This unbelievably rare ranch sedan/station wagon/pickup is a 1954 Datsun 6147. This ultra-rare double-cab pickup can be found on Craigslist, or here on the CL archive, in the Washington D.C. area and it has an asking price of $20,000. Thanks to Fred H. for sending in this hen’s-teeth-rare Datsun pickup!
The seller has this double-cab or Ranch Sedan listed as a “1936-1940 Datsun King Cab” but it’s most definitely not a pre-war truck. It’s a 1954 model 6147, I would bet my wife’s cat’s life on it. One image that I ran across on the internet from a 1955 magazine article shows it listed as a DU-5, but the data tag clearly shows the year as being 29 5. Showa 29 on the Japanese calendar is 1954 on the Western calendar, and 5 is, of course, May, so there ya go – May of 1954. It just happens that he 6147 was made between 1953 and 1955. The 1955 article refers to it as a “station wagon”, a “combination four-seat coupe and pick-up truck body”. Very, very cool.
The seller has included a great YouTube video showing most of this truck and it would sure draw a crowd at any car show, not just a vintage Japanese show. They got this truck in a “real estate transaction” – I would love to tag along on their next real estate transaction if this is the kind of thing that they’re bringing home. Overall it looks really solid for being notoriously thin Japanese sheet metal from this era. It looks like most of the parts are there including rare badges and trim. There are two caps on what would have been wiring openings for turn signals that would have been mounted on the A-pillars. I know, that’s unusual yet cool at the same time, which pretty much defines this Datsun. They would not have been mounted on the top of the fenders as shown on this example.
Yes, this one needs a full restoration but it’s the most solid and most complete Japanese vehicle that I have seen from this era. It would no doubt be the jewel for any vintage Japanese vehicle collector other than maybe a Toyota 2000GT or Mazda Cosmo or similar sports car. The interior looks tidy other than the dash showing layers of peeling paint. The seats almost look great and the carpet was obviously an addition at some point – I’m 99.9% sure that there wouldn’t have been carpet in this vehicle originally. This truck “was shipped from Japan by US Military Officer” in the US Forces Japan, as seen in the January, 1968 sticker on the windshield.
Being a 1954 6147 model, this engine should be Nissan’s D-10 860cc inline-four with 25 hp. This truck would have had a top speed of around 50 mph. The seller mentions the speedometer going to 100 but that’s kilometers which is around 62 mph and I doubt that this truck would ever reach that speed. They say that the carburetor is missing which is never good for anything this old and rare, but otherwise it looks much cleaner in the engine compartment than I would have expected. I would do some things bordering on naughty and/or somewhat illegal to be able to buy this truck and have it restored to like-new condition. This may be my favorite vehicle that I have ever shown here at Barn Finds. This truck really belongs in the Nissan Heritage Museum, it’s as rare as it gets.
Wow! This one is a rarity and in nice shape to boot. Definitely worth a restoration. Not a powerhouse but who’s gonna be in a hurry if you’re out enjoying this one? I’d take this one over a Toyota 2000 or a Mazda Cosmo any day and twice on Sunday. Nice truck and a great find….
I like it but no way I would choose it over the 2000!!
Really Cool truck !
Early 30’s front end on a ’54- only the Japanese would do that. No doubt the Holy Grail of collectors of this species. If it were 10K and nearby, I would have to have it.
It’s very convenient that the gear shift lever is mere inches from the wiper handle.
I think someone will pay close to his asking price for this. Very cool
You’d have to be nearby, Fred, as the seller only wants to deal with locals – apparently, those of us further afield are scammers, according to the wording in the ad.
That is a very cool machine and I hope it does go for a reasonable price to a decent home. Thanks for posting, Scotty!
I’d consider paying his asking price just to save this thing, but I’m not going to even try to deal with such a moron. He thinks anyone who wants to buy it sight unseen and WIRE THE MONEY into his account is a scammer? How does this paranoid nutter think that (semi-) large transactions like this are done?
