On today’s Shitbox Showdown, I’m showing you around my own stomping grounds again, looking at some old forgotten Japanese cars that not only run and drive, they’re in regular use. But first, let’s see how yesterday’s inline sixes fared:
Comfortable win for the Hornet. I think that would be my choice as well, though I do like a good ’70s van. Lots of possibilities there that don’t involve free candy, thank you very much. (Really? That’s where all your minds immediately go when you see a panel van?) Oh, and as for what AMC stands for, I always heard “Ain’t My Car.”
Today’s choices are rare, probably even extinct, in other parts of the country, but here in the Pacific Northwest, they’re still just everyday cars. In fact, I think I’ve seen both of these cars running around, but there’s also every chance that it was a different silver Subaru coupe and a different maroon Datsun wagon that I’m thinking of. Cars this age in this condition, still earning their keep, just aren’t that hard to find around here. It’s wild, from the perspective of someone who moved here from the Midwest and is used to having seen these cars rusted out twenty years ago. But here they are, largely rust-free, still running and driving – one of them even claims to still be daily-driven. So let’s take a look at them, shall we?
1981 Datsun 510 Wagon – $3,400
Engine/drivetrain: 2.0 liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, RWD
Location: Battle Ground, WA
Odometer reading: 147,000 miles
Runs/drives? Runs great, according to the seller
First, let’s define what we’re dealing with: This is not the “cool” 510, the “poor man’s BMW” campaigned by Pete Brock, the one everybody loves. You aren’t going to find one of those anymore for Shitbox Showdown prices, even a wagon. This is a later model, known in Japan as the Nissan Violet. It’s still a neat old car, though: Nissan’s NAPS-Z twin-spark four-cylinder drives the rear wheels through a manual gearbox. That alone makes it more interesting than a whole host of other cars.
It’s not in bad shape, either. There’s a pretty good wrinkle in the left front fender (this is what makes me think it’s the same car I’ve seen around), and the paint is faded, but true to form for this part of the world, it isn’t rusty. The inside of this car gives me a bit of nostalgia: the gauge cluster looks just like the one in my old Datsun/Nissan 720 truck. Might very well be the same part, for all I know. And I can practically hear the old Datsun key chime through the photo: “Dink-donk, dink-donk…”
One of the more popular features of yesterday’s Econoline van was its slotted mag wheels. Well, I’ve got good news for you: this car has ’em too! They’re just stacked in the back. I’m not sure why; maybe they don’t have the correct lug nuts or something. But I bet these will look great on this car.
And before anyone else says it: Yes, the price seems a little high to me too. But I’m starting to realize that the combination of age and inflation makes every price seem too high to me these days, and I bet this car will sell for close to the asking price, even with the banged-up fender.
1981 Subaru GLF Coupe – $2,400
Engine/drivetrain: 1.8 liter overhead valve flat 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Portland, OR
Odometer reading: 133,000 miles
Runs/drives? Daily driven
Wagons don’t do it for you? OK, how about a two-door hardtop coupe with a flat-four? I don’t know what Subaru has against door window frames, but the frameless windows stretch all the way back to 1971, when this car’s predecessor was introduced. In the case of this car, the quarter windows behind the doors roll down as well, making for lots of airflow on nice days. And that’s not this car’s only party trick: if I’m not mistaken, it also has Subaru’s weird and short-lived third headlight option, though it looks like the little door with the Subaru logo on it is missing.
[Editor’s Note: This cyclops light alone would sell me on this car. – JT]
What this car doesn’t have is something all Subarus have had since the mid-1990s: four wheel drive. Subaru has offered 4WD since the ’70s, but it was an option back when this car was built. It does have the traditional flat-four, in this case a carbureted pushrod design. This one has a Weber carb and fresh head gaskets, and runs well enough to be driven daily.
Outside, it’s a little scruffy, and has a strange two-tone paint job that I don’t think is factory. In fact, the silver part almost looks rattle-canned, or at least touched up with Home Depot’s finest. The seller says it doesn’t have any rust, at least, and I don’t see any big damage, just door dings.
There is one thing that worries me a little about this car, and it isn’t the tiny guard dog. It’s the fact that the registration tags on the license plate appear to be missing, and there’s no front plate. Oregon tags are good for two years, but since COVID, the cops haven’t really been enforcing things like out-of-date registration, meaning that this car might have been running around with no tags on it for quite a while. Is that the correct plate for it? Whose name is on the title? Will it pass DEQ, with the aftermarket carb? All questions worth asking.
