It is amazing to see vehicles that survive under truly awful conditions and somehow emerge relatively unscathed. When you tour a vehicle donation lot, you’ll see the occasional survivor that was simply donated by a kindly old couple, but you’ll also find plenty of vehicles that have been to the brink before being rescued by a nonprofit charity. This 1979 Datsun King Cab pickup listed here on eBay is somewhere in between, as it has certainly seen better days but it’s more a result of aging gracefully as someone’s daily driver rather than being flogged mercilessly day in and day out.
The Datsun 620 pickup was known for being a stubborn billy goat of a truck, but for some reason, it doesn’t get nearly as much shine as the Toyota Hilux. The Datsun was part of the compact pickup class, but the 720 series did introduce a beefy 4WD variant. Powered by humble four-cylinder engines that were low on power but long on durability, the Datsun came in standard and long-bed lengths, along with a “King Cab” version like this truck, which amounted to barely a bump-out behind the rear seats and an extra pane of glass. The bodywork shows plenty of flaws and that’s not an OEM rear bumper, but it appears to be rust-free.
The interior features a stylish upholstery pattern, and it remains in surprisingly decent shape. The odometer shows just under 91,000 miles, which is hard to verify on these older vehicles, but the upholstery condition gives me some hope it might be accurate. The dashboard, of course, has some cracks to deal with. The truck does not run at the moment, which is a shame considering it likely won’t take much to get it to fire, but this donation lot seller isn’t going to do the work to make it operational. The automatic transmission is a bummer, but it also likely means the truck was babied.
Engine-wise, the Datsun came equipped with a a 2.0-liter L20B four-cylinder making 97 horsepower and 112 lb-ft of torque. Yes, that automatic will make that kind of power feel incredibly tepid, but I’d wager the engine will turn over with ease. The bidding is currently sitting at $1,750, which is honestly more than I’d expect for a rig like this. The California climate has helped many vintage Japanese vehicles like these survive while they’re virtually extinct everywhere else, so perhaps someone from the snow belt has their eye on this King Cab pickup truck.
Looks like it’s pretty much like just a good ol’ weekend home DIY truck that could nicely serve as a commuter during the week-the truck version of the UJM. Replete with the original style CA non commercial truck plate it looks to be intact. If the buyer gets it for a reasonable price it’d be a good project that would be usable besides.
There was an outfit in CA that dealt exclusively with Datsun renovations, refurbishing and upgrades that even had a kit to make 240/510/620 series autos into manuals-which would be the first change they may want to seriously consider.
GLWTA
I had two of these pass me buy.The first one was owned by our
next door neighbor& almost had a deal made for $500,but he sold
it to his brother instead.
Then there was a White one (’79?) in excellent shape that a friend
inherited from his dad,who bought it new.He loaned it to me,& I waxed
it really well,& tried & tried to buy it,but he wouldn’t sell it.
The really sad part was he just let it sit,& was finally hauled off to
the wrecking yard & was also rusty by that point.
I just did a Weber conversion on a 1978 king cab. The 78 had 4 wheel manual adjustment brakes where as this one, like my brother’s should have front disc brakes. The L20B is a great engine. A great vehicle. I had a 71 521 Datsun pick up that I drove 22 years and logged 280,000 miles.
One of the reasons there might be strong interest is because it’s a King Cab, Japanese trucks at this time were short on legroom if you were tall. The cab on this truck at least offered to possibility of a fix. There is also a strong interest in older pickups in general and because one of the most favored cars by drifters is the 240SX, an early Datsun pickup would be a good pairing.
This one will be interesting to watch, no matter where it finishes, it will still be an incredibly cheap truck, by todays standards.
Steve R
Still at $1750 with a little more than 3hrs left to bid! Someone might get a heck of a deal.
I had 2 King cabs I loved them but the rust took them from me…
For a taller guy who’d like to have one of these, that bump out is the critical selling point.
Sold on 11/29/2025 for a high bid of $1,913.88, there were 13 bidders and 20 bids. Well bought.
Steve R
Lovely looking Datto. Although I was way too young at the time to drive a car, I remember trucks like this. My late stepfather had a 1978 Toyota pickup truck.