The related issue is that if he’s so far out on his own planet on that score, who knows what other crap would come up in trying to do a deal with him, or even in trusting his representation of the car. Pass.
Someone needs to call the Nissan Heritage Museum and let them know about this find. As fun as this would be to drive around town, I agree it belongs there. I’ve been a Datsun/Nissan fan my entire life and I have never seen one of these IRL. I’d be super surprised if there was another one in the States. This is why I visit this site every day.
Why not let that someone be you? Here is their info.
Address: 2-10-1 Hironodai, Zama 252-8502
Phone: +81 46-298-4355
Let us know what they tell you
LOL, I thought the same thing after I posted. I attempted to contact Nissan North America via their contact form, but it wasn’t working for some reason. I’ll try again later or call Japan directly.
There’s the US Datsun heritage collection here in Nashville, run by Nissan. But they aren’t going to touch this vehicle for $20k. They have a sensible budget to work with. A shame, really, because they could restore the hell out of this truck.
Glad to know that collection exists Alexander. Wish it was open to the public! It’s not far from me. I may just try to contact them anyway to see if they can help. I’ve been trying to get someone to give me an email address for the heritage museum in Japan. Nissan NA’s site is not cooperating and, given that I don’t speak Japanese, I’m not sure how a phone call halfway across the world would go.
Lane Motor Museum is a caretaker for some of the Nissan Heritage Collection. Would love to see them acquire it and have Lane do a restoration. It would make a great addition to that collection.
I reached out to someone at Lane Motor Museum yesterday to ask them to get in contact with the Nissan Heritage folks about this. I haven’t heard back from them yet.
I heard back from Lane Motor Museum today. They have passed the information about this truck on to the folks from the Nissan Heritage Collection. If I get any follow up from them I’ll let everyone know!
That is a really cool looking little rig. The front end is my favorite. I would have to get it all done up and drive all the time. It’s kind of funny that my lawn mower has more horse power.
Great comments! I wasn’t sure how this one would go over here but it’s nice to see such positive reaction to this historic little gem.
If we each put in $2,800.. hmm.. It looks quite restorable, doesn’t it? Frankly I’m surprised at both the low asking price and the fact that it still seems to be available.
I love this car. Scotty—I don’t always read the byline on the articles, but when I read that the author thought this might be the most interesting car ever on Barnfinds–I knew it must be you. I love your taste in offbeat automobiles.
Just a tad ungainly in the side view, but the rarity makes up for that. The RHD says this is a JDM vehicle. That, and the fact that unless you were into something that could be called microfarming, this would not have competed well against the mighty No American farming vehicles back in the ’50s.
It even has some carpeting in the cab. And am I seeing a middle accelerator? There were a few older European vehicles that came with a middle accelerator but I have never seen that on a JDM vehicle.
It’s expensive, but as the collector car saying goes, go find another.
Center throttle, yes! I drove a prewar Lancia like that once, very scary. Just don’t do anything too quickly and it’s okay – sort of.
A bit of an ugly duckling for sure, but what a neat looking vehicle.Thanks barnfinds for showing me something I have never seen…again.
Don’t restore, just tidy it up and get it driveable. At the risk of being repetitive, “they’re only original once”.
“Early 30’s front end on a ’54- only the Japanese would do that. (No doubt the Holy Grail of collectors of this species. If it were 10K and nearby, I would have to have it).”
Back when Japanese were still copying the Brits (who copied the USAs) and B4 they copied the USA directly. Next it was copying the Europeans. Finally their own style innovations (on some models, others, the majority, copy Europeans coping them)…
Jeesh, ‘world cars’ didn’t start in the 90s!
Wait….what about my PT crusiers…..1930’s on a 2001….2003….2004….yes I have 3 along with some 1930’s Ford’s..
Wow really like it and soooo cool it survived.