There are plenty of boring modern cars here too, of course. But who cares about them, when there are forty-two-year-old Japanese machines like these still running around? Neither one is perfect, but both are more interesting than some Prius or something. And both sound like they’re useable on a regular basis. Which one will it be?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
One is a wagon, rwd, manual. I picked it.
Vote LongRoof and look for The Mother Road.
Put those mags to work, load in a cooler, telecaster, and pick up hitchhikers. Load that wagon full of good stories.
I think the Datsun is a better buy, but with a bit of cleanup, that Subaru would just look so fricken’ 80’s hot I can’t resist.
Gotta vote for the Subaru. My first car was a hand-me-down 1984 Subaru GL sedan with 4WD and the digital dash. I did not appreciate that car enough because, well, it was really, really slow. Non-BRAT 80’s Subarus are so hard to find now, it’s awesome to see one in daily driver condition. Would buy. Would daily.
Heck. Might buy. Would anybody watch video of me driving it from Portland to Virginia Beach?
I’d watch that. Hell, you need a co-pilot?
Definitely the Datsun wagon. If the Subie had been a Brat, different story. Plus, the three headlight configuration reminds me of Third Eye Blind and I hate that band.
holy hell, when did 500 dollar beaters suddenly become worth 3k?
When $3k modern money became worth $500 in old money.
Right in the feels. My first Subaru was an 82 GLF coupe-a $200 shitbox that sold me on Subarus. The body was rotting apart, but the motor wouldn’t die. According to Subaru message boards of the 90s, valve-float was your rev-limiter. I know I couldn’t kill that motor: I pulled it when the body was no longer viable and later put it in a wagon killed by lack of oil.
I welcome correction here, but my memory is that the Cyclops light only came in the earlier 1600 & 1700 models. I never got around to retrofitting one in my GLF. It’s been close to 30 years, but I want to say you could get it in the Brat longer than the sedans/wagons/coups
I love wagons and the Nissan is awfully tempting… But the weird factor wins. Subie it is!
I had my eye on that cyclops Subaru, but the Datsun is a good little wagon. Long ago, I had one of the same vintage, except it was a coupe. Outside of a high base idle issue, it was a good little rig and the slotted mags on this example only sweeten the deal.
Is it really Cyclops or more of a Triclops? I have never been to battle Ground, Vancouver, but I have to believe the polite Canadians take better care of things than Portlandians. It looks to be the truth here as well.
Battle Ground (WA) is a suburb of Portland, 30 minutes north on I5, right next to Ridgefield (WA) where I lived for 2 years. I used to see the Datsun at the nearby Albertsons. Datsun all the way for me, since I know it runs and has been licensed for years.
RWD Manual wagon.
Red is sort of brown, right?
Patrick George’s legacy lives on.
The Subaru looks far jankier, but that third headlight is a winner. We’ll take the coupe.
I mean if it is really that big of a deal you could just grab an LE spot light and tie it into the high beam wiring I suppose. the third eye is not that big of a deal.
“is used to having seen these cars rusted out twenty years ago.”
My man, I think you misspelled THIRTY years ago. 20 years ago was 2003, and there sure as hell weren’t any Datsuns still rolling around Chicago in 2003.
Anyways, I went with the 510 wagon. A blue one of those (its visible in the background of my profile pic on Oppo), with a 5-speed manual, is exactly what my parents bought when I was a baby to replace my mother’s beloved ’72 Datsun B-210. That B-210 was the first car she bought new, but things being what they were back then, when my dad left for work one morning in late ’81 he found the right side rocker panel of her B-210 laying on the ground. The strut towers on that side had collapsed overnight. And so that NINE YEAR OLD CAR went off to the junk yard.
Wait, no – twenty years ago was….
…dammit…
Yeah, I kinda hated to break that to ya…
The Subie is cheaper and weirder. Since I am also cheap and weird, game has to recognize game.
You worded this so much better than I could. Same here!
Didn’t even remember that Datsun was still making the 510 in 1981. I grew up in a red one that rusted away in Northern Ohio just a few years after we bought it in maybe 1971 or 72.
I voted for the one with the dogs.
This is quite the quandary.
On the one hand, we had a similar Subaru when I was in high school. Aside from a driver’s seat that would unexpectedly recline by itself, it was a reliable ride for me and my sister. I even drove it on a marathon date with my girlfriend from Odessa, TX to Lubbock for what was then an exotic meal at the Mongolian barbecue.
