>The day/night mirror was avaliable as a Factory option,
>I have 2, one is on my 67.5 2000, the was a car owned
>by Spencer Low (He Raced for factory Nissan- Offroad truck)
>Anyways his father owned Bob Low Motors a datun
>dealership in Cal. and this car has that mirror.
>When I bought it, I was told this was a very rare item,
>I've yet see one on another car.
I really don't intend to start anything here about factory options and
such, but I doubt many folks realize that in the late '60's and the early
'70's Datsun/Nissan - USA was a relatively small and simple operation,
certainly compared to what it is today. How low key were things? I was at
BRE in January of '73, in route to Hawaii, when Dick Roberts walked in,
set a new L-series head on the counter, and waited very politely while
Pete Brock finished writing up the parts order I was having him drop ship
to me in the Islands. I knew Pete of course, but I had no idea until
sometime later that the slight quiet gentleman in the gray three piece
was head of Datsun Competition. Maybe if the company had retained some of
that simplicity, and the responsiveness that this can offer, they
wouldn't have made some of the dumb automotive and financial decisions
they have since those days. Cloning Mr. K wouldn't hurt, either. ;>)
My experience may have been different from other's during the period,
particularly those on the west coast, but there were few, if any, real
factory options. We first got to know the folks at Earl Hughes Datsun,
here in Fort Worth, in '69. It was a small, almost hole in the wall,
dealership next to the much larger Overseas Motors (who handled the Brit
cars). Earl also had a small place in (what was then) south Arlington. I
stopped by there one day to look at a red '66 1600. Didn't get the 1600,
but did buy a '70 2000 a few months later. I don't remember any factory
options for the roadsters, except paint color. Our 2000 even came with
bias ply tires.
You could a hardtop, made in California. In those days, Datsun offered a
few models, in a few colors, all equipped (within a model line) the same.
Options, consisting primarily of a choice of radios, A/C in the sedans
and maybe alloy wheels with radial tires, were dealer installed items.
I'm not saying that individual dealers weren't ordering non-US items from
Japan and adding them, but Air freight back then was very expensive and
sea borne shipping took a couple of months and was pricey, too.
It was actually easier to get Japanese parts in Hawaii back then. Von
Hamm/Young - Datsun of Hawaii imported their cars directly, not via the
mainland, and there were some equipment differences. None of the sedans
imported into Hawaii earlier than the 610's came with reclining seats or
heater/defrosters, unlike Mainland cars. There were probably detail
differences on carts imported into Canada, too. For instance, the only US
510 that ever came with a rear window defroster was the '73 2-door, but
I'm fairly certain that it was available (probably standard equipment) on
earlier Canadian 4 doors.
Bottom line, I think that a lot of urban legend type tales have grown
over the past 30 plus years about all manner of factory options, probably
fostered by pictures and references in the imported and poorly translated
factory service manuals of true domestic Japanese features and options.
More legends have developed about the comp cars built by Sharp, BRE and
others. If all of the cars the supposedly built by BRE and Sharp were
gathered in one place along with all of the "secret factory cars", you
could probably fill the starting grid at a major race.
FWIW
Ronnie Day
ronday@home.com
Dallas/Ft. Worth
'71 510 2-dr (Prepared Class Autocrosser)
'73 510 2-dr (Street Toy)
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