Hoping someone can help me with some research I'm doing. Advance apologies - I was never a Datsun/Nissan owner, so excuse my ignorance, but I'm from Australia and I'm trying to research what Datsuns were called in the USA in the mid-80s up to the mid-90s.
1) Were there Nissan Bluebirds in the US at that time (mid-1980s to mid-1990s)? If so, which years were they produced? And can you provide any pictures or links to pictures?
2) In 1994 I drove a borrowed Datsun across the US. In Australia, where I'm from, this car was called a Datsun 180B but I think in the US it could have been a Datsun 210. Was this basically the same/similar car?
3) Finally, what was the story with the Sunny? Was that a name ever used in the US? And if so, when?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Datsun 210 / Nissan Bluebird
-
AZhitman
- Administrator
- Posts: 54542
- Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2002 2:04 am
- Car: 58 L210, 63 Bluebird RHD, 64 NL320, 65 SPL310, 66 411 RHD, 67 WRL411, 68 510 SR20, 75 280Z RB25, 77 620 SR20, 79 B310, 90 Z32, 91 GTi-R, 92 Silvia Qs, 98 S14, 23 Z.
- Location: Surprise, Arizona
- Contact:
Re: Datsun 210 / Nissan Bluebird
Welcome aboard!
Datsun went through a re-naming phase in the mid 80's (from "Datsun", to "Datsun by Nissan", to "Nissan").
Nothing in the US was named "Bluebird." The Bluebird name was used a lot (I have an AU-market 63 Bluebird, which would have been a Datsun 310, or simply, Datsun sedan in the US). Bluebird was also used for the foreign-market 510, and a lot of subsequent cars as well.
A 180B would have been our Datsun 610 in the 70's, but later cars would have been the same as our 710 or 810. What you drove was likely the latter.
The Sunny name was never used in the US market either.
Datsun went through a re-naming phase in the mid 80's (from "Datsun", to "Datsun by Nissan", to "Nissan").
Nothing in the US was named "Bluebird." The Bluebird name was used a lot (I have an AU-market 63 Bluebird, which would have been a Datsun 310, or simply, Datsun sedan in the US). Bluebird was also used for the foreign-market 510, and a lot of subsequent cars as well.
A 180B would have been our Datsun 610 in the 70's, but later cars would have been the same as our 710 or 810. What you drove was likely the latter.
The Sunny name was never used in the US market either.
Re: Datsun 210 / Nissan Bluebird
Thanks very much for the quick and detailed response, AZhitman. Follow-up question - would I be right in saying the Nissan Stanza was a US-badged car, and it was around in the mid-1980s?
-
AZhitman
- Administrator
- Posts: 54542
- Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2002 2:04 am
- Car: 58 L210, 63 Bluebird RHD, 64 NL320, 65 SPL310, 66 411 RHD, 67 WRL411, 68 510 SR20, 75 280Z RB25, 77 620 SR20, 79 B310, 90 Z32, 91 GTi-R, 92 Silvia Qs, 98 S14, 23 Z.
- Location: Surprise, Arizona
- Contact:
Re: Datsun 210 / Nissan Bluebird
Yes sir, up to '92 I believe.
Re: Datsun 210 / Nissan Bluebird
Thanks again.
-
Rogue One
- Administrator
- Posts: 7947
- Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2011 10:15 pm
- Car: 2011 Nissan Rogue SL
2012 Nissan Rogue SL
2022 Honda Pilot SE
2025 Honda CR-V Sport L - Location: Florida, USA
Re: Datsun 210 / Nissan Bluebird
A little history of Datsun / Nissan
https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/HERITAGE/STORIES/#top
Datsun Bluebird
https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/HERITAGE/bluebird.html
http://www.earlydatsun.com/datsun310.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Bluebird
Datsun Sunny
https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/HERITAGE/sunny.html
http://www.earlydatsun.com/datsunb10.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Sunny
https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/HERITAGE/STORIES/#top
Datsun Bluebird
https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/HERITAGE/bluebird.html
http://www.earlydatsun.com/datsun310.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Bluebird
Datsun Sunny
https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/HERITAGE/sunny.html
http://www.earlydatsun.com/datsunb10.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Sunny