The past twelve months have seen astounding prices for Japanese cars at auction, but perhaps none were as astounding as a bone stock Datsun 510 that sold recently at the Raeford Concours D’Elegance for $247,000, including the auction house’s 10 percent fees and commission. That price in itself for any 510 would have been astounding enough, but the fact that it was a 1977 Datsun 510 is positively brain-melting.
That’s because what the buyer was most likely after was the car shown above, a 1968-73 Datsun 510. That is the “real” 510 raced by John Morton, the Alfa and BMW beating winner of the 1971-72 SCCA Trans-Am 2.5 Challenge, the one sold in Japan as the Bluebird.
What the buyer got instead was a 1977-81 Datsun 510, which is not a Bluebird at all, but an A10 Stanza/Violet rebadged by Nissan in the late 1970s in an effort to sell some cars by capitalizing off the “real” 510’s rabid following. While it saw some success as a rally car in Australia, the A10 does not have the same cult devotees as the Bluebird 510, and is still plentiful on craigslist for under $10,000.
The recent spike in values has unleashed an influx of treasure hunters onto the Japanese nostalgic car scene. Many of these “collectors” never glanced twice at Japanese cars before, and are in fact just flippers looking to add a few hundred thousand into their pockets. In this case, lack of knowledge about the cars came back to bite them in the rear-mounted fuel filler.
Source: Raeford Concours D’Elegance.
What we have learned from this is that if you have a huge amount of money, it’s ok to be stupid.
Agreed, shit is getting out of control. Is it going to continue to grow out of control or is the massive bubble going to burst in someones face!?!?!?
Boo Hoo, didn’t read the other comments, so I got fooled…..but it’s April 2 here in Australia where we are ahead of you people, so I have a legit excuse. But my statement still stand for the prices cars are selling for anyway!!!
“Stupid Rich”
Ohp, wait….What day- okay….
Got me….
You got me for a couple of seconds… Yes I agree: stupid rich. 🙂
What day is it today, hmm? Nice work, guys.
Come on now,….. All together;
“APRIL FOOL!!!” 🙂
HaHa…very good joke !! (Source: yo’ garage).
Ah, geez. You guys! 🙂
Some A10 owner out there is now daring to hope they have a chance to strike it rich and looking for the nearest consignment auction house to unload their car…… until they notice today’s date.
I’d pay 247,000 for that!
….in yen
Priceless…
He probally thought he was bidding on my bone stock show 510 “Art” Sucks for him. But for that price, i think i would of actually sold her
All it takes is too very wealthy bidders who both REALLY want the car. A battle takes place, and the final price goes insane. I do not personally think this means that all clean 510s could and should sell for this much…but then again…?
Shit, it is April 1st…lol
Ahh my old A10 Stanza/510 coupe. I miss the old girl. Here is what it looked like before I sold it. I should have held out for more.
[URL=http://s1079.photobucket.com/user/Mazdax605/media/14d5160d.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w519/Mazdax605/14d5160d.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Hi, Ben.I’m HIDEKI. KONNICHIWA！
Don’t remember JDM A10 NISSAN AUSTER.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhqXJZdrFc0
JDM A10 STANZA was 4Door and 5Door（’80-’81）only.
2Dr Hatchback was abailable A10 VIOLET & AUSTER.
2Dr sedan is not abailable in Japan（Export model only）
I want USDM 2nd datsun 510 coupe better than Real 510.lol.
This has to be the most clever April Fool’s joke I’ve ever seen.
The sad part is that by the comments, most of us believed it, shows how out of hand we feel these auctions are getting!
This gives me high hopes when it would be the time to sell my 100 % original 1982 Toyota Starlet. 🙂