I will admit that I have a certain attraction to the Datsun 510 having owned a couple of 4-door versions myself. With 4-wheel independent suspension, they can possess wonderful handling. This 2-door version is listed for sale here on eBay. Located in Shelton, Washington, it is listed with a clear title. The seller has set an opening bid of $5,000 in what he refers to as an “all or nothing” auction. The car comes with a fair pile of spare parts and components, and the seller has stated clearly that the whole lot sells as a package deal, and that he is not interested in selling the car separately.

The seller states that this is a solid car with mainly surface rust to be addressed. It appears that known trouble spots such as the lower rear quarter panels and around the rear and side glass appear to be solid. There is a small amount of rust on the lower edges of the front fenders and near the tail-lights, but from experience this is fairly easy to address. The bumpers will require repair and re-chroming and the grille looks like it needs some minor repair, but otherwise the body shows some promise.

The dash pad has a couple of minor cracks in it, but hopefully these can be repaired. Otherwise the interior is going to require quite a bit of work. There is an aftermarket radio/cassette player fitted along with speakers in the door trims. Those door trims aren’t original, and the vinyl looks like it may be interior trim material from the early 240Z. The seats are an unknown quantity, as is the headliner. There is no carpet and the condition of the rear seat is also unknown.

There are no shots of the engine, but there is this shot of the numerous boxes of parts that will be included in the sale. These parts include a complete and unassembled spare engine, spare cylinder heads and a catalogue of sundry parts that the seller has accumulated over 35 years. There is also an unassembled turbo engine, although the seller doesn’t elaborate on what type of engine it is. One of the photos does indicate that it may be a turbo L-Series engine. There are also several other turbo engines that are relatively easy to transplant into a 510 engine bay, and all of these provide great performance in a car that is so light. The car does sit lower than standard as it has been fitted with factory competition suspension components.

This is undoubtedly quite a big project, but on the positive side of the equation it appears that with the huge supply of spare parts that are included in the sale, all of the potentially expensive components should be present. The body restoration doesn’t look to be terribly involved, and this little 510 has the potential to be a really nice car when completed.