June 20, 2021
#426
Gentle reader,
Happy Father's Day to my fellow Dad readers.
I was born in the 1950's and was a car guy from a very early age. Back then, if ANY racing was shown on TV (there WERE only three networks/channels then: ABC, CBS and NBC) it might have been a shortened NASCAR race, or if lucky, Sebring 12 Hours shortened to twenty minutes or so.
Our parents encouraged our interests to the degree which they could afford with five kids with Dad being a Presbyterian minister.
They bought my brother and I an Aurora Thunderjet Model Motoring HO slot car set which came with two XK120 cars, one coupe, one roadster. This was in the mid-1960's.
Later on, before I could drive, Mom drove my brother and I to the local drag strips outside of Denver. We'd never watched any other form of racing live, but I was WELL aware of them being out there.
In 1971, when I was fourteen, I took my little brother via county buses to the next town so that we could see Steve McQueen in his now legendary film: Le Mans.
I knew nothing about SCCA racing then, but learned later. As a teen working at out local Chevrolet dealer as an apprentice mechanic, I reported to Dad that they had just the car he needed for his weekly commute to and from Washington, D.C., a Datsun 510 two-door sedan with a manual transmission.
I wrote last year about finding M2 models of 510s and it can be seen here:
The Robb Collections: Building an M2 Diecast Model Car Kit Verses Factory Built Comparison: Datsun 510
The photo above is from 1972 and is of the three-car BRE DATSUN 510 racing team. The most famous of them was number 46, since the driver, then-driving the 240Z, had won the 1970 and 1971 SCCA championship for DATSUN.
The Most Famous Datsun 510s in the World? The Brock Racing Enterprises Road Racing Legends - YouTube
The link above will take you to see the #46 510 preserved from it's glory days in the early 1970's. It's an excellent video and watching it was what game me the idea to get some of the race cars in miniature.
These are 1:24th scale models from two different makers. I bought the 240Z first, it is a GREENLIGHT car and nothing opens. The 510 is more of a tribute as you will see. It is a Maisto.
The livery on both are excellent. The red is more vibrant on the 510 (left) than on the 240Z.
The wheels on the 510 are incorrect as you will see.
The 510 model has no roll cage, and has two seats while the actual race car only had the driver's seat.
Both cars have one-piece chassis, with only the final exhaust being separate pieces on both.
The 510's (right, above) wheels and tires are WAY too wide, to actually fit the wheel wells (and be able to turn a corner), but that is OK for my purposes, which is to sit in my collection.
The two 510s featured in the previous article are here for comparison to the BRE model. They are both made by M2. The front of the hood on the BRE model is disappointing in quality, especially compared to the M2 cars.
The three engine compartments open for comparison.
The "race" 510 has a one-piece molded representation of an engine and bay and is from a later model turbocharged Nissan engine. Plus they added a strut brace.
This restomodded 510 has the same type of turbocharged later model Nissan engine, but is not the cheap one-piece-of-plastic of the BRE.
And, as I stated in the previous article, the "stock" 510 does not even HAVE carburetors! As a retired mechanic with some OCD tendencies, this really bothered me.
The rear ends of all three, above, showing the lowered stance of the modified cars, compared to stock.
This photo of #85 driven by Bobby Allison, shown with the hood open and the 510 engine modified for racing.Datsun came from Japan (Nissan) in the 1960's. The chose the name since Nissan was a little too close to Nippon, another name for Japanese used in World War II.
When they introduced their 240Z sports car in 1969, the orders FLEW into dealers worldwide and the factory could not keep up.
BRE was hired by Datsun of America to race the 240Z and did so in 1970 and '71. However, "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday." did not apply since the dealers could not GET any 240Z to sell.
Thus, it was suggested that for 1972, they switch to the 510 which there were plenty of. The 510, was revolutionary at the time and referred to as a "Poor man's BMW 1600." It had four-wheel independent suspension, unheard of on a budget car. The engine was 2/3rds of the 240Z's 2.4 liter six and had a single-overhead camshaft, again, highly unusual for such inexpensive cars.
Period painting, I believe for a car magazine. Prior to racing for Datsun, the team ran Triumph sports cars.
This looks like Road Atlanta, I recognize those "S" curves.
A photo of their previous car chasing the (then) present BRE car.
And another period photo of the 240Z ready for action.
Studio photo of #46 which is owned by NISSAN and is on loan to the fellow featured in the YouTube video I linked above.
This looks like the famous corkscrew turn at Laguna Seca.
Actual car in the garage at a race track, probably Laguna Seca.
These two shots are video stills from a Petrolicious video about the car.
The 510 in Nissan's collection.
Champion driver, John Morton, together with the car he drove to back-to-back SCCA championships.
And finally, some shots of the two M2 Datsun 510s compared to the "tribute" 510 by Maisto.
I have limited room in my collections. So, I really have to decide what will go in order to fit my new purchases in.In the case of these two Datsuns, I chose to sell my 1970 BOSS 429 Mustang and 1970 Dodge Challenger 426 Hemi convertible. BOTH are (as of this writing) for sale on eBay: Items for sale by rfcollectin | eBay
Shots of the interiors of the BRE tribute car, above, and the M2 modified car, below, which DOES have a roll cage.
These are the Hot Wheels and other brands, 510 race cars I have in the racing portion of my 1:64th scale models. The 240Z and orange 510 are replicas of real race cars and both are Greenlight if memory serves. Photo shot through the protective LEXAN which covers the entire top shelf of the eight foot long shelf I built some years ago.
Said shelf, with the LEXAN cover removed, photo is from February.
But telling you about the two cars I put on eBay is not why I researched and wrote this article. It is to share some history (personally, because of my having enjoyed spirited driving in Dad's Datsun 510) and historically to share the BRE racing and championship winning models of Datsun cars which greatly helped Datsun get a leg up in selling their well engineered cars in North America. This happened JUST when economical cars were needed most (during and after the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973).
On a personal note, I WAS working at my very first job in 1973 at a Denver, Colorado, MOBIL gas station when the embargo happened.
And there I was in 1973, at 6'3" tall, but only 155 pounds. with my long hair. Believe it or not, girls actually liked that look.
Thanks for taking the time to read this article. Writing it is one of my passions and the fact that hundreds of thousands of you actually read and enjoy my articles is very heart warming to me.
Scott
June 20, 2021
#426
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