It’s not often that two special holidays fall on the same day. Today, May 10, is both Mother’s Day and 510 Day! And just because moms need to haul the whole brood around doesn’t mean she has to be saddled with a numbing crossover. As this circa 1971 Datsun 1400 brochure from the UK shows, she can drive dad plus three kids around in a practical, economical, yet sporty 510. Hey, I think we can all agree that moms deserve the best. Happy Mother’s Day and 510 Day from JNC.
Known mainly as the Datsun 1600 down here in Australia, many happy memories of this vehicle (I owned about four or five from memory) on the road, but mostly off, as rallying was my passion. I had a Datsun 1600 converted to rally beast, with rear doors emptied of window winders and glass replaced with acrylic, rear seats removed and the area reutilised as spare wheel and tools bay, all chrome bumpers removed. Datsun 180B motor dropped straight in, with mild cam – advanced 3 degrees (one tooth), giving it oustanding acceleration and reliability – on a budget. After brazing up the front end panels and adding a strut bar (straddling the MacPherson struts for support), the test came one evening when we departed the road at speed and dived over an 8 foot cliff. Dusted ourselves off, drove away and completed the course. One lasting memory was when off course temporarily around Lake Muir in the Southwest of Western Australia one night under the full moon, coming suddenly upon a motionless mob of roos (kangaroos) all across the road. Drove (carefully!) in between and around huge Western Grey boomers and their mates and joeys, all apparently “spellbound” by the moon (or so it seemed to my navigator and I). Weird but wonderful experience in the P510.
Here’s to my late mother who, among other things automotive, handed me down a 1973 Datsun 240-Z, insisted I learn to maintain cars if I was going to drive, and shared a decade and a half of road trips through the back roads of Japan almost every single weekend in my youth.
what a cool mom!