At $13,900, Could This 1980 Datsun 510 Wagon Haul Home A Win?

Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Datsun 510 is an old car that played on nostalgia for a beloved and even old model with which it shares its numerical name. Let’s see if this classic wagon’s price tag has the right number as well.

My First Car: Cesar Milan’s Two-Tone Datsun Wagon

We suffered a bit of bait and switch on last Friday’s 2020 Tesla Model 3 Long Range. When first I saw the ad, no title information was listed. After Friday’s story had gone live and we were all deep into it, the seller updated the ad, dropping the bomb that the car wore the scarlet letter of a salvage title. As many of you pointed out in the comments, the $31,100 asking price was not commensurate with a salvage title on a three-year-old Model 3. The result was a solid 85 percent No Dice loss and our well-founded scorn.

Now, we may not be starting this week any better than we ended the last as the ad for today’s 1980 Datsun 510 wagon doesn’t list the car’s title status either. That’s a flaw of Facebook Marketplace automotive listings which, unlike Craigslist’s, doesn’t require title status to be part of the ad. In truth, going on Facebook Marketplace is kind of like trolling garage sales in sketchy parts of town: you might find a deal or you might get a shiv in the eye for your trouble.

Our Datsun is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and based on the pictures, it appears to be in a nice neighborhood so I think we are going to be safe with this one.

Datsun introduced this model 510 in 1977 in a full line of body styles. In Japan, they were sold under the Violet nameplate, but here in the U.S., as well as in other markets, it went by 510. Both that nameplate and the car’s squared-off styling recalled the earlier 510 of the late ’60s and early ’70s. That car was based on the home-market Bluebird, and in the U.S. was dubbed “the poor man’s BMW.” Beloved for its frisky sporting natiure, the earlier 510, along with the 240Z, were the two models that established the Datsun brand here in the States. The 510 model line was replaced by the 710 which in turn was superseded by the backward-glancing 510 like our car. That model morphed into the Stanza in the ’80s and eventually into what we now call the Altima.

Looking back on the second iteration of 510 shows that it wasn’t the poor man’s (or woman’s) anything. What it was, however, was a decent enough compact car with sufficient features and style to compete with the likes of Toyota’s Corona. Appreciably, it was also a damn sight better than the small cars American manufacturers were turding up the marketplace with at the time.

This wagon, in what the seller describes as “Buckskin,” seems to be a fine example of the breed. And, with just 69,000 miles under its belt, it’s a total time capsule. That beige-hued paint looks to be in decent condition and unencumbered by road rot or other notable flaws. Full polished wheel covers help to dress up the exterior, as does a useful roof rack and some JDM-style fender-mounted mirrors.

Those mirrors are probably the car’s only black eye since the mounts likely required drilling into the fenders and hence would require significant work and repainting to remove.

The cabin is wonderfully outfitted and looks to have only suffered modestly for its age. The upholstery is old-school vinyl. It’s not “leatherette” or “Vegan Leather” like in a modern cheap-seat car, but unapologetically sweaty in summer and creakily cold in winter vinyl. Along with that, the car comes with a plasticky dash repleat with the factory AM/FM radio and, remarkably for the era, a full set of gauges.

The drivetrain is pretty simple. Under the hood lies a 92 horsepower Z20S 2.0-liter inline-four. Mated to that is Nissan’s 3N71B three-speed automatic with console shifter, driving a leaf-sprung solid rear axle. It should be noted that the original 510 also used a live axle on the wagons rather than the independent setup of the sedans and coupes, so precedence is there for establishing this model’s legacy.

According to the ad, the car is in “unbelievable original condition” except for the Bluetooth stereo that sits elf on a shelf-like in the glove box. It also notes that the car has A/C, called out as being a rarely-included option. The seller closes the ad by claiming “Absolutely one of the most original and nicest 510’s you will ever see.”

We probably won’t see many 510s of this generation at all since this model did not engender the same sort of love and desire as did (and does) the earlier model. That being said, this is a wonderful and wonderfully-quirky ’80s throwback and would make for a great companion to a like-era Z car in anyone’s collection. It’s also a middle finger in the face of Nissan for having changed its U.S. brand to its corporate moniker from the more beloved Datsun.

The asking price to take all that on is $13,900.

What’s your take on this Datsun and that $13,900 asking? Does that feel like a deal for the car in its classy classic condition? Or, is that too much for a 510 that isn’t a Bluebird?

You decide!

Facebook Marketplace out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Robin Davies for the hookup!

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