Santa Clara Street Sighting - 1972 Datsun 510

UrbanDictionary defines dropping a dime as snitching on someone, ratting them out. It's a reference to the old practice of putting a coin into a pay phone to make a 10-cent call. I contend this could be an alternate definition of the term. A Datsun 510 is also often known as a Dime in the owners' community, and this one definitely looks like it's been dropped.

Danville Street Sighting - 1971 Datsun 510

The toughest calls on what qualifies as a street sighting are usually those belonging to car show spectators. Even more difficult is when those cars are across the street, around the corner or down the block from the car show itself. Here is one such vehicle that really spoke to me, a 1971 Datsun 510 sedan which, at the time I photographed it, was an unrestored two-owner car with 63,000 miles.

Alameda Street Sighting - 1966 Datsun 411

This was one of my most anticipated scores for the blog, at least within the city of Alameda. Everyone knows the Datsun Z-cars, and a fair number are familiar with the Fairlady roadsters, but the early mainstream passenger cars are much less often seen in the United States today. The Datsun Bluebird is a model best known to Americans as the 510, sold from 1968 to 1974. But before that, Datsun was a bit player in the compact market in the US, selling small pickup trucks and dowdy little economy cars. In late 1963 Datsun brought out the Pininfarina-styled 410, a car that made a Datsun sedan a little more interesting to look at in one's driveway. The 411 was added in 1965, which traded the 1.2 liter four-cylinder for a 1.3 liter unit producing 67 horsepower.