Faults:

Boot lock broke.

General Comments:

I bought a 1976 (P reg) 120Y , four door for £300 , off of a mate who had owned it for about two years.This was in around 1988 , so we were both about 19 I suppose.

It was that disgusting mustard brown colour and had two sporty spot lights on the front.

We both agreed the best thing was the funky blue light that came on when the rear screen heater was employed . Cool! . It was only an 1171cc motor , but ran on two star petrol and would give me about 40mpg.

I marvelled at the moulded , curved dash and ergonomic seats ( with head rests ! ) It even had a built in radio! ( I had owned a Mk 1 escort before the 120Y , so it was like a jet fighter in comparison !) We decided to fit a rev counter to it , so went to a breakers yard in Crawley . Having found a donor car on the stack , we expertly and surgically removed the rev counter ( and clock ) by sitting on the back seat and kicking the sh*ite out of the dash. I had the car for about 15 months after that . It went like stink and downhill with the wind behind it , I swear it did well over 100 . ( Braking wasn't too good at more than 30 ! ) It never broke down and always started. Handling was non existant , on ridiculously skinny rubber , but you could get the back end out , wet or dry !

Anyhow , it rotted badly along the sills and the gearbox started to whine, so we pugged it with newspaper and P40 , MOT'd it and I sold it to another mate for what I had paid for it ! He blew the gearbox up in about 4 days , so my mate and I fitted a second-hand one for him for £40 ( only took us an hour and a half ! ) .

This third mate had it for about another two years ! It cost him about £300 in welding and the second gearbox eventually went . I had one last chance to drive it , for old times sake before it was ceremonially put through a "fragmentiser" in Newhaven (a huge metal eating thingy on the quay side) . He even got £10 for the scrap steel !

Now we're older and nostalgia is becoming part of our daily lives , we'd love another. Have you got one?

Faults:

The car has superficial rust, but I believe this is the case with most Datsuns of this age!

Needed a new petrol filter at 100,000 miles.

Apart from that, only wear and tear.

General Comments:

This car is from 1975, so of course it doesn't have air conditioning, a fancy stereo and all the mod cons, but it has never let me down.

A lot of people regard Datsuns as rust buckets, but they are now something of a classic car, and there is even a club to support Datsun owners in keeping their cars on the road.

This car gets a few stares now and again, because of its rarity, and also because people don't expect a car of this age to be overtaking new cars!!

The engine is so quiet that the MOT man once thought it wasn't even running, and asked me to re-start it, and he was amazed when I told him it was in fact still running.

Very easy to maintain and do DIY work on. A new clutch can be fitted in 30 minutes in this car I believe.

If you want some fun and stares, then a Datsun is the car to have. Get one now before they are all exported or used for banger racing.