Sold
It’s unbelievably primitive for a 1954 vehicle!
I’ve seen this same vehicle on other sites, listed as a 1938 Datsun T-15, the first ‘mass-produced’ Japanese vehicle. (Descendant of the Datson T11.) Said to be missing the carburetor. One of the few produced of this ‘big cab’ version. The earlier date and different model may answer a few of the lingering questions. Engine was a 722cc L-head four, and fewer than 100 were officially exported.
Street Rod,,,,,,, LS motor, AOD Trans,
Narrowed 9″.
I just knew someone would suggest that. I just expected it would be suggested sooner.
I’d take this one and the cosmo. Toyota’s be damned.
That wiper handle near the gear shift is actually the handle to open the windshield for ventilation. The top would be hinged, some how, while the bottom was pushed out.
The windshield wiper is is above the windshield and is probably vacuum operated.
Styling is very similar to the pre-war Datsun 7hp.
Probably sounds like a helicopter inside and rides like a buckboard. I love it!!
if i would fit in, (i am 6″3 and 250 lbs) i would love to take it for a test drive, seriously, what a cool truck, i wait every day here in Germany for your latest email, only here i see stuff like this, suprising even me as guy working and live from and with cars ,
The “Y” plate backs up the story of a US military member shipping it home. The Y stood for Yank (as in Yankee).
I too, think the plate is cool but I can’t cipher it. One rare truck!
Chuck in Kansas
Yes the “Y” plate and 1968 road tax sticker denotes it was owned by a service member who probably brought it back with them.
Been living in Japan for 30 years and have seen some older Toyota’s and Datsuns but first time I’ve seen one of these.
Scotty G …you’ve surpassed yourself completely👍
Is the engine a bored-out Austin Seven-derived one? I know that Datsun built Sevens under license.
I have never seen one if these I think it’s a cool truck especially for some one like me that loves trucks
This is so much a miniature version of a 40’s Canopy cab Seagrave Fire Engine !
I had a 1961 Morris Minor pickup the back of this Toyota looks exactly like the morris , still a very cool vehicle would love to have it but not for 20,000
In defense of the guy talking about “scammers”, I recently put a friend’s mahogany table and chairs on Craigslist for her and was immediately hit on by the “I’ll send you a check for $50 over and a guy will pick it up ” scam right away. I wasn’t aware of the scam, but gave them my 2 year old son’s name to put on the check and gave them a post office box. Turns out , they send you a check for more than $50 over ( a fake check) and then ask you to send the difference back via Western Union. So there are some people working real hard to sucker people out of their hard earned money ……..
I’ve been hit by that scam a number of times and friends contacted ask me if it’s legit (they always buy sight unseen and send you enough to cover shipping) and I just tell them “Sure, not a problem! Send the check over). Then I explain that I’ll deposit the check and wait a week to make sure the check clears then send whatever I was selling. I then sell to the first person with cash cuz I know the check isn’t coming. They never do.
Seller has made a big mistake re: price. He should have asked $19,500 and it would have sold instantly – for many people, amounts under $20 grand fall into the “impulse purchase” bracket so stuff sells at $19,500 but people blank out at $20,000! I know this for a fact – I used to “flip” Bentleys and Rolls-Royces consistently and even 30 years ago could sell them all day long at $19,500 but people walked away at $20,000. It’s all psychology, perception and we’re not immune to it. Even if we can rationally say that $500 is just 2.5% of $20,000 on an emotional level our brain reacts completely differently to 20 than 19.5 and despite what we tell our spouses, partners or accountants, the purchase of collector car is 99.9% emotional, always was, and will always be.
Same with Real Estate… People will look at a property listed for 249900 but list it at 250000 and they won’t come… crazy.
Have you ever seen a 1954 Ford Anglia or Popular, 1954 Bond MiniCar, Fiat Topolino or even any Crosley? This is no more primitive or advanced than any of those. I could throw in the Davis Playboy (and yes, I’ve not only seen one, I’ve ridden in one) but very few people even know of the Davis.
