The avian Bluebird is one of the few members of the thrush family to call America home. In contrast, Nissan left the Bluebird nameplate at home, calling its mid-sizer the 4, 5, 6, and eventually 810 when sending it stateside. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe 610 is more rush than thrush, but will its price make you blush?
Hey! Cool new look, huh? Yeah, it’s going to take some getting used to, and there’s still some shirttails to be tucked in, but give it a little time and everything will look awesome, and with lots more stuff to do here.
One thing that carried over from the old look was voting on peoples' cars and yesterday a whole bunch of you braved the new site’s teething pains to vote on our Suzuki Samurai with eight tires that was totally prepped for the snowpocalypse. Sadly for the seller, fully 83% of you weren’t prepared to brave its asking price, and it went down in a Crack Pipe loss.
You know, there are some cars that sit on the shelf, no matter how awesome they seem, and how much free press they get. Today’s 1974 Datsun 610 with a turbo KA24 is just such a car. You may have remembered it from Bring a Trailer back around the holidays. It made that site in naturally aspirated form a couple times even before that. Back in December the seller waffled around his price, starting at $25K and then dropping it down to $21,000.
After not selling at either of those points, it’s now back in saddle at $22,000. What does that get you? Well, for starters, there’s a starter. That’s attached to a KA24 sporting a Garrett GT2871R and rebuilt by Datsun specialist Troy Ermish Racing. The ad claims the boosted motor pumps out a healthy 300 horses at the wheels.
With so many ponies in the corral, it’s a good thing the rest of the mechanicals have been given a once over. That includes an ACT clutch, 5-speed gearbox, Ermish suspension kibbles and bits, Wilwood brakes, and Volk wheels.
Wrapped around all that is a buttercup yellow coupe body modded only by a set of earlier model bumpers. While the styling of the precedent 510 was what could best be described as staid, the 610 was flamboyant in comparison. Which one has the greater appeal is pretty much a personal taste thing, although it’s safe to say the later car doesn’t enjoy the same following as does the earlier model.
The interior here is highlighted by a pair of two-tone Recaro sport seats, a three-spoke alcantara-like wheel, and a dashboard that seems to be built from more different pieces than Taylor Swift’s had boyfriends. If you heart the ‘70s, it doesn’t get much more evocative of that crazy era than this dash.
As I had noted, this car has been on the market off and on for a while, and it kind of makes you wonder is it really as great as it’s made out to be? There’s absolutely no doubt that the money poured into this car has been put in many of the right places, and there’s nothing wrong with the seller trying to recoup as much of his investment in its sale.
Thing is, this is a $22,000 Datsun 610, and however nice it is, how big a market is there for $22K 610s? What do you think, is that market large enough to support this one at that price? Should someone drop twenty two large on this clean and obviously mean 610? Or, is this a custom Datsun, for which dat’s just too much?
You decide!
eBay or go here if the ad disappears.
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