Datsun B210 (Nissan Sunny in other markets). At the local supermarket. Parked out of the way, in the shade, presumably to forestall any further decay. Still, it’s out there, valiantly bringing the groceries home along with its owner.
The B210 badge makes it perfectly clear. This is a Datsun, and a B210. Not the too-school for school 510, no, the soon-to-be-called-a-Sentra B210, the 2-door sedan variant, if I understand the variations correctly.
I tried various services to look up the plate to no avail. I would guess it is a 1977 or 1978, judging mostly by the nose. Maybe somebody knows these better than me, or can get the plate search to work.
Those are some far-out wheels, methinks.
In this era, Nissan/Datsun hadn’t yet decided to phase-out the Datsun name. So you get a really prominent “D” as part of the front-end.
It’s in pretty nice shape, all in all. The interior was relatively well kept as well.
Seems like not a bad place to spend your time, all-in-all. Except perhaps on the freeway, where the 1.4 liter engine would be straining to keep up with 2020 traffic, even with 5-speeds. I would guess this rarely leaves the pleasant streets of Berkeley. These got up to 50 mpg according to various test reports, and I imagine the owner has gotten his or her money’s worth many times over. I betcha it will be still running in 2030.
It’s a 1978 per the CA smog check database https://www.bar.ca.gov/pubwebquery/Vehicle/PubTstQry.aspx
Those hubcaps were the “HoneyBee” ones from what I recall due to the honeycomb-like patterning, but were they originally offered on the rest of the line as well, I don’t know. B210’s had/have remarkable staying power, especially in CA. Nice find!
The Honey Bee came with minimum hubcaps, because it was a price leader with a cute name and rocker panel stripes. The beehive covers are just examples of Datsun’s clueless attempts to give its products style; it’s a coincidence that they look like honeycombs.
Ah, thank you for the explanation/clarification!
I always thought that they were one of the most HIDEOUS designs ever, honeycomb or not! 🙂
I read somewhere that Datsun’s US importer came up with the “Honey Bee” trim level on the fly, when they found out the parent company was shipping them way more yellow cars than they wanted.
Had a 78 b210 4 speed and it would cruise at 80 mph on the highway no problem. No tach so I had no idea what the revs were. Was just a basic car and seeing this brings back good memories.
Which early B210 models came with a 5-speed? From what I can gather, the leader in the 5-speed trans race for small, affordable cars was Toyota:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-toyota-5-speed-transmission-takes-over-the-world/
I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that the 5-speed was a huge advantage for the Japanese brands. It would be years later before the domestics would get their own 5-speeds and, even when they did, the efforts were sometimes strange, (like the Mustang’s weird 1982-83 5-speed where fifth gear was ‘around and down’ from fourth.
Nissan’s first 5 speeds in the B-210 were dog leg units with 5th where 4th would typically be and 1st to the left and back. Because reverse was now where first would be there was a buzzer and a “reverse” light on the dash that was connected to the back up light switch. My friend had one for a couple of years.
Nissan’s dogleg 5-speed is still a whole lot more natural pattern than Ford’s first 5-speed.
In fact you can see that dog leg shift pattern in the ad below.
Would love to have a Honey Bee. I see a nice one in a nearby town all the time. I had a 1975 Honda Civic CVCC Hondamatic wagon that would cruise at 70 mph. on the level highway. Drove it many times out to the Valley over Highway 152. It didn’t set any speed records but I didn’t hold up any traffic either. I also had another old Civic with a four speed and that was quite a bit quicker. These old Japanese imports were like their motorcycle counterparts, small, tough and adequately powerful. I miss them.
According to Wikipedia, which is of course a non-authoritative source, a non-overdrive 5-speed was available as an option as early 1972, at least in Japan, on the Nissan Sunny/B-210. In general, I would think that a non-overdrive 5-speed would actually be better if the rear-axle drive ratios are changed accordingly, as there would be less friction and a longer-lived gearbox. At least by the time of the 1977 B-210 the 5-speed was available in America.
It’s too bad Nissan fouled-up the B210 2-door sedan’s quarter panel; the hatchback was exponentally better looking.
*quarter window.
I may have mentioned this here before, a buddy of mine drove one of these while we were in high school. Five of us would carpool to our football practices in this poor beast of burden. I was probably the shortest and lightest person in the car (6’0, 185 lbs), but it must have been akin to seeing the clown car at the circus when we all disembarked.
I don’t think it could hit 55 MPH with all of us in it. I’m pretty sure that car saw us coming and just groaned.
When I was in high school five of us would routinely go to lunch in my friend’s VW Beetle. It would have been interesting to know how fast the bug would have gone with five people aboard. With two people up it was capable of 65-70 MPH, depending on wind direction and how much we had eaten for lunch.
This car’s high-on-its-haunches stance, small wheels, and upswept lower body always made it look to my eyes like a good gust of wind could blow it to Kansas. On the plus side, it made the Beetle seem safe.
I remember these because they were everywhere. They were dependable pieces of the tinniest stuff ever assembled since the King Midget twenty years earlier. Like a Crosley, but lighter and dependable. About as solid as a Step 2 kid car. Anyone thinking this is a car to have, never experienced them. These are far removed from what passes as a Japanese, or even South Korean car today.
Woof!
What a death trap!
I looked at a new one on the dealer lot. When I heard it rusting, just sitting there, I left never to return.
Zero rust on the subject car, 42 years later. It might well outlast us all.
Had 2 of these in the late 80s. A brown 1977 B210 with 60k miles on that ran great but was so beat to hell it looked like a crumpled up pop can, I traded it for a cheap car stereo when it needed a new battery. And a silver 1980 210 that was a really nice little car. My girlfriend at the time was almost killed when she hit a culvert in it and rolled it 7 times the week before my high school graduation.
