I’ve been trying to find this film for some time but finally I have managed to lay my hands on a copy thanks (yet again) to eBay. This Japanese film was originally titled “Mach 78″ and was filmed on the US west coast (around Long Beach) in 1978. The utterly feeble plot tells the tale of a group of Japanese stuntmen challenging a bunch of American stuntmen to increasingly crazy car stunts. Forget the plot though. Forget the acting too (which is really quite awful!) because this film has something special to offer for the Datsun nut. Oh yes, while there’s lots of 60’s and 70’s American machinery to be seen, there’s plenty of hair raising stunts featuring Datsuns! As an added bonus for fans of hammy acting and pointless plots… it’s dubbed into English! If you like your stunts 1970’s style then you’re in for a treat as this film is pretty much packed with them from end to end, culminating in a pretty spectacular use for a Porsche 911. Here’s a clip to give you a brief taster of what’s in store…
Datsun colour codes is an area I have done a fair bit of work on . Elsewhere on the site you can find a complete Nissan colour chart which I have compiled listing nearly 500 colours and their codes along with samples of most colours. One of the sources of data for compiling the colour charts are the factory colour guides, released each year, some of which i have posted here as PDF documents. These cards only represent vehicles sold in the UK up to 1983 and unfortunately I do not currently have a card for ever year. Colours may not be truly representative of real life due to the limitations of computer displays but will at least give some idea, certainly enough to identify what colour code your car is. Read the rest of this entry »
The next big addition to the sales brochure section is complete with a total of forty brochures covering Bluebird models from the 1959 model 310 through to around 1984 and the front wheel drive U11. It’s taken a little longer than normal to get this section done as a number of these brochures are quite large and require scanning in sections then piecing together with photo editing software. Very time consuming work! I feel it was worthwhile though particularly in the case of the Japanese 610 brochures which are beautifully presented as always. As usual, each brochure can be downloaded as a PDF document. You can check them out HERE!
Enjoy!
I’ve always loved scrapyards and for many years have enjoyed clambering round them looking for lost treasures. Sadly due to European Union bureaucracy, scrapyards are slowly disappearing and the wonderful old cars that have produced much nostalgia for enthusiasts as well as vital, often unobtainable parts are all going to the crusher. In the UK, decent old style scrapyards are all but extinct, having been replaced by over-the-counter “recyclers” now but in 2001 I found heaven on a visit to Finland. There are plenty of scrapyards in Finland and most are full of old cars, some dating back to the early 1950’s. Amazingly, in some yards, it’s rare to see a car newer than about 20 years old! The yard featured here was the first of about half a dozen I visited on my first trip to Finland in 2001. It was situated in the south, not far from Turku and held a wonderful variety of old cars including more Datsuns that I had ever seen in one place before!
Whenever I have seen adverts for those monthly part-work magazines, that come with some kind of collectible item attached to the cover, it’s never really interested me. Until now that is. Sadly the Hachette Fujingaho Japanese Car Collection isn’t available here in the UK but if it was I would most definately be subscribing! This Japanese fortnightly publication features a different old Japanese car each issue and comes complete with a detailed 1/43 scale diecast model in a display case. The models are made by Norev and look similar to those produced by Ebbro. The good news for Nissan fans is there are no less than twenty five Nissans in the series which consists of a total of ninety cars. The Nissan offerings consist of a few cars already covered by other model manufactures such as Ebbro as well as a several that haven’t been modelled in this scale before, such as the A30 Gloria, KP710 Violet hardtop and the C30 Laurel. So where can you get this wonderful publication?
The three door Stanza? I was flicking though an early (November 1981) T11 Stanza brochure yesterday and it got me thinking about the three door variant. The more I looked at the pictures, the more I became convinced that I’ve never actually seen one.. ever! Now the five door hatch, that’s quite familiar and whilst considerably more scarce than the five door, so is the slightly odd looking saloon, but that three door most definitely isn’t. It’s quite curious just how different it is from the five door version. Not only are the rear lights different and the side vent not present but the three door even has a different tailgate. The differences don’t stop there either. The three door sports a roof-line some 20mm lower than it’s saloon and five door siblings, combined with a slightly more raked windscreen to give it a slightly sleeker overall profile. It kind of looks like a cross between a Toyota Corolla and a Hyundai Pony from the rear three quarter view.
