Showa era images always manage to unearth something of interest. For example, in a photo taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s, we stumbled upon an ultra-rare Datsun U221 pickup. It looks like a coupe at first glance, but is instead a ute-like vehicle with a very small bed. We’d bet the number of these still in existence is somewhere in the single digits.
The above photo is what a 1959 Datsun 211 is supposed to look like. The U221 manages to maintain two rows of seating while adding a short tray at the rear. The funny thing is that Nissan already made a Datsun 220 pickup with a standard bed, though the cab was limited to one row of seating.
The above photo is of a what a more common Datsun pickup of the era would have looked like. Technically, it’s a 1958 Datsun 220, but the differences are mainly cosmetic. Most importatly, you can see the bed is a completely separate box unit, not integrated like the U221’s. In older Nissan naming convention, a “1” in the tens digit place indicates a passenger car while a “2” in that place indicates a truck.
So technically speaking, the U221 should probably be a U210 since it’s more car than truck, but it was marketed primarily as a commercial vehicle. The kanji on the side, though too blurry to read, hints that it’s a company car. The short bed was probably used to carry refrigerators or other household machines. The driver is probably an appliance repairman rushing off to a job.
I’m almost more intrigued by the 1957 Ford sedan in the foreground.
That must have seemed like piloting an aircraft carrier around the streets of Tokyo at that time.
I wish the photo was just a little wider so we could see the license plate and tell if it was a taxi, a private car owned by someone Japanese, or if it had a Y-for-Yankee U.S. Forces plate.
It was common for GIs to sell their cars to the local market, The Japanese buyer had a year to inspect and properly register the vehicle with Japanese vehicle officials, A racket rapidly developed. Firat buyer sells the car, after 11 months. Second buyer now has a year to complete registration Guess what happens 11 months later. Racket exposed* Local registration impounds the car until proper paperwork transferring ownership is provided, then on to inspection a tax payment. There were a lot of Cadillac sedans available for $500 soon after.
I always love these snapshots. I really like the cement truck in the background! Would love to know more about it…
Is that a parade going on in the background?
Quite possibly a leftist or labour union demonstration (red flags) which was quite common in 50, 60, 70s Japan. Those days the working hours in Japan was even longer than that of today but did have a greater purpose….
Love the Shows Snspshots. Haven’t been to post for a couple of years. Che, check…
They carried that theme through to the “U620” pickup like a coupe version of the regular 620 sadly only for the domestic market as far as I am aware, was a cool looking version.