Here’s one for you vintage Japanese collectors and/or lovers: a 1977 Datsun B210 Sedan and it’s on eBay with an unmet opening bid of $3,000 and a Buy It Now price of (are you sitting down?) $14,000! It’s located in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. The seller says that they will not get involved with shipping, but I hope that doesn’t mean that they won’t at least be there when a shipper shows up to take it away. This looks like a car that you could jump in and drive home no matter where you live, but most of us can’t afford that amount of time.
I know, for a $14,000 car the photos aren’t plentiful and most of the ones that are included aren’t the best, but what’re ya gonna do. More on that a bit later.. This honey of a non-honey bee is a 38,000-mile, one-owner, all-original car. Pretty amazing! And, it really is as nice as it looks here, all of that original paint appears to really be that nice. But, they say that there are a few small dings in the body from it being in the garage for so long, bummer. Paintless dent remover, here we come!
This is the sedan body style as opposed to the famous hatchback that most of us have seen. The Honey Bee was based on the sedan body. I have seen nice B210s, but none this nice. This is almost on par with the totally restored and very pricey Mitsubishi Lancer from a couple of days ago. Unfortunately with this car, there are no interior photos or detail photos at all other than the one of the tireless spare tire well in the trunk.
Pro tip for sellers: photos are king when it comes to getting the highest possible price for your vehicle, especially if it’s as nice as you say it is. Why would you skimp on photos to sell a car for $14,000 if it’s as nice as it sounds like it is in the text portion of the ad? Overwhelm us with great photos, go overboard with photos, and horizontal ones if at all possible. People buying vehicles online want photos, good ones, and lots of them. It’s a gamble to buy any vehicle online, do all that you can to make sure that folks know what your car looks like inside and out, top to bottom. I would have trouble shelling out multi-thousands of dollars for a vehicle without personally inspecting it first if there were just four photos in an ad and then I’d be spending another $250 for that inspection that’d I’d most likely try to negotiate back out of the price. Ok, I’ll get off the soap box now, let’s look at that engine!
This is Datsun’s A14 engine, a 1.4L, 1,397 CC inline-four with around 70 hp. It looks pretty clean but it looks like there is some surface corrosion on a few of the parts and pieces, but that could just be grime after four decades. The choke needs adjusting, apparently it’s a bit hard to start when it’s cold, bummer. Also, the “safety switch on the transmission” needs adjustment? And, yes, unfortunately this car has an automatic transmission; the price just dropped precipitously. This is no doubt a fantastic Datsun B210, maybe one of the nicest original ones left. But that price! And an automatic. What do you think about this little blue beauty? What’s it worth?
At 14k and no historical docs I am sure no one will want this more than the seller.
Wedding bells are ringing……cuz this guy is married to this car! It could be brand new in the wrapper and then maybe it’s worth the 3K . But hey, some people save string too…..they just don’t pay gold prices for it!
Sounds like the seller’s been watching the 356/911/510 market.
I have a ’78 B210 coupe (hatchback),that been undergoing restoration
for over ten years now,rebuilding everything,& will probably sell if/when
I ever get it done,but would never expect anywhere near that price.
Not sure what the market value is on these,but at least it’s not
going down.
Looks beautiful. I would be very interested.
-Michael
Micheal,
Give me a call – (707) 445-3354.
I’m thinking that’s the, “I really don’t want to sell it but,…. If you want to give me 14K for it, it’s yours” price.
I have a nice old car myself that’s not really for sale but, if someone was willing to pay “crazy” money for it, it would be heading down the road.
It’s a very nice example of the breed but, over priced for what it is. I guess we’ll see if I’m wrong.
I’ve seen this car at the Chrystal point yacht club car show and it’s very clean photos don’t do it justice. As for 14k well all I can say is good luck.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, the car is amazing, that is why I had to get it out of that garage and on the road to be seen. I got a lot of positive comments that night at Crystal Point. Just waiting for the right person to take the car from me, no drama, just not my type of car. It was cool finding out about it and getting the car in the daylight again. I know 14k would take ALOT of luck lol
Id say the price has a zero too much by accident.
In the early 50s Datsun built British (MG) engines under license. When it was time to develop their own, the cloning was obvious. I had a ’77 B210 2 door sedan until recently.9 (see pic). Iron block, 5 main bearings, forged steel crank, simple overhead valve 1400cc engine. The automatic was a loose copy of the Ford C4 and was used in most Japanese cars in the 70s and well beyond, even reconfigured into the later front wheel drive system. Also bullet proof. Expect well over 200,000 trouble free miles from that drive train. Often WELL over. Fun little 80,000 actual mile survivor, but noisy, crude,slow,leaky. I liked it though. Sold it for $1750 last summer to a college student. Terry J
You’ve got $14 K to spend.
And you choose this.
HOW SAD!
We had a honey bee when we first got married. My goodness it was inexpensive, made by beetle look luxurious, but it was a great durable car, not 14000 great though.
for this amount of money you had better have another car to be included with this sale-as in a 240z or at least 3 of these 310s at the same beginning asking price—-sure is clean and straight—but not the buy it now price—-i can buy a 2016 malibu loaded up for that price -NEW-
Quote: “I would keep it but I think someone else may want this more than I.”
Reality: Priced over market by at least 40% (probably closer to 100% ~ $7K), it seems we’ll find out if someone does, in fact, want this more than the seller. IMO, it’s doubtful.
What a funny ad, grandma’s car is finally worth something.
