My first was also a 1600. Was yellow with l20, weber and extractors. My dad test drove it while i waited in the rain, When i heard it wheel spinning down the road i knew i was driving that baby home.

When he got back the first thing he said was buy it, So i did. Sadly i needed the money and sold it to grand auto about 8 years ago.

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SSS 180B

Congratulations on a great thread Graham.
The boys have run with it, although got somewhat distracted with their sweaty sexploits.
BACK ON TRACK...first day was 1971, Ballarat, winter.
Trading a Yamaha RD350 on a white , '68 1600 with 30,000miles on the clock to discover it had vinyl floor covering, no radio and only an after-market non-fan heater!!!!
But I was a Mildura boy out of that rain/sleet/snow!!!!
On a student budget, the wreckers became a regular Sat morning haunt.
Surrounded by other budding mechanical engineers (notably Mini orientated) it was not permitted to have a stock car.
It eventually scored a 180B SSS engine, 2" (yep THAT big) system, 7" 'black' wheels under flared guards, and Britax racing harnesses anchored to the rear parcel shelf.
The latter also discouraged free-loading, lard-arse back seat passengers from maxxing out the rear camber.
The success of an exhaust note was rated by the number of windows you could shatter driving down Bridge St. and the state of engine health was gauged by the shade of grey of the lead-based powder at the chrome tip.
Pic: Mt Hotham c1972

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Yank import 2DR510

1994, finished high school, getting a car and getting a license, $660 Mikan Orange 1971 Datto 1600 from a used car yard! test drove it with my dad as I didn't have a license yet and he let me jump in down a back street to have a go at driving it.

Got it home and first thing I did was give it a good cut and polish to bring back some shine to some very tired paint.... the rest is history.

with my first 1600, day i brought it,
driving home pulled over by the police and was issued a yellow sticker, literally 2 corners from my house,

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1600 SR20
http://www.signzone.net.au/

first day i had mine was the first day i had driven a rwd manual car

bought it with a slipping clutch

3 hours later the clutch and fly were completely fried with smoke pouring out fromthe bellhousing

day 2 on the way to to my mates workshop to fit the first of many HD clutches, got pulled over in the city by a cop for "acting like a ****" - well i was...

over 10 years ago now... fun days

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"the 910 is the poor man's 510"

First day i got my 200b i bought the car for the cost of a whole new brake system. The bloke i bought it of had been driving around only using the handbrake to stop. So i fixed the brakes he drove it for a month than i got it. I cleaned to it inside and out and found on old $20 note under a seat and papers in a spare raididtor hose with original sales stuff from reg hunt datsun in 1978. Mum let me drive it from the guys place which was about 10 houses down the street (i was only 14) and it just limped up the driveway. Where it got driven rarely went un regod for a while and now serves as a very reliable daily that i wouldnt trade for any of my other cars.

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Callan
fleet:
78 200B
78 ZH Fairlane 500 Bluesmobile
86 ZL Fairlane ZLane
78 ZH Fairlane 500 Barn find
85 Troopy 2H Turbo

When I moved to Canberra I was driving a '76 RT104 Corona. It was a mad banger, never let me down and was really quite good on the dirt but would understeer to snap oversteer like a pig in the wet and I would constantly end up facing the wrong way.

I had met a few Datsun bandits through housemates and after some hectic rally bashing and epic sideways stylies I knew I wanted one of my own. I missed out on a mates 180B that I had helped do an engine swap on by just a couple of days and was keen as keens to get into a Datto but lacked the necessary funds.

Six months later I was round at a mates helping him move house and he had this 120Y sitting there that hadn't been run in over a year and wasn't doing anything.



He turns to me and says "Hey, do you want that car? It will save me moving it"

Oh boy, If I'd only known then how this car would turn into such an obsession!!!

With petrol can in hand I went back about week later to collect the car from out the front of his house where he left it after he moved out. One cap of juice down the throat and the A12 sputtered into life. Did the dodgy no rego run back home of about 15km with the Mrs following to provide some cover from Officer Dibble.

I wasn't impressed at first, it barely got over 60kmh and the brakes still struggled to pull it up, but it was a Datsun and it was mine and I was in Love!!!!

The poor girl sat there for another six months while I got completely obsessed learning about A series engines and mods and then dumped an A14 w weber, extractors and 2 inch system in there, cut out some rust and fitted some jellies. After that became a Daily for almost a year.




Its now got a Z22 sitting in the engine bay and MR30 Struts and brakes and hopefully will be back on the road before the end of the year.

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Back in dat... DATSUN

My first Datto was 200B that I got from a caryard when I was 21. I was fitting a new RB20DET to my 200ZR (old motor blew) and I needed a car to get around in. Picked it up on the saturday arvo for $500 with the SSS box in it (i thought it was a sweat deal, body and interior were schmick).

