Well folks, that's meat to chew on, now isn't it?? But how about some lineal definition?

First, there's what a Datsun is. Now, that would include anything that was badged a "Datsun", which wouldn't technically include the early Silvia. See, the mid-'60s Silvia WAS labelled a Nissan, while (pretty much) everything else we might be concerned with was a 'Datsun'. Nissan used the Datsun name up to 1984, so that's a lot of different kinds of cars and trucks.



1966 Nissan Silvia - the only one, of the 55 {correction, that's 554 per my sources} built, ever imported to the U.S. (Hawaii to be exact)

THEN, there's the inevitable sea-change that affected the way cars were built (for U.S. market anyway) beginning 1968. SO, you have a significant change in character and lineage with that date. Example, the 410/411 series ran from 1964 to 1967.5. The RL411 (the best Datsun ever made in my humble-but-biased opinion :bowdown , but its life was short-lived not because it wasn't good enough or fun enough or cheap enough or fast enough... but because of federal safety mandates. [neener-neener you 510 guys!! If not for those federal mandates, the 510 may not have come about for years!! Just exposing my personal preference and my motto: IT AIN'T WORTH DOIN' IF YA CAN'T MAKE IT FUN!! really, the 510's are okay, just not my style... may have something to do with that my mom bought a first-off-the-line 510 the same day I bought my first new car/Datsun in March '68... see pic]

Rockett and his 1st Datsun, taken appx. 6/71 Fayetteville, NC

For argument's sake, I maintain that an EARLY Datsun is pre-'68 because of the dramatic styling and design changes that arrived with the oh-so-popular 510. This would include any roadster, and the 520 and 521 pickups, and of course the Patrols, along with the variety of sedans.

CONTINUED WITH NEXT POST FOR MORE PICS OF EARLY DATSUNS.....

'65 Datsun PL320 pickup, one I sold last year, too small for me

And to flesh out this Early Datsun Picture... {taken from a random websearch}...

{courtesy 311s.org}

and last and certainly not earliest... {courtesy Eddie Rattley, ratdat.com, England}

So, how's that for a partial Early Datsun Definition????

{actually one more post to get the Patrol in}...

1962 Nissan Patrol (courtesy Datsun.org)

Awesome!! I used to have a 720 KC long ago. I also have some random parts for a Datsun 510 that someday I hope to build. Love the old pics as I have always been a huge Datsun fan.