This 1978 Datsun 510 wagon is originally from Tennessee and it has ZERO rust or body damage, according to the seller. This solid station wagon can be found here on eBay in Naples, Florida with an unmet opening bid of $9,995. Let’s dig into this Datsun.
This probably isn’t a car that a lot of people would dream about owning, unless they or their parents had one when they were growing up and it’s about the memories rather than being passionate about a big-bumper four-door Datsun wagon. I love it, of course, but not $10k love it. It is probably the nicest one on the globe, however, and I’m glad that it’s here.
This 510 isn’t the legendary Datsun 510 that some of us know and love, and the motorsports crowd certainly knows about. This 510 is a Nissan Violet A10 rebadged as a 510 for the US and Canada. We saw a really nice example a couple of years ago here on Barn Finds and that seller was asking less than 1/3 of what this one is going for as an opening bid. The market is different now as evidenced by a lot of recent comments lamenting good, cheap old cars, but I’m not sure if the late-70s Datsun wagon market has climbed that high, at least as of yet.
I think that a 4-speed or 5-speed manual transmission might help the value a bit on this car, and would surely help the fun-factor. But, these weren’t meant to be sporty machines, they were four-door station wagons for efficiently hauling your family around while using much less dino juice than a big, American car would have used. As such, they were grocery-getters and kid-haulers, not jammed, slammed, and wheel-well-crammed tuner cars, so a Jatco L3N 3-speed automatic is just fine here.
There aren’t really any photos showing the seats, either front or rear, in their entirety but the seller says that there is a small area on the back of the rear seat that’s separated a bit. There may be some issues on the driver’s seat and they added new carpet due to them smelling musty and being faded and stained, but otherwise, the interior looks great.
This shiny engine is Nissan’s L20B, a 2.0L inline-four with just under 100 hp. This car only weighs 2,400 pounds so that should be more than enough for modern-day use. This car runs and drives well and they say that they wouldn’t hesitate to jump in it and drive it across the country. I’m all over vintage Japanese cars, are there any other fans of 1970s Datsuns out there?
This looks nothing like the 240 z from my youth at this price 😏
I had just about finished thinking “too bad about the black interior” when I looked closer and noticed this has a glorious, screamingly 1978 GREEN interior!
If this were an earlier 510 AND a sedan the starting bid would be $25,000. reserve not met! There seems no end in sight. Thanks, Pete and John!
Still as clean as this wagon is seems a great buy. Where you going to find another? The auto isn’t a deal breaker. It is what it is.
I see it getting instant respect from the 20 and above crowd. Add a set of Watanabes slightly lower it and done. Well maybe loose the disco front bumper. I mean put it up for safe keeping. Looks cleaner without it or simply mod an extra set of bumper absorber mounts and pull it in closer for a cleaner look.
Still regardless of wheels or anything you would be at home and have the only one at any import meet. Not only that…..anywhere you go!
“If this were an earlier 510 AND a sedan the starting bid would be $25,000. ”
Indeed. I kick myself to this day for not holding onto my 1971 Datsun 510 sedan. (Ouch! That’s a lot of kicking!)
Can’t knock their optimism, but no way. Like the car, a lot, these wasted away pretty fast in the north, turned a lot of people off, hence, these weren’t very popular. Like most vintage Asian stuff, I’d be concerned about parts, important stuff, like suspension, trans, etc. Probably never need motor parts, they were excellent units. Sorry, it’s neat to see, but I wouldn’t give them $2g’s for this.
Super Clean example! (y)
But, as others have already noted, $10K is a bit “optimistic” for this 42+ year old econowagon.
I could see it easily selling for about HALF of that price, so perhaps the seller is just padding his asking price in hopes of attracting that potential buyer who routinely offers half-of-asking?
Still, gotta start the price somewhere. & it is much easier to start high & then lower your price at a later point in time than it would be to start low & then realize that you are asking too little! (…potential bidders rarely react well to a sudden price increase!) :-P
Sweet looking Datsun. The more new cars come out today, the more I like old cars of 40+ yrs ago. Cars that I remember from my childhood. While some people liked exotic cars, like Lamborghini Countach, Mercedes-Benz SL, and perhaps Rolls-Royce, I preferred cars like this.
How to make sure no one will bid on your eBayMotors auction in one easy step:
Step One: Make the opening bid ridiculously high.
Why in the world do that?
I’m not sure why sellers do that, Keith. They have to pay for the “air time” anyway, why not start it at $4,995 and maybe there’ll be a bidding war to drive it up to their reserve, which could be set at $8,995 or whatever, but to start it that high ensures that there’ll be no bids. It’s about as nice of an example as I’ve ever seen, but…
They also have the fantastic Vega that Adam Clarke wrote about a few days ago so they do have some nice cars for sale.
https://barnfinds.com/time-capsule-vega-1974-chevrolet-vega-estate-wagon/
nice, just what I need as DD (auto too!) its not a p/u or sports afterall…
3 – 5 K$?
$10,000 may sound like a premium for a car like this. But given its condition, it’s not that expensive! I’d buy it if I didn’t already have a car.