Curbside Classics: The First Mini-Pickups: Datsun's 1964 320 1200; 1967 520 1300; 1969 521 1600

The Toyota pickup has become such a dominant vehicle in its class worldwide, its easy to assume that it was always that way. Not so. It was Nissan’s little Datsun trucks that essentially invented the modern mini-pickup genre, and was top puppy in the US for well over a decade before handing over the throne. In fact, trucks were the only vehicle that Datsun imported for quite a few years, and made its reputation with them. They’re a significant piece of automotive history, and many are still hard at work, at least hereabouts.

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  • Dwford Will we ever actually have autonomous vehicles? Right now we have limited consumer grade systems that require constant human attention, or we have commercial grade systems that still rely on remote operators and teams of chase vehicles. Aside from Tesla's FSD, all these systems work only in certain cities or highway routes. A common problem still remains: the system's ability to see and react correctly to obstacles. Until that is solved, count me out. Yes, I could also react incorrectly, but at least the is me taking my fate into my own hands, instead of me screaming in terror as the autonomous vehicles rams me into a parked semi
  • Sayahh I do not know how my car will respond to the trolley problem, but I will be held liable whatever it chooses to do or not do. When technology has reached Star Trek's Data's level of intelligence, I will trust it, so long as it has a moral/ethic/empathy chip/subroutine; I would not trust his brother Lore driving/controlling my car. Until then, I will drive it myself until I no longer can, at which time I will call a friend, a cab or a ride-share service.
  • Daniel J Cx-5 lol. It's why we have one. I love hybrids but the engine in the RAV4 is just loud and obnoxious when it fires up.
  • Oberkanone CX-5 diesel.
  • Oberkanone Autonomous cars are afraid of us.