On the other hand, manual wagon!!
Decisions, decisions…
Eh, wagon wins over nostalgia.
She ended up being a cheating whore anyway…
even when “Japanese Cars” was a derogatory comment, the Datsun’s were only really eclipsed by Toyota with regards to reliability. They generally rusted out faster though, so how this one survived northwest winters is beyond me, but subie had the Bricklin history still to deal with at the time.
If you can find a fender, they are dead simple to replace on these Datsun’s. The metal is so thin, you probably could flatten it out enough that with a little filler it would be fine. I grew up in old Datsuns, so for me it is the wagon all day long for the nostalgia factor alone.
I made the opposite move, from the PNW to the salty Midwest. I’m still amazed by how quickly things rust here compared to some of the old stuff I used to see regularly.
That’s an easy one – Datsun all day long. The Subie has a weird/cool factor these days but boy are they S L O W.
Funny, I had the same experience moving here in 1996 from Michigan and finding old Japanese cars I’d never seen in person before being driven. I wound up buying a nearly rust-free 1973 Firebird Formula 350 with the cool twin snorkel hood for only $3500 – a car that would have fetched considerably more back in MI.
Both are good options, I went Subaru just because it’s cheaper and seemingly in better shape. That Datsun fender looks like it was used as target practice for a BB gun or something, it is beat to hell! Also, yeah the cyclops light is a good conversation item and makes it the better choice, especially for $1k less!
510. My mom had one a yellow 510 wagon when I was a kid and it was awesome. My uncle had a Subaru GLF at the same time, and while I was fascinated by the cyclopian light, I recall the Subaru being pretty unreliable. The 510 wasn’t quite as fun to ride in as my dad’s BMW 2002, but like the Subaru, my dad’s 2002 wasn’t nearly as reliable as the 510 either. I don’t remember exactly how many miles the 510 had on it when my parents sold it, but I know it was north of 200,000 and had never had anything more than normal maintenance.
The Datsun wins by default. It’s a wagon, a cooler color, and it’s better than a shitty Subaru even with new head gaskets (because they’ll need to be replaced again LOL)
Maybe dogs like Subarus, but dogs don’t have to pay for the head gasket repairs, and maybe they can actually fit their paws undwer the hood to do the job, but human hands sure can’t!
Subaru should have kept using pushrods (more compact engine), since those shitty boxer engines are wide, and the cars themselves are narrow.
Yeah, I voted for the red wagon
I will have to disagree on the cooler color, the 2 tone Subaru paint is better than the faded red, basically pink paint on the wagon. Two tone always looks better than one (not true at all, but true in this case) and the massive fading on the Datsun make it look far worse.
These didn’t have much problem with HGs and a monkey could change them with the engine in the car as there was a ton of room to work around them. Of course, I never actually did it as my beaten-for-much-of-their-140k+-and-130k mile examples rotted out and/or a tree fell on them before the HGs failed.
My dog is very adept and efficient when it comes to doing head gaskets on a Subie.
But she keeps losing the 10 mm sockets. Stupid dog…
You aren’t kidding about all the weird old cars still in daily use in the PNW, my 2 block walk to the nearest coffee place has me regularly go past a dark blue Vanagon Westfalia (ok shape), a black Corolla hatchback from the mid 80s always in immaculate condition (both likely library employees based on when they park), and a blue and white 50’s Chevy Bel Air that sadly needs a lot of touch up and carries a back seat full of parts (owner lives in my apartment complex).
On the Subaru, I don’t like the weird radio delete… and why are the dogs stuck in the car? Normally doggos are a good thing, but not when the windows are rolled up.
Datsun wins for the cool mag wheels and the preferred name of the automaker.
I don’t think he’s “stuck” in the car. My guess is that they drove a ways away from home to take th photos, took doggo for a ride, and left him in there for a minute to take the photos.
Your guess makes perfect sense. It’s logical and rational. But logical and rational don’t go with shitboxes!
The “radio delete” looks like a flat piece of abs stuck on somehow to cover the hole that was cut out to fit a double din radio, probably a touchscreen. It screams shoddiness and is likely a testament to the sort of owner induced problems a purchaser may inherit
‘Oh, and as for what AMC stands for, I always heard “Ain’t My Car.”’
Ha. I once saw it as “Alas, My Car.”