In the summer of 1988 my sister started dating some new guy. Like any younger brother I hated her boyfriend for merely existing, but that quickly changed when I saw what he was driving. I remember the first day I heard the exhaust note from his brown 280zx revving around the corner and barreling into our cul-de-sac.

What comes to mind when you think of the Datsun 510? Do you imagine the little coupe being hammered around a track with a transplanted SR20DET motor under its hood? Do you think of it flying around a rally course, beaten half to hell but still going like a coked-out Japanese Energizer bunny?

Southern California: it's too hot, too fake, and you commute everywhere you go. But it's all worth it for the cars, like this collection of surprisingly badass tuned 1970s Datsuns, happily shredding tires for the camera.

Judging from his garage, Duane Schaffer likes his vintage vehicles from The Land of the Rising Sun a certain way—slightly odd and extremely low.

Datsun 510 wagons on vintage 13" wheels are all the rage in SoCal. We can get behind that. [Estevan Oriol via AutoCulture]

A Datsun 510, flat olive drab, with a giant single-turbo 2JZ. Stopping power comes from C5 'Vette-sourced Baer rotors paired to Viper Brembos hidden behind those great Racing Hart C2 wheels. HOVA! (H/T @saylnch!) [6speedonline via TCL]

In Japan, the 510 was called the Bluebird. That's fitting as today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe 510 is blue, but will its condition and price make you want to flip the seller the bird?

"If a Datsun 510 with minor modifications can take this kind of abuse that long, who knows how long a new 510 will last out there."

Back when Pete Brock was tearing up SCCA with them, the Datsun 510 was considered the poor-man's BMW. Today, Nice Price or Crack Pipe has one for which poor men need not apply.

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Here's the fourth Datsun 510 in the series.