The exterior is a work of art. The grille alone is a wonderful tribute to the art of plastic moulding, featuring lots of fake chrome and intricate detailing. Check out the flattened-football hubcaps (the greatest wheeltrim design of all time?), the curious rising sill-line, the little indentations in the rear wings (not visible in the pic, but they are there), and that's the regular four door - the two door coupe is a whole other thing altogether, worthy of an essay all to itself.
My favourite touch is inside:
Check out that dashboard! Millions of people spent many, many hours sat behind that, trundling along in a world of flared trousers and the Bay City Rollers. The square dials are immediately obvious, but the highlight lurks near to the radio:
The control-knob for the fresh air vent is in the "D" shape of the Datsun typeface. I assume it's an air vent anyway, I shall have to do some research and find out!
Simply magnificent. Not even Maserati, with their famous gold clock, come close.
4 comments:
Hi there,
As far as I can remember, the "D" badge on the dashboard wasn't a vent - more a styling feature. The air vents were circular, and only provided one each for the driver and passenger - this can be seen behind the steering wheel, at about 2-o'clock.
My parents had one of these vehicles for many years (a turquoise one!), and as it was the first car that I can really remember, I loved it. I actually saw one on the road yesterday, which prompted me to log on to find some more info, and so stumbled on your site.
All the best,
Matt,
Southsea UK
I should clarify the D in place of a clock. If you had a higher/sportier spec model if came with a rev. counter which replaced the clock / dials to the left of the speedo. This then made it necessary to move the clock.
My Mum had a 120Y Coupe. Wow... sort of a Japanese Ford Gran Torino (in my 10 year old head at the time). We had a read one and I wanted the white stripe!
Anyway, the (pointless) rev counter was left of the speedo and the TINY clock was where the D badge is.
The D vent was actually a 'blank' that was used for models that had a clock next to the speedometer. In the coupe the D blank removed and was replaced with a clock as that model had a tachometer
it was quite brave in 70's to have a japanese car as it was considered unpatriotic! crazy now ....... must admit you dont see many nowdays though
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