Datsun 510

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The Datsun 510 was a car sold from 1968 to 1973 by Nissan of Japan. The 510 has often been called the "poor man's BMW", and some believe that the 510's design was inspired by contemporary BMWs (particularly the BMW 1600-2, released in March 1966). It was the American export name for the Nissan Bluebird (510 series), and was sold as the Datsun 1600 in other countries.

The Datsun 510 released to the U.S. market came originally with the Hitachi downdraft carbureted 1.6 L L-series engine, with an advertised 96 hp (72 kW), front disc brakes, 4-wheel independent suspension (MacPherson strut front and semi trailing arm rear- wagons had a solid rear live axle and leaf springs in back), rear wheel drive, and either a 4-speed manual or a 3-speed automatic transmission. 2-door sedan, 4-door sedan, and 4-door station wagon variants were available. It achieved 20-30 mpg in factory trim (U.S.). Non-US spec models were also available in a 2-door coupe body style with the "SSS" package, which included an uprated 1.8 L L-Series engine and dual Hitachi sidedraft carburetors, which were a copy of the earlier British Skinner's Union (SU) design used on Jaguars and MGs.

One triumph of the early Nissan/Datsun cars is that many of the parts are interchangeable — engines, transmissions, suspension setups, etc., were all similar enough to swap with minor modifications. This allowed the Datsun 510 to be easily upgraded from the 1.6 L engine to the 2.0 L (& later the FJ20) L20B engine, and to go from the 4-speed manual transmission to the more versatile 5-speed transmission made available for the later 200SX/HL510 and Nissan Z-cars.

The original 510 achieved such a good reputation that Nissan resurrected the "510" badge on the completely different HL510 automobile line, which was in fact the Nissan Stanza in Japan. The "late model" 510 used a live axle in place of the original 510's independent rear suspension, thus the handling was decidedly inferior to the earlier model.

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