Junkyard Find: 1978 Datsun 810 Wagon
The Datsun 810 became the Nissan Maxima a couple of years into the 1980s, and you rarely see the 810 nameplate these days. Every once in a while, however, an 810 shows up in The Crusher’s waiting room. Here’s a ’78 wagon I found in California last month.
The 810 shared quite a few components with the 280Z, including the six-cylinder L engine. By 1978, the Z cars had 2.8 liter L28s, but the 810 got the 2.4 liter L24 out of the older 240Z.
The 810 wagon, with its need to carry heavy loads, didn’t get the independent rear suspension of the Z and the 810 coupes and sedans.
While modern-day drivers would consider this car intolerably cramped, it was sold as a fairly luxurious and high-tech machine back in the late 1970s.
Look at this engineer-designed array of warning lights!
The original purchaser of this Datsun opted for the three-speed automatic transmission. With 125 horsepower out of the L24, this car wouldn’t have been quite as slow as most slushboxed-up Japanese cars of the era.
A Ford Windsor V8 is a pretty easy swap into the engine compartment of a 280Z, which means the same swap should work in an 810 wagon. What a fine parts-hauling setup that would make!
This ad is for the sedan, but still gives a good idea of the “yacht-grade” luxury Nissan was after with the 810.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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I need those taillights! Where is this car located?
We've have a 1977 Datsun 810 for sale with a little over 89,400 original miles that runs solid. You can see it here: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/3705114230.html I've owned a 240Z and 280Z that had solid horsepower. The 810 Coupe that we have can more than keep up with those cars. We would love to see someone that really appreciates this car provide it a good home. The following link goes to a 38 picture slideshow of the '77 Datsun 810: http://s1364.photobucket.com/user/datsun810/slideshow/