Beauty! The one my dad bought back in 1977, and we had it till early this year, when my brother sold it off without us knowing, as it was in his use mainly. It became a wreck lately, but still used to start 'half-self' start!. Never had its engine made, except for rings replacement once only! Thats was the beauty of this car. A time tested vehicle, an extraordinary shaped body and dash board... Sturdy, durable, tough, economical and a life partner - the Datsun 120Y...
They were fantastically reliable compared to much of the British Tat around at that time, always started in the cold and damp, had things like heated rear window, radio, and hazard warning lights, rare options on entry level cars of the mid 70's ... I owned and sold loads of them, brilliant little cars and Datsun proved that they were a force to be reckoned with, yes they rusted in the end like most cars of that period, but the most likely thing you would hear as it went to be scrapped or sold for spares was ...... " Shame really, because it's never let me down and still runs and drives perfectly "
I had a yellow one back in 92 which was my first car. Actually the body was immaculate apart from the faded paint. The engine ran so smoothly that at traffic lights passengers would think I'd turned the engine off. Used electrical tape to run some racing stripes vertically across the car. Looked cool!
Thank you for that trip down memory lane! They were lovely little cars. I wish I still had mine, a late 70's example that rusted out quicker than I could fix it
Wow! The memories. First car my Mom had. Took us all over COSTA RICA 🇨🇷 when we were kids. Only difference was steering wheel was on the opposite side,LHD!!! 🥺
Mudflaps! WOW!!! Original Datsun mudflaps. Haven’t seen those in decades. What a beautiful example, we had a ‘79 T reg Bluebird 180B estate which I grew up in sitting in the back watching the world go forwards in reverse - you know if you’ve been there, but my best mates dad had a 120Y Sunny 4 dr with the Blake’s 7 hubcaps rather than the pie dishes this one has. Hats off to yer fella for keeping this beauty in such an amazing condition. Long may she stay in this state.
A gearbox that shifted soft like butter, a humming 4 cylinder and with half a meter of snow it always started. Mine was bought for forty honest Guilders and was nicknamed DIrrek after the D on the steering wheel. I never had a better car for such a small amount in my whole life. And would you believe that I learned much later that Datsun were teached how to build cars by Austin of England !
I remember a neighbour up the road from me in the 80's had one exactly like this, same colour, he painted a white Starsky and Hutch stripe on it. As a child I thought it was the best car on our street.
Beautiful Datsun which will run forever as a dry miler.This car saw off British Leyland's unreliable offerings,a workmate had one same colour and year and model as this one in 1985 and though the sills and door bottoms had rusted through it still ticked over like a sewing machine,in general though this model was the best Datsun for longevity,still a few being used as runabouts in the early 2000s.
I bought the same car is 1983 and someone had painted a white strip on each side so it looked like Starsky and Hutches car... hehehehe i thought it was the bollox. Great memories.
I had 1 it took a lot of grief smoked when got it was driven a lot raced round the lanes jumps filled with used oil even had pure grease from a drum chucked in it and still never broke down was jacked up using an old bed base lol
I had one the very same, colour and even a ‘P’ reg. Loved that car, all the extras on other cars all came as standard on a Datsun. How things have changed now - for the worse, in a Datsun your only choice was what engine size you required
127,000 were imported to Britain between 1973 and 1978, all except about 50 have been scrapped into oblivion. The earlier 120Ys have pie dish wheel trims, and the later ones honeycombed.
Beautiful! The first car i ever drove. I was around 12 or 13 years old. I remember asking my uncle who owned it if he would sell it to me one day. If all goes well i’ll be buying it from my uncle this summer! Fingers crossed!
Norman Ankers In York is now a fish and chip restaurant !We had. 120y coupe . Super reliable but needed loads of welding every year to get through mot. Fitted rear seat belts for the kids .Really easy as had all the bolting holes under the rear seats and c pillar
Oh Fish N Chips that's a pity. Its nice to have the original dealer sticker and key ring though. I fitted rear belts to a few of my Datsuns too. They were super reliable but did corrode badly in those days. My father got his 1st 100A in 72.
Norman Ankers were a well respected dealer in York on Gillygate. I think they were the first Japanese car dealer in York. I went in to see the Cherry ! If you google the name you will get an early photograph of the site .
An elderly gentleman round the corner had an exactly same one as this but his was on an N-reg and maroon. At the time the car was 14 years old and it was still like a show piece. I'm guessing he must have looked after it very well as some elderly people do.
The later facelifted B210 120Y had 13" wheels and the hub caps yoy are referring to. They also gained a revised front grill, velour seats, plain black carpets, a choice of metallic colours and numerous mechanical revisions.
Beautiful, just breathtaking I would love to own a vintage two dr 120y. If you still have it in a couple years and interested in selling I would definitely want to buy it.
@@andrewsmyth8615 hopefully when I'm ready if you still have it I will make you a sensible offer that would be accepted, I could only hope you still have it. One thing for certain it would be well looked after and appreciated.
These were perhaps the ugliest Japanese car ever produced but decades later, this is really their appeal. I absolutely love it! Actually I should have ignored advice when I was a student way back when and bought one of these. Those hub caps we use to call "cake tin hub caps." Is that a Datsun 240Z in the back ground?
Hi Andrew - I am trawling the internet for resources as I just bought a "barn find" (actually under a car cover in an below-ground garage) B210 120Y in Gibraltar - has some minor patina but completely rust free. I need service parts initially to recommission it for a rolling resto. Could you point me in the direction of a good reliable parts supplier for OEM stuff? I am in Gibraltar but tend to ship things from the UK unless otherwise necessary. Thank you in advance. And by the way its a lovely car. Mines a 4 door in light blue.
@@andrewsmyth8615 thanks for the reply, I've recently bought a Datsun 1200 but it lives outside unfortunately, trying to use it once a month to keep everything working but wasn't sure if it'd be ok to sit over the coming winter months.
I bought a new Datsun 120Y in the 70s. Within a year it was starting to rust. In less than two years holes were appearing in the body. Not one of my favorite cars.
How the heck do you do that? Everything original? It still looks 19,000 miles! How did you keep it looking that good?? I will really like to know. To my knowledge, even if it were parked, it would rot away..... Whao!!
I bought it about 10yrs ago off the grandson of an elderly gentleman who couldn't drive anymore. I guess he really cared for it. He wrote me a letter (yes a letter) asking me to take care of it.
@@andrewsmyth8615 so, how have you been able to keep it in this state for 10 years? Garage? Never driving it? How do you keep the rubber components and stuffs from degrading?
@@andrewsmyth8615 if only I could I would. They have the same model in Trinidad & Tobago but never seen a two door. It must be worth a bombshell, if I could afford it I'd keep it for life.
