As a west coast car that started out in Washington state, this 1981 Datsun 210 SL Wagon appears to be a solid example of a vehicle that’s rarely seen on the roads anymore. The seller has it listed here on eBay in Grand Rapids, Michigan and they have an incredible number of photos posted, around 175 of them! The current bid price is $510 but the reserve isn’t met. $510 isn’t going to cut it as they also have it listed on their website for $14,900!
I’m not a fan of the wheels, otherwise, I love this wagon. I don’t see any rust really anywhere even underneath. That’s amazing for a car that’s over four decades old and one that would normally be riddled with rust holes by now if it would have lived anywhere but the west coast. The seller thinks that the paint may be original and it’s hard to tell. It shows a fair amount of orange peel almost everywhere so I would guess that it’s been repainted at some point but I don’t know for sure.
Original paint or not, if there isn’t any body putty under that shiny paint all is well here as far as I can see. The early-1980s is when Nissan was evolving here to change their vehicles from Datsuns to Nissans. I recently had an almost perfect 1983 Datsun Nissan Sentra with both badges as a lot of them had in that transitional period before the Datsun badges went away forever.
The blanket seat covers are nice but it would be nicer to see what’s under them, and the dash cover is bordering on somewhat amazing, in my opinion. My ’83 Datsun-Nissan Sentra had one of the very few uncracked dashes from this era so I’m guessing that’s what the story is here. I love it. This example has high miles at almost 200,000 miles but it was towed behind an RV for who knows how many years or decades so we don’t know how many miles are on the drivetrain. Yes, this one has a 5-speed manual transmission, another major plus.
The cargo area looks great and I think that may be a shadow on the back of the rear seat rather than a stain but I don’t know for sure. The Datsun 210 was known mainly as a Nissan Sunny or Datsun Sunny in Japan and elsewhere it was known as a Datsun 120Y, 130Y, 140Y, or 150Y depending on which engine it had, and they were known as the Datsun 210 here from 1979 to 1982.
The engine is, I believe, Nissan’s 1.5L inline-four. The seller refers to it as a 1.4L but I was under the assumption that the wagons received the bigger 1.5L and in 1981 all models other than the Datsun 210 MPG model got the 1.5L engine, but I’m not positive. If it is the 1.488L version, it would have had 65 horsepower which is where the 5-speed would come in handy. Oddly enough, the seller doesn’t mention one word as to how or even if this one runs which is unexpected given their incredible ad otherwise. They do have a video on their website here on YouTube showing the car running and it sounds throatier than what I would have thought. Have any of you had a Datsun 210?
Great find! I remember when these were everywhere. I’m mostly a fan of stock appearances, but these rims are a plus on this car as far as my eyes see. It would be nice if the stock wheels came with the car though.
Seats should be cloth inserts and vinyl bolsters, when I was a kid the neighbors had a white one with blue interior.
They’re a professional shop seeking absolute top dollar, if it has good original upholstery and stock wheels they should be showing them.
Those extraordinarily shiny tires must add at least a couple of thousand to the price!
I’ve been looking for a nice original base model Sentra or 82 or 83 ford escort. I had a 79 datsun 210 but mine was primarily rust with assorted bits and pieces of painted metal in between. Mechanically reliable but horrible steel and the fabrics and plastics started to disintegrate hours after it left the dealer
My sister also had a 79 Datsun 210. Two door, bright blue with a blue interior, stick, and very little panel rust but a whole bunch of weld rust. Last time I drove it I thought the thing was going to bend in half at the firewall. It was a fun little car for what it was.
I worked at a Toyota dealership in 1981, and I remember they got 5 of these 210s (sedans) , probably former rentals. They had automatics and they were slow. A Corolla would have ran circles around them.
I had a 77 B210 two door sedan. It rusted in half. Literally! This is the updated B210, second generation.
I had a B210 too, did the same thing.
I moved on to a 2 door 210, a year older than this (round headlights) but same color, couldn’t get it to run with a bad carburator. I eventually ended up with a wagon of this vintage, dark blue.
I liked all of them, even the one that wouldn’t run lol.
A couple years later I got a 1983 Sentra from my uncle, drove it until the timing belt broke.
My Mom bought a 1984 Sentra brand new. Slower than molasses (automatic) but a tough little car. I was a very bad teenager, and I took her car without her knowing it on a regular basis.
That little car went 4x4ing, flying through the air, had all sorts of terrible things done to it.
One night I managed to get it stuck between 2 trees, about 4 feet off the ground. The insurance company paid the claim & kept the car.
About 2 years later I was driving down a main drag, I saw the car sitting at a service station with plates from a neighboring state. I knew it was Mom’s old car because of the bumper stickers & various pieces of physical damage (dents, scratches, so on). The service station got me in touch with the owner (he was going to junk it because of a bad head gasket). I bought it and fixed it, drove the snot outta it. My old key from when my Mom had it even worked.
Not a fan of the newer Nissan products, but these are cool!
$14,000 for a 41 year old Datsun with almost 200,000 miles on it then I should be able to get $50,000 for my 93 F150 with 111,0000 miles on it and I’m the second owner
Someone educate me. I’ve often wondered does a car that is towed accumulate mileage even though it’s not running?
If the rear wheels are on the ground when towing it will add mileage for this car.That is where the speed sensor is located.
I believe the idea is it won’t add miles to the drivetrain, which is true. And with that being said, the 200,000 miles are probably not all running/operating miles. But those miles are still on the suspension & tires. Those things wear out too.
This car doesn’t really have that many miles on it. While I realize that it would be impossible to document, I would guess form the looks of this car that it has been driven less than half of the miles that are shown on the odometer. Such is the case with many cars that were towed behind a camper all over the place.
I love the Bluebird (510) esp when hot rodded and well painted. Keep the sno flakes (wheels).
My wife had a 1980 210 sedan when we got married. It was a great car, easy to work on, good on gas, and relatively comfortable. We traded it in on a new Sentra in 1986. the 210 had only 105,000 miles and the only thing that was wrong with it was no A/C. These are very rare because even though Nissan made tons of them, most were rusted out and they were a “disposable” car.
This one looks good, but those seat covers tell me that the vinyl is torn and worn. Good cars, but not sure it’s worth 14K.