As I mentioned earlier, check out craigslist Tampa. People ask ridiculous sums for rustbucket cars, and the photos (both of them) are lousy. People.
Way overpriced. Can I have the Eldorado in the pictures next to it? I’d $14,000 for it.
Thanks for the sitting down warning Scotty, you nailed it. Could be the worst looking hubcaps ever.
Another over priced car that would make a decent DD and nothing more. IMO
maybey a nice grand national or s2000
I paid $1100 for mine in 1982 and it rusted in half. Literally!
Great little cars, owned a few and worked on a number of them. Datsun built some good stuff. I pulled a motor and trans out of one and stuffed it in a Triumph Spitfire once. Was a great swap and affordable,
Not very fast but good mileage and durability.
Theres a local guy who built one of these into a electric powered car that just smokes everybody who tries to race him.
But this car, while very nice is insane on price. It just speaks volumes about the seller. Over priced, crappy pictures, bad description just says craziness all over it.
Aaaagh, my eyes! I always hated those hub caps. They made a plain looking car look even worse. This one isn’t even the hatchback which helped the styling a bit more. 14k, no way…….
My girlfriend in college had one of these new. Awful car. SLOW!. Grossly underpowered. Prone to lots of rust. Odd ball styling. So many other cars worthy of your money. To me this is a $3500 car.
Great ecobox’s. My friends dad had one. Cramp, hard riding but durable.
Hay-zuez kee-rist 14k for a b210? Even if original (which I’ve got trouble believing) no way. It’s way too wavy and no interior shots? This seller has smoked too much Ganga before watching car shows.
I once watched a noble blade detach from a tractor I was driving and use its homing device to track down my uncle’s MIL’s B210 and pin it against a tree. So the only knowledge I have of a B210 is that it is a farm implement magnet.
I don’t see 14k, and I own an rattle trap 81 210, that was in pretty good shape 12 year ago when I bought it from the original owner. The thing is bullet proof, my 16yo learned to drive stick in it and then drove the snot out of it for 2yrs. He loves that car, battery’s down you say, ok, you can push start it by yourself on level ground. I had the starter go out and always parked facing down hill, pop the clutch and vrooom gone again. The only failure it’s had, was after 32 yrs 200k the head gasket had corroded and blew. When I tore it down you could still see the factory cross hatch on the cylinders. And my son trying to act like John Force blew a couple of u-joints. Maybe the most dependable thing I own. 😂😂. He drove it to college 3hrs north of home, I’ve hopped in it a couple years ago and drove it 5 hours one way to my folks house in Florida. 228k, I’d get in it and drive anywhere tomorrow. I have people look at me all the time like I’m nuts when I tell them that. I love that car.
@Brian I love your 210! My first car was a 79 in the same shade of blue the featured car is in. Never let me down and as you said simple to work on and easy to push start. Only thing with mine was U joints weren’t replaceable, I had to replace the entire driveline. Nissan dealer wanted more than I paid for the car so I cannabilized one from a wrecking yard. Miss that little car.
Wife to car owner “sell the car”. Car owner lists car at outrageous price because he doesn’t want to get rid of it. Car owner says to wife “See nobody wants to buy the car honey so I guess we will have to keep it”. Happy car owner gets to keep his car leaving everyone else including people here wondering “WTF?” Happens more often than you think.
I tried that sales tactic with my 1986 Prelude. Then some guy called and wanted to buy it. Even with 5th gear gone and 350000 km. He already had a newer motor and trans ready to go in – wanted a body style you don’t see too much for cruise nights. Then I kind of had to sell… I should have asked $14k.
Funny and you get an up vote. The other version is, buyer overpaid on purchase or paid a shop to detail and frshen up and wife found out how much he spent, Delivers ultimatum. (She found his credit card billing)
HAS to sell, # SWMBO.
Apparently “Do whatever the F*** you want” did not mean what he thought.
( I actually have seen an ad with that, and my wife is early stages of menopause *Duck! mood swing!* so get ready for zany behavior..)
Here in the UK,B210 models were sold as the Datsun Cherry,a teacher at my high school drove an old yellow one in this body style and we got those striking hubcaps too!. This is in great condition for the year.
My step son Mike bought a yellow one about 7 years ago for $650. Had 225,000 miles on it. His Jetta was broke down (again) and he just needed to get through that winter with it.
He drove everywhere it for 5 more years. When the 4 speed tranny finally broke, he put it in C/L and a kid came down from Portland (200 + miles) and bought it. He drove it home. I made him promise to call me when (if) he made it. No problem, Once he got it into 4th, he pointed North and headed up I-5. Amazing little car really. :-) Terry J
These were dependable little econo boxes ugly hubcaps and all. They would start slowing down if the saw a hill in the headlamps though. I can’t see this bringing $14k if it were driven off the dealers lot in 1977 and straight into climate controlled storage. Nice shape though.
Maybe $3500..even $5000 if it is darn Pristine. But $14k? NO WAY.
This was was cool finding this site ESPECIALLY with my car on it! Yes 14 k was the crazy price, but there are crazy (rich) people out there. I have reduced the price to where I need to be. As far as the pictures, I appreciate the advise and would spend the time and effort to take a lot of better ones If someone showed interest. In my defense, I know the car model may not be that desirable but find another in this shape for sale.
Steve, thanks for chiming in!
Anyone know if this car ever sold ?
Yes I sold it.
Thank You
2,000 is a good deal but higher than that would be way too much.