Jalopnik: 610

Doomed Datsun 610 Remembers When People Drove Small Japanese Wagons

Murilee Martin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EDT

It was Half Price Day at the local self-service yard last weekend, and I had my eye on a Porsche 928 that had been there the week before, thinking I could buy that purty Porsche intake manifold to hang on my wall. Sadly, the 928 had already gone to The Crusher, so I decided I might as well check for other interesting stuff... and, sure enough, here was a super-rare '74 Datsun 610 wagon. The L20B is still there, and so is the factory 8-track player. Well, the 8-track was there, since I felt compelled to grab it. After buying all those 8-track tapes for the Junkyard Boogaloo Boombox, I need a backup deck!

1973 Datsun 610: The Luxury Economy Car

Murilee Martin — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:45:00 EST

We've seen a '73 610 Down On The Street, and it didn't seem particularly luxurious. Quirky Japanese styling, yes, but luxury? You did get a lot of stuff not available on Detroit's econo-cars of the era (independent rear suspension, for example), but Nissan was claiming only 25MPG for this thing?

1973 Datsun 610

Murilee Martin — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:00:39 EDT

It's amazing how all the pre-1980 Japanese cars seem to have vanished off the street in recent years; even in Alameda it's a challenge to spot once-ubiquitous 70s Civics, Corollas, and the like. Here's one that I took for a Celica from a distance, but instead it turned out to be the first Datsun 610 I've seen in years.

The 610 was never a huge seller in the US, and the lack of wild-eyed 610 fanatics (as you see with aficionados of its quasi-predecessor, the 510) means that they're awfully rare today.

This 610 is on the beat side. Well, actually, it's probably just one more mechanical ailment away from The Crusher.

You can fix the bashed-in fender and hood, but the body rust around the windows isn't so easy. So as long as it keeps running, it avoids the cold steel jaws of The Crusher. Keep running, little 610!

The 610 was available in the US for the 1973-76 model years. In '73, the list price was $3145; by comparison, you could get a '73 Pinto sedan for $1997.

Hey, those taillights sure look familiar!

This car is actually a pretty good-looking design, now that we've had a few decades to get used to it.

And, of course, it's got the classic aluminum wheels. Well, three of them, anyway.