1971 Datsun Commercial

[Toadphillips]

I want some tang

[denny906]

I love Datsuns

[clarkbell]

Truman Capote for Datsun?

[cr3861]

@clarkbell Joe Flynn from McHale's Navy

[OsbornTramain]

I do recall Datsun Commercials as early as 1968. My father bought a new 1968 Datsun 1600 and they had been advertising the whole range of cars on TV.  It had a music jingle which was kind of jazzy that said......"Datsun....the difference is value..".

[hehmtube]

I loved my 510. Easy to work on. Tons of fun driving. Back in High School (late 70's), guys would trick them out and burn around the parking lot. Ahhh...good times

[funkyladybean]

pity American has no more industry, too bad it's the Americans who worried too much about image than having a secure economy and continued buying up imported crap than fighting to salvage their own industries. Sorry suckers, now look at our country! When my dad saw the writing on the wall no one cared but all the ppl out of work now prolly wish they had listened then.

[landyachtfan79]

@funkyladybean No, the American automakers got themselves into this mess by peddling junk for the last 40 years that you can't count on to start the day after the warranty runs out or not break down every 2 weeks!!!!!!

[datsunmadman]

it's 2009 and my 1971 Datsun 510 sedan is still running strong

[ManuelAparicio]

@datsunmadman so is my 240z!!!

[shogun54]

The actor is the late Joe Flynn (Capt. Binghamton in "McHales Navy.")

[Lumotaku]

who could get excited over that datsun station wagon lol.

[duncan36]

Yeah they looked at how ugly and small the cars were and wrote them off as not being a threat. Word of mouth was their best advertisement however. These Japanese cars were indestructible compared to GM economy cars of the same year.

[Lumotaku]

actually the big 3 did see them coming. They made smaller models to compete with them Gms model the Vega was too techinically advanced to work right. Aluminium engine for the lose. Ford came out with the Pinto which was designed to be really simple to work on. Unfortunately it had that little exploding problem. Chrysler imported the cricket from england.

[DiscoKat]

And then the AMC Gremlin and Hornet sold by the 100's of thousands :) AMC would have owned the small car market had they not blundered with stupid moves like the Pacer or Matador coupe.

[landyachtfan79]

You forgot the AMC Gremlin & the Dodge Colt.

[joh2]

@Lumotaku The Cricket (aka Hillman Avenger) was not particularly successful either - especially in its (un)reliability and rusting capabilities...

[permiable]

yay