I inherited my great Uncle's 1979 Datsun 120Y Coupe. It had been laid up in a garage for 8 years and had only 14k miles on it. One new set of tyres and a couple of water pipes later and I had it MOT'd and back on the road.
In the last 2 years I've only had one breakdown which ended up with me getting a new alternater. It's the most reliable car I've ever owned.
It does have a few drawbacks such as the time it takes to demist the windows and the fact that the original Clarion radio only picks up MW. However, what it lacks in gadgets and modern comforts it makes up for with reliability and simplistic design. I was first tempted to put my old CD/Radio in it along with some bigger speakers, but decided that one speaker pumping Classic Gold was much more in keeping with the retroness of it all.
Unfortuantely I live near the sea and the cars been left in the open for too long. Rust is starting to emerge and alhtough I'm reluctant to do it, I feel the only hope for it's survival will be in selling it to someone else.
I owned a Dato 120y on my travels in Australia and it was the best ever, ever! It never let us down and we took it on some of the worst roads ever seen by man or motor, some which were only supposed for use by 4x4s....check out the Gibb River Road in West Oz or if you can find it, the road to Gnaraloo (middle of the desert!).
Anyway....loved the car soo much I now want one over here in the UK. If anyone has one for sale please contact me whenever.....even if its in years from this posting.
My even try to import one from Oz....they have loads of them out there just waiting to be scrapped. So if anyone really wants one, maybe we can do an import of a few. Not sure on the costs yet, be would be so worth it. Like you all know, they rarely break and are so easy to fix when they do.
used to owned a 1970 model with a 3 speed gear box. i upgraded the gear box to a 5 speed unit and fitted an A15 1.5 liter engine form a nissan van. performance was very good.
I own a 2 door datsun 120y. It was my mums, and she mashed the gearbox, so she gave it to me. It is incredibly reliable, and considering the tiny engine... FUCK it goes off its tits.
I am looking for a 5 speed gearbox for my car, these are rare but they did come out on some 120y's. if anybody has any info please contact me at [Log in to view email]
Recently i have just installed a $1000 sound system, and even though the car is very old (30 next year) it has very few rattles and vibrations.
On the whole, im extremely happy with the car and would reccomend it to ANYBODY as a first car.
I bought a 1976 (P reg) 120Y , four door for £300 , off of a mate who had owned it for a while.This was in around 1987 , so we were both about 18 I suppose. It was that sh*t mustard brown colour and had two sporty spot lights on the front. We both agreed the best thing was the funky blue light that came on when the rear screen heater was employed . Cool! . It was only an 1177 (?) cc motor , but ran on two star petrol and would give me about 40mpg. That said , it would average a lot less than that with the old lead foot syndrome I marvelled at the moulded , curved dash and ergonomic seats ( with head rests ! ) It even had a built in radio! ( I had owned a Mk 1 escort before the 120Y , so it was like a jet fighter in comparison !) We decided to fit a rev counter to it , so went to a breakers yard in Crawley . Having found a donor car on the stack , we expertly and surgically removed the rev counter ( and clock ) by sitting on the back seat and kicking the sh*ite out of the dash. I had the car for about 15 months after that . It went like stink and downhill with the wind behind it , I swear it did well over 100 . ( Braking wasnt too good at more than 30 ! ) It never broke down and always started. Handling was non existant , on ridiculously skinny rubber , but you could get the back end out , wet or dry ! Anyhow , it rotted badly along the sills and the gearbox started to whine, so we pugged it with newspaper and P40 , MOTd it and I sold it to another mate for what I had paid for it ! He blew the gearbox up in about 4 days , so my mate and I fitted a second-hand one for him for £40 ( only took us an hour and a half ! ) . This third mate had it for about another two years ! It cost him about £300 in welding and the second gearbox eventually went . I had one last chance to drive it , for old times sake before it was ceremonially put through a fragmentiser in Newhaven (a huge metal eating thingy on the quay side) . He even got £10 for the scrap steel ! Now were older and nostalgia is becoming part of our daily lives , wed love another. If youve got one going , drop me a line .
hi i have a sunny datson 1989 model and it is my pride and joy, it has a set of 20" simmons. It also has a 3.5" exhaust all the way and a 4" tip. I have modified it so it does 0-100 in approx 17 seconds. i love this car
My brother owned a T-reg 120Y in the late eighties, it was approx 14 years old. It was bought for £500 and was used on the road for Three years, needing only a brake fluid change and a small sill repair, until one day after driving from Bolton to southport to liverpool to blackpool to morcambe, at the garstang roundabout we were struck by a cavalier at 60MPH, instantly writing off the 120Y, no one was injured, thanks to the safety of the car. I really would like to get hold of a "120" but cant find one over here in the UK.
i hav a datsun 120y and it is probebly got one thing wrong with it the dash board is all cracked and britle , but all up i recon it runs all over the new cars today ,um , it has had 4 ouners in its life time and it only blew up once i go the head all rebealt and all new gaskets on it very cheap and i am doin it up with A BODY KIT and a new set of magsa but it already has them anouther problem is that the wheels are to small they are 12 inches ,and does to many burnouts and wers out the tires and they r not cheap over all it is a good car and will run all over the rest.
i hav a datsun 120y modle and it has only let me down once, this week and i cracked the head on it so my brother has to do it up 4 me anyway it is a wonderful car and relierbal and will naver let you down.
I drove a 1974 datsun 120y since 1998. Got it from my father. The most impressive thing about this car is its reliability. It has never let me down, it has never need any tow (mean, never broke on the way), and this was achieve just with cheap maintaining cost. If only this model is still manufactured......
Owned for more than 5 years.
Preloved Visitor
Reviewed March 2002.
Performance
Reliability
Parts Availability
Overall Value for Money
I paid $700 for my 1977 datsun 120Y in march, 2000 and since then have only had to spend money on regular servicing and a slight rust repair ($150 worth)which it needed to pass registration. I am the cars second owner and it still runs the original engine, gearbox and diff although i've added a 40ml weber and extractors which i had from a previous Datsun 1200. I've covered about 25000 km's in it and it now has 93500km's on the clock. I am proud to own a Datsun 120Y
Owned for 4 years.
Preloved Visitor
Reviewed October 2001.
Performance
Reliability
Parts Availability
Overall Value for Money
My family own this car about 20 years.It never leave us on the road.it never ask a lot of money.
Owned for more than 5 years.
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