I had a 4 door the Aussie version was a 120Y 1200cc 4 speed slow and gutless but quite reliable not comfortable or particularly nice or fun to drive like the previous generation had been but that seemed to be a Datsun trait build a good car like the 1600 Bluebird (510) then make the next few models worse they did the same with the smaller ones too.
I had a B210 Honey Bee I bought for 1 dollar. The ignition mechanism was broke so it started with a small screwdriver.but ran like a top.
I bought my 120Y wagon de Luxe as they were called in Europe for forty rock-hard Dutch guilders (about 20$) way back when.
Bright orange
Fully dented
No working doorlocks
And loads of rust
Called it Dirrek after the big D for Datsun on the steering wheel.
What a great car, one of my all time favorites, I understand why the Japanese conquered the market.
Dirrek would always start, no matter how cold, as a matter of fact I had to jumpstart many cars in our neighbourhood, Dirrek was easy on the choke as well but most of all Dirrek was merry and did all you want from a car actually better, while he was already at age. Dirreks engine sounded like a hummingbird and the gearbox was smooth as butter.
You hardly ever had to top up the oil or coolant, those Japanese really had their quality act together!
Too bad these cars were made out of rather poor sheetmetal, I am convinced this model Datsun could have been a real real COAL.
My mother in law had one of these with and automatic and air conditioning. Even back in the days of the double nickle it was excruciating to drive it on the freeway. We called it “the roach”, she thought it was sporty.
Gawd, these things were UGLY. Nowadays, on its own and not surrounded by packs of its relatives, it’s not so bad, but when these things were common, they were UGLY. They were REALLY ugly in the ubiquitous 70s baby colours that they all seemed to be.
They were hideous inside too and cramped and miserable. These things had horrible black hole of Calcutta cheap plastic interiors thinly laid. The vinyl was scorching hot in summer, freezing cold in winter, and clammy and unpleasant all the time. You did not want it touching your skin. Everything else was ugly black plastic with no accents or anything to liven it up. No ac. No radio generally. Yuck.
Maybe domestic cars below dart/nova size were garbage but a dart or nova was a pretty decent conveyance and would last just as long. Mileage wasn’t as good but a nova or dart wasn’t a rolling eyesore either.
I see many people seem to appreciate this car because they seem to have acquired it late in its life and it ran well for how cheap it was. There’s something to be said for that but I would not ever have tortured myself by buying such a thing new.
Back in 1978 or so, my family had one of these for a few days as a loaner car while one of our cars was in the shop for something or other.
Despite being about 8 years old at the time, I remember it well. It was the hatchback version with the louvers over the back window.
It was bright yellow-orange and therefore looked like a wedge of Velveeta.
My mom’s verdict on the car?
“Ugh, it’s like driving a tank. Incredibly slow and I can’t see a goddamned thing out of it!”
My parents were very happy to return it and get back into our regular car.
Ghastly contraption. And the 2 door sedan was the ugliest of the lot. And to think they had a “sporty” version in Japan with a 1400 OHC motor called the Sunny Excellent….
That big “D” on the grille may be the least imaginative logo ever.
I saw one of these fully restored and modified last week in my neighborhood. Growing up, I had two neighbours who owned this same generation of car, both painted yellow. One had a four door automatic sedan, the other an estate.
My mom had one of these, in bright orange. Even as a kid I thought it was hideous, and so did she. I remember sitting in the back on a summer’s day eating Glosette Raisins; a few of them escaped my grasp and instantly liquified on the hot white vinyl, and spread molten chocolate everywhere.
Our family had one of these while my sister and I were in high school. True it was gutless, but the four speed manual was a miracle of precision compared to our previous family conveyance, a Volkswagen van. It was unfailingly reliable as well, despite the treatment it received from my sister and I. Interestingly, the vehicle weight was recorded on a label that was visible when the door was open, and was listed per axle. For our model anyway (two door coupe), the weight distribution was 50 point something on the front axle, and 49 point something rear. There was also an odd feature on the throttle. Under the gas pedal was a sort of stopper that prevented it from going all the way to the floor. If you pushed firmly against this stopper it felt like another barrel opened up in the carb. I don’t know what was actually going on, but the engine would get a little surge of power. It wasn’t dramatic (obviously), but it was very definite. There was a little chicane on our road, and if you came in fast, braked hard, then got on that ‘button’ while steering through it, a rather graceful powerslide was possible. The combination of balance, rear wheel drive, and a dearth of power also made it an ideal car for learning about handling when there was snow on the road.
These were very popular the year my first car (’74 Datsun 710) came out…as popular as these were, the 710 was uncommon…I think they sold more 610 models than 710s.
Still, Nissan offered several body styles of each model…the 710 had a 4 door sedan (which I had), a 2 door sedan, later 4 door wagon, and a really rare 2 door coupe. The B210 had 3 body styles, the 2 door, 4 door, and 2 door hatch. Mine had neat white seats with brown carpeting?…not sure who planned the colors on it, since the body was bright blue. At least back then they offered more than 1 body style per model…now everything is 4 door sedan (if a car) or SUV. Still was probably pretty expensive to have many body styles per model.
The 710 was reliable enough to get me through 4 years of undergraduate study while parked outside the whole time up in Vermont. When I graduated and brought it with me to my first professional job in Massachusetts, I ended up hitting black ice on I89 north of White River Junction (Sharon) and bit the cable guardrail…I had it fixed up, but decided I wanted something other than a light RWD car if I was going to keep making the 4 hour trips back to my parents…that’s when I got my ’78 Scirocco…the Datsun was my only Japanese car (though my 2 younger sisters have owned qty-4 200/240SXs between them.)…I’ve owned nothing but VW since then (almost 40 years so far).