Special Stage Forums banner

RHD Datsun 510 in mid/late 70's POR Event(s)?

10K views 27 replies 13 participants last post by  Bruce Beauvais 
#1 ·
I'm just in the process of seeing if I can track down the eventual location of a particular Datsun. It was a RHD, 4 door that was likely painted white with an orange stripe down the side at the the owner sold it, in the mid 70's to an individual from Michigan who wanted to race it at POR. Any thoughts? Photo repositories of mid/late 70's POR events? I've looked at some of the POR results from that time and there are so many Michigan residents running 510s in those events its not a big help...
 
#3 ·
This one had a special history. It was originally a Datsun "works" car (thus the RHD) that had once been used in the East African Safari rallies and then given to BRE for some Baja events. then when it was going to be shipped back to Japan it fell off a loader and was determined to no longer be of use to the engineers in Japan and was sold to a racer in CA who campaigned it for a few years (winning High Desert Trails) and then reportedly sold it to an individual from Michigan who wanted to run it in POR...
 
#6 ·
OK folks, here's the rest of the story:
John Crawford purchased it in late 1975 or early 1976. I drove Bob Hourihan's rally Volvo 142 to Torrance, CA and delivered it to Wayne Baldwin. I then flew to San Jose, CA and picked up the Datsun, which was full of spare parts. I drove it back to Ann Arbor with a clutch that slipped on uphill grades in 5th, but would hold in 4th. Along the way I had a short stop in Elko, NV to drain about 3 gallons of gas out of the trunk due to a fuel fitting leak. Once repaired I continued the drive east. The car was stripped of its interior and had no heater, except the 1 inch hole in the firewall that let warm underhood air leak into the passenger compartment.
I had left Ann Arbor at 10 am on a Monday morning, and was back in Ann Arbor at 5 am the following Monday. Since I spent all day Thursday and Friday in California, I drove the 4900 mile round trip in 5 days. Either John Crawford or Terry Palmer can explain where the car went.
Doug Shepherd
 
#10 ·
Ah!! My yahoo email address!! Its blocked here at work--I'll thank you ahead of time--Thank you! and look at it when I get home!
 
#11 · (Edited)
Now that Doug responded we've got the story. I remember seeing ( and photographing) the car at POR 76. The car got a lot of attention from the legions of Datsun drivers. It was a red 4-door sedan. It was said to have a U20 ( Datsun SRL311 engine) and 5 speed transmission. It did not have the then relatively new ( and rare) L20B. Doug confirmed the 5 speed part . The high performance Datsun bible of the time did have a story about the BRE Desert car and I remember a U20 engine there. It was not at the event as a competition vehicle . Doug may chose to confirm/deny/ignore the rest of the story.
Doug was clerk of the course. In the process of the final check, the car broke down stranding the crew in the middle of the woods. They broke into a nearby cabin to spend the night- this was early November in the UP- and were rescued the next day. Or so the story goes.
The was a second-later RHD 510 in Michigan rally. Somehow a real 510 SSS ending up on a used car lot in Grand Rapids in the mid-seventies. It was from South Africa ,RHD, and a bitch to sell. Don Fetrow, a longtime Furrin Group member bought it cheaply and used it as a street car for a number of years. He sold it to one of the Traverse City rally group who converted it into a rally car. It only ran one or two rallies before centerpunching a tree. It was parted out but I had heard that the RHD pieces were saved for a future project.
Those are my stories and I'm sticking to them.
 
#12 · (Edited)
So it sounds like its the first of these that you remember that I'm interested in. Do you have any photos of it? Any idea where it went after POR 76? Was it sold from John to Terry?
 
#14 ·
Someone out there knows the rest of the story: the aforementioned Terry Palmer or John Crawford; Harry Ward, maybe. It's likely the car rotted into the ground and was parted out years ago.

If memory is correct, it was sitting at Terry Palmer's beside another equally rusty 510 rally car and the mystical "Volt" (Volvo 6-cyl engined Dodge Colt) of Bob Hourihan at least 15 years ago.

There has been speculation the RHD-specific pieces were passed on to late rally legend, Eric Jones, who used them in his RHD 510 LEJOG car build. Who knows?
 
#15 ·
I spoke to Terry Palmer and his recollection was that John Crawford purchased the vehicle and he (Terry) saw it at his shop for a brief period of time before John determined that it (the car) was not suitable for Eastern Rally events and it was quickly sold back to an (unknown) individual from California who flew in and drove it back to CA. That is where the story ends for me right now--if Terry's memory is correct. I'd like to confirm his recollection with John's (particularly given the above rememberance of it sitting at Terry's 15 years ago, though I would think that Terry would have told me "yup, its sitting right here rusting away" when I spoke to him if that was the case). I've also reached out to BRE to see if they have any knowledge of it given they have one of their old 510 Baja cars in unrestored condition sitting as a display piece in their shop--but it doesn't look like the one I'm interested in as it doesn't look like it has been repainted in the manner RC had described--but it could be it...just don't know...
 
#16 ·
Just got an email back from John...he states that he did sell it and that it is NOT sitting at Terry's shop. He also states that he ran it in one rally (I have inquired as to which one) with it in about the '77/'78 range. He never came across it when he was living in CA and rallying there in the early '80s. He does not remember who bought it from him or where exactly it went. Anyone have a listing of stage rally events in CA for the very late '70s, early '80s?? I mean...just how many 510s could have been rallying in CA in those years?!?!?!!?!?
 
#17 · (Edited)
Anyone have a listing of stage rally events in CA for the very late '70s, early '80s?? I mean...just how many 510s could have been rallying in CA in those years?!?!?!!?!?
http://www.rallyracingnews.com/
Ed has as many of the SCCA PRORally results as he can find up there. It doesn't help with regional or non-SCCA events, but it is a start.

For instance, the 1979 La Jornada Trabajosa had 12 Datsun 510s in the 32 cars listed (of 45 total entries).

Adrian
 
#22 ·
I just get a bee in my bonnet over certain things from time to time and in this case the bee in my bonnet (as a Nissan/Datsun fan) happened to be trying to track down the final resting place of what is certainly a unique and historic vehicle. One that was built in Japan, raced under the Datsun works program in East African Safari rallies, was then shipped to the US where BRE used it in a handful of Baja races and then upon its intended return to Japan, fell off a loading dock or some such and was sold to a private individual here in the States who used it to win some stage rallies here before it was sold to an individual in Minnesota who evidently raced it once and sold it back to someone in CA where the trail grows cold...

Just a cool story with lots of history...
 
#23 ·
Keep digging. I am very interested if the story is true? There are at least two other US rally guys that this would be more than just interesting to. All three of us grew up watching the East African Safari Rally from the front row so to speak. I may have watched this very car rally when it was brand new. Anybody know what the car number was or who drove it in the EASR? I cant imagine there is much left of it? Maybe.:cool:
 
#24 ·
West Coasters who were around then and are still around, Mike Whitman (who still has a 510 rally car) and Mike Gibeault who raced a 510 in the day. They knew all the cars and competitors of the day. Too early for me, I didn't get going until 1984. Look on the CRS website for Mike's email.

Roger
My first rally car was a Datsun 610
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top