I agree, this is pretty cool, for limited use, around here. It’s unusual it has 6 lug wheels for such a small truck, a Datsun exclusive on all their small pickups. While it’s certainly rare here, I can’t help but think, there’s some Asian “Fred Sanford” in Japan somewhere, still driving his 1954 Datsun pickup.
(cue Sanford and Son music)
Oh, how I wish it were true, but the Japanese tax rules were designed to persuade people to get rid of their old cars and replace with new! Just think how Detroit would have thrived if such had been the way here. Thank god it wasn’t!!
So, very few old cars survive in Japan. That’s why there is such a thriving business in importing used but good used Japanese engines and transmissions – the cars are scrapped long before they were worn-out, so the scavenged parts go on a boat and are sold here.
While we may not have had tax rules regarding older cars, we have road salt, and that helped bolster the auto industry.
Salt? What’s that?? (I live in Arizona!)
That lil truck is so cute. It’s like a puppy. First time I have ever seen or heard of one. I watched a movie the other day called The Outsider set in post war Japan. In that movie they did show one full size Japanese truck restored of that era. But it was pretty big compared to this. I believe it was a Toyota Truck. Anyway after the war the japanese manufacturing industry was destroyed. There talent pool of designers and engineers was almost nil. The US had most of the industries making stuff we wanted as war reparations. Very little was being used to advance the countries economic position. From what I remember anyway. Japan did not have many resources like the US did even before the war I guess that is why they attacked everyone trying to get control of all that. By the mid 50’s tensions eased enough that they started to allow more of those limited resources to be used to make lil trucks like this. They were inexpensive because they used simple copied designs to make them. As mentioned in prior posts. Little did we know that Japan would become a world leader in exports of vehicles at the end of the war. I once red that if a japanese car had reached 70k miles it would be taxed into non use status effectively. They were designing them to be almost completely recycleable much like germany does today. So you were supposed to trade your car in for a new one. They would scrap the old one, melt it all down and make new cars from the material. That is the jist of it anyway. I’m sure one of our other contributers has more detail for all that business. I bought a used engine from AAA japan motors for my T-100 it only had 70K miles on it. Such a deal.
Until recently annual road tax was set based on class, engine size etc… around 2011 or so the age of a vehicle was considered so vehicles older than 3 years old got incremental increases in taxes which led to a lot of people trading in their cars.
Once a vehicle has been deregistered for scrap it cannot be re registered (this is what led to the all trade ins are scrapped rumors) not so a vehicle can be deregistered for sale and then re registered at any time.
Japan exports a large number of used cars to S.E. Asia
Way back in the 90’s a vehicle that reached 10 years old was required to have its inspection done annually vice bi annually (that rule is no longer in effect only commercial vehicles have annual inspections) the inspection is very thorough similar to an M.O.T.
This was another reason many cars were sold on back in the day at the 10 year mark.
Comment above should have said 13 years old not 3 for the incremental increase in taxes.
Another thing to note on road taxes every prefecture (state) can set it sown level of taxes.
Recently a friend who has a 1960 Dodge Polara station wagon moved it from our prefecture to another and when he went to get it registered in that prefecture his road taxes doubled from $900 to $1800 annually.
Love the nose–that grill shell screams 32 ford….very unique piece!!!
@ China-
Trailer.
Salt is what’s on the rim of the glass that your Margaritas in.
@ Chinga-
Trailer.
Salt is what’s on the rim of the glass that your Margaritas in.
Great info on the truck of that age
https://web.archive.org/web/20170120030747/http://www.earlydatsun.com/datsun6147.html
bought it! so cool!
Awesome Gug! Send us more pictures!
Any updates?! Or anywhere to see cleaned up?!
Great!! Send pics. Maybe BF should set up a section for ongoing restorations. Please don’t post if you’re going to put a SBC in it.