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Round 12 - the Datsun 120Y games.
- Thread starter Redford
- Start date
Oh man I got passed down my dad's Dato old 120y when I was still a student, the body rusted away but the engine just kept on going and going. ended up having a red door and a blue door on the drivers side and largely fibreglass fenders
pretty fancy sporty version that one. Mine was a baby *smile* green 4 door. I liked it, but it was a death trap, especially with a full crew on board, jesus. You guided it rather than steered it, and you had to start braking way in advance. Only good thing about it was how light it was, if you got bogged, me and a mate could just bounce it out. And it drove well on sand, as good as a 4WD.
I had a mate who was a bit of a car enthusiast and he used to joke that a 180b was a 120y with 60 more mistakes.
Long time ago used to drive a Datsun sunny van for courier work basically a 120 Y. Simple reliable n cheap, but don't try n push them hard, brakes turned to spaghetti in a big hurry.
Not sure of the validity, but believe the motor n gear box for the 120 Y was a modernised version of old Austin Motors stuff, possibly as old as A40. Nissan bought some engineering blue prints off the struggling Brits, re engineered n used some alloys and the 120 Y was born.
Not sure of the validity, but believe the motor n gear box for the 120 Y was a modernised version of old Austin Motors stuff, possibly as old as A40. Nissan bought some engineering blue prints off the struggling Brits, re engineered n used some alloys and the 120 Y was born.
Wasn't a real lot of Jap stuff on the roads back then, the old 180 B did a fair job of cracking open the Oz car market for the Asians
The 120Y (or Sunny actually in Japan) was a great little shopping trolley for city driving. I had a mate who had one and he was a maniac, you would be surprised what a 1.2L side cam motor could do. Brakes and handling were fine, nothing great. Being a Datsun it was pretty indestructible. The 180B was much better, overhead cam and those L series motors were fantastic . . . as for the 200B, yeah, 20 more problems.
A fair number of the early Datsuns were old Morris stuff. The difference was that the Japanese could actually build cars, the poms couldn't. Compare the Hitachi electricals in a Datsun (they worked) to the Lucas electricals in Morris which fell to pieces. I remember once replacing a head gasket on a mini and it was a millimetre off here and there, which I thought must be normal. Whenever I replaced anything on a Datsun it was millimetre perfect. I also had a G60 Patrol, old Bedford 6 cyclinder motor in those, very lazy but lasted ages. Always liked Datsuns, you got in, turned the key and they simply worked. I has a 1968 Bluebird (the predecessor to the 1600) and the motor was completely stuffed, no compression because some of the valves had bits missing, but it still started and you could get it up a small hill in 1st with a lot of revs.
I hope the Dogs thrash the Cats.
DS
A fair number of the early Datsuns were old Morris stuff. The difference was that the Japanese could actually build cars, the poms couldn't. Compare the Hitachi electricals in a Datsun (they worked) to the Lucas electricals in Morris which fell to pieces. I remember once replacing a head gasket on a mini and it was a millimetre off here and there, which I thought must be normal. Whenever I replaced anything on a Datsun it was millimetre perfect. I also had a G60 Patrol, old Bedford 6 cyclinder motor in those, very lazy but lasted ages. Always liked Datsuns, you got in, turned the key and they simply worked. I has a 1968 Bluebird (the predecessor to the 1600) and the motor was completely stuffed, no compression because some of the valves had bits missing, but it still started and you could get it up a small hill in 1st with a lot of revs.
I hope the Dogs thrash the Cats.
DS
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I think the early Toyota Coronas & Corollas did a pretty good job of that too. I had a 1967 Corona which had so many extras in it, which the basic Holdens & Falcons didn't. Things like dual headlights, 2 speed wipers, radio, heater etc. that were standard equipment. You had to buy a Premier or Fairmont to get that sort of thing as standard, or buy them as optional extras at a premium on the basic models.
It certainly made Holden & Ford improve their cars to compete with these Japanese upstarts.
I bought a 180b for $100 from someone because it was a POS.
I changed the plugs and points and it ran like a dream. I drove it to college everyday (100 km round trip) for a year until the cops gave me a canary.
I changed the plugs and points and it ran like a dream. I drove it to college everyday (100 km round trip) for a year until the cops gave me a canary.
Bet you had some fun times in the back seat.
Pro tip you can fold the back seats down and then you get the whole rear space of the wagon
The 180B, that I had just wouldnt die, I had it so long, the odometer, stopped working at 210K, never knew how many were onit.
Wow you did well, must have had a "Sports" model & a mighty loooonngg hill. I drove one One of them for 12 months & it never got it past 100kmh.