We had planned a camping trip up on the river for the weekend so i picked up my gf (at the time) and my mate and his gf. We didnt have enough room in the back for all the camping stuff (ie beers) so i had to borrow my old mans trailer (3 foot by 4 foot). Trip up there was fine didnt miss a beat (had to get some tapes from the servo tho cos it only had a tape player at the time). Had a good night and got very drunk and then hungover the next day for the drive back. Coming along the dirt road (with a recovery beer in hand) a little too fast, ended up pointing the nose into the apex of the corner (which was a tree). No flinching, or random movements, just calm hungover control saw me slowly pull her straight around the corner, awesome slide of all four wheels. Once i was through the corner I looked in the review mirrow to see the a pile of dust and the little 3x4 trailer jumping nearly 180degrees from side to side.

From that point on I was sold on Datsuns.

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Datsunless

Diesel Hilux, converted to V6 ecotech

I got my first Datto when I needed a cheaper car for uni back when I was 17, seeing as I'd just fitted triple carbs to the Holden it was costing me a fortune in petrol so I just wanted a cheap POS to run around in. Enter the local post master, he was retiring and selling his old S1 Bluebird for $100 with rego... Took it for a run around the block, yep, this thing is mine!
I later found out the guy actually told Dad not to let me drive it all the way to Coffs, it was a dodgy POS but it still wouldn't die no matter how hard I flogged it, daily valve bouncing in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, clutch dumps, flat shifting and wet weather skids (not enough power in the dry) around town for an entire year and I still couldn't break it. The diff had a quarter turn of slop and 2nd gear synchros were stuffed but it still powered on strong. I haven't bought a single non-Datto since then.

Of course with my current Bluebird the first thing I did was go out and hit the highway and see what she could do... Which was not much... Then of course as soon as I got home the camera came out and I took a whole heap of piccys. Needless to say it's going a lot better now it's had some use.

The rally Stanza was a bit of a long shot at the time, I didn't really have the money but the first Bluebird had just crapped itself for the last time (I was originally gonna convert that for rally), went down and did the dodgy (noisy & flat out) unregistered run around the block, got back and the guy said $4k and it's yours. It went home on the trailer that arvo.

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Just a small fleet!
'82 Bluebird GX
'84 Bluebird TRX rally project
'63 Holden EH
'02 Grand Vitara
'91 EB Falcon
'91 EA Falcon S
'86 Range Rover
'98 Pulsar
'95 ZZR1100

first time with the 510 i went to coburg to pick it up. drove from where it was to the closest servo, was pulling a bit to the right got some gas in it, then set off down the road. i got about a kilometer down, all the while it was pulling more and more to the right, then the right hand front wheel seized. wheel bearing had collapsed which had the hub nearly fall off. tow truck was called, and the ride was quite nice from then on, aircon and all

first day with the 620 was a better experience. i picked it up from taylors lakes after kindly refusing a lesson in column shift manual, stalled it once, then after a bit i made it to a set of lights at a highway. i think i took off in 2nd or 3rd, fighting the carb a bit cos it'd flood under WOT, while clutching it to get it to speed before the set of lights turned green for the cars behind me. trundled along for a bit before pulling into a servo for some fuel. i admired its cool lookin-ness the whole time while filling it up, then again walking into the servo, and while waiting in line, and while paying for fuel, then whilst walking back out to it drove it home without a problem, other than being a bit slow - thoroughly enjoying myself nonetheless! i dunno what it is with these things

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1972 P510
1979 620

sat and looked at it for about 6 months then got a battery and drove it up and down the driveway for 2 hours straight (note i was 13?)

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tradesafe: Dazda, 2ndTimeStanza, Qeleh, big mac, hatchman


1979 Datsun Sunny Wagon 13b Turbo conversion: http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=28890

My 1600 was my first car. Bought it when i was 16 and spent the next 3 years doing it up with dads help, had to drive mums shitty laser for half a year till it was roadworthy.
I drove it with a bog stock l16 in it while waiting for us to finish building a hot l18 with twin webbers on it. We whacked the motor in it and it ran like a dog as the carbs were way out of tune. I was young then and i was pretty disapointed that it didnt go great straight away.

Dad chucked it on the trailer one day and took it to Datrally for a tune. Ill never ever forget standing in the driveway at about 9 oclock at night when dad brought it back a few days later on the back of the trailer. He got out of his car and he had a massive grin on his face and all he said was "Go for a drive now!". That night is burned into my brain, the noise it made was unreal. I wish I had my time over and never sold it. Now I have two more in the shed waiting to be rebuilt but with two young kids and being self employed finding the time is near impossible. I will probably buy one that is already done now because I cant wait another 3 years!

My 1600 was my first car too.
It was actually in the family since i was a baby, and the earliest memory I had with it was being in the back seat on a woolen covered/plastic baby chair (with harness!) with Mum and Dad in the front. Not sure if my sister was with us or not and she's two years younger.
18 was when I started making Dad offers and he got sick and tired of going to local car yards with me asking if anyone traded in their 1600 for something newer, asking wreckers, asking everyone if they had a 1600 handy and wanted to sell.
I remember going to Nis-Spares in Bayswater getting some bits and pieces and seeing a white 1600 (with air conditioning!) and an L20 with webbers. Sounded awesome and I thought, SR20DET would be nice
Finally I managed to buy the folks Datto, and have had it ever since!

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1972 Datsun 1600, S14 SR20DET Engineered (204rwkW @ 17psi.)
viewtopic.php?t=6579
#SR20Datsun @SR20Datsun