Junkyard Find: 1980 Datsun 310 Coupe

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin
Nissan sold lots of the original Datsun 510s in the United States, and so the remainder of the 1970s saw a whole series of model names ending in “10” showing up in Datsun dealerships. Some (e.g., the 610 and 710) were Bluebird-based cars like the 510, but the 310 was really a Cherry-based Nissan Pulsar.Here’s an optioned-up 1980 Datsun 310 hatchback coupe in a Denver self-service wrecking yard.
Some 310 owner bought the doors from this car, but left these gorgeous Full Disco seats behind. Why? How?
The A14 engine powered many rear-wheel-drive Datsun B210s and front-wheel-drive 210s. With 1,397 cubic centimeters and 64 horsepower, the 1,970-pound 1980 Datsun 310 wouldn’t win many drag races, but it looked sporty and sipped gas at a time when Americans were gearing up for $20/gallon fuel.
We can’t determine the real mileage from this five-digit odometer, but this car looks fairly clean for its age.
The 5-door hatchback looked like the yen-pincher it really was, but the bubble hatchback window on the coupe looked cool.
Wow! It’s a long way to empty… iiiiin a Datsun!
If you like these junkyard posts, you can reach all 1600+ right here at the Junkyard Home of the Murilee Martin Lifestyle Brand!
Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

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.

More by Murilee Martin

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 34 comments
  • Volvo Volvo on Jan 22, 2019

    That was something we did occasionally on older Volvo 240s when the driver's seat bottom started to fail and simple rebuild was not practical.

  • WildcatMatt WildcatMatt on Jan 23, 2019

    I like the clean design of the instruments.

  • 1995 SC I will say that year 29 has been a little spendy on my car (Motor Mounts, Injectors and a Supercharger Service since it had to come off for the injectors, ABS Pump and the tool to cycle the valves to bleed the system, Front Calipers, rear pinion seal, transmission service with a new pan that has a drain, a gaggle of capacitors to fix the ride control module and a replacement amplifier for the stereo. Still needs an exhaust manifold gasket. The front end got serviced in year 28. On the plus side blank cassettes are increasingly easy to find so I have a solid collection of 90 minute playlists.
  • MaintenanceCosts My own experiences with, well, maintenance costs:Chevy Bolt, ownership from new to 4.5 years, ~$400*Toyota Highlander Hybrid, ownership from 3.5 to 8 years, ~$2400BMW 335i Convertible, ownership from 11.5 to 13 years, ~$1200Acura Legend, ownership from 20 to 29 years, ~$11,500***Includes a new 12V battery and a set of wiper blades. In fairness, bigger bills for coolant and tire replacement are coming in year 5.**Includes replacement of all rubber parts, rebuild of entire suspension and steering system, and conversion of car to OEM 16" wheel set, among other things
  • Jeff Tesla should not be allowed to call its system Full Self-Driving. Very dangerous and misleading.
  • Slavuta America, the evil totalitarian police state
  • Steve Biro I have news for everybody: I don't blame any of you for worrying about the "gummint" monitoring you... but you should be far more concerned about private industry doing the same thing.
Next