We’re long, long overdue for posting this photo (and a lot more) from this year’s Japanese Classic Car Association New Year’s Meeting in Tokyo. We received this photo from an Australian-on-holiday named Ian Hancock, who is a die hard fan of Japanese nostalgic cars, and the owner of a Datsun Sunny himself.
I know that Skylines, Bluebirds, and Sunnies like this one were prime racetrack adversaries for the TE27 (and KE20) Toyota Corollas that I love so much, so the Toyota Motorsports fan in me should force me to boo a car like this, but I just can’t. How could you NOT like this car? I think it looks incredibly awesome – from the works overfenders to the fender mounted aero mirrors, the simple, boxy front chin spoiler, the FRP headlight covers (With vents! Cool!), and the vintage racing livery, which I absolutely LOVE! Why can’t people learn to make their race cars as cool looking as this one? I just don’t get it! Oh, and let’s not forget the wheels… oh hell no, we can’t miss out on the wheels!
A closer look and a skilled eye will tell you that these wheels look like Campagnolos, but they’re not Italian. If you thought they looked like TRD wheels, you are absolutely correct. These wheels are 13×8 TRD wheels, which are super difficult to obtain and expensive as hell; when it comes to the Toyota crowd, these are wheels that people lust over with no question. It must piss off purist Toyota owners to no end that these rare, authentic TRD wheels are being used on a Datsun… but before you get too upset, there’s something you need to know! The Datsun Sunny teams actually did use actual TRD wheels on their cars back in the 1970s, because it was extremely difficult to obtain lightweight wheels in wide 13 inch sizes. Since Toyota Technocraft in Japan decided to actually make these wheels, several of the teams campaigning the Sunny Excellent decided they would use these wheels on their cars, regardless if the rims were made by Toyota or not.
If I had a car like this, you could be damn sure that every day driving it would feel like a sunny, excellent day.
:: Antonio Alvendia
Very nice looking machine
damn, you’re up early! oh wait. you’re in the UK, aren’t you…
Thanks for posting Antonio! They are actually 13×8’s on the front with 205’s and 13×9’s on the rear with 225’s. Don’t be too pissed off, I rock a set of Toscos now on my sunny too haha! This little car runs top three in the TS cup and is faster than plenty of Z’s, etc, with it’s little 1.3litre pushrod engine making 175hp!
Fantastic car and great to see one of Ian’s photos up on the site! I’ve followed his blog for a while now.
Good stuff man!
Hey Ian
Good stuff.
Hope your travels in Japan have been good after our departure.
Motormavens keep up the good work.
Cheers
One of my favorite wheels. I love them Sunny’s. I think race/drift teams should do liveries like back in the 70’s. They are simple, colorful and classy. Win win win
thanks for that share of your knowledge antonio, great post!!!!1
damn, ian thats dope. you have a set of toscos?! are they stamped TOSCO or TRD? i used to have a set of 13×8 and 13×9 but i sold them (plus one of my all original orange TE27 SR5s) to my friend Patrick. His car is the TE27 that came out on the cover of Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine not too long ago. Issue #2 I think.
I loved that car Antonio! Not sure I ever got my issue #4 of JNC. Hmmm…
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Holy shit 4×4 status. Other than that looks good.
@S30ZG: haha yeah, true… but if you look at any of the old vintage videos and photos from back then, most of the cars weren’t exactly tucking. the super slammed/tucking phenomena didn’t happen until much later…
lovely article…..lots of insights…ty Mr. A!
this is awesome. i love this car. more japanese classic cars please!
I loved this car since way back when when SCC (Feb, 2008) did an article on it. Part of the reason its not as low as it “could” be is because ther rear is all old skool leaf springs. I suggest picking up the SCC article and perusing it. good stuff about this car. I want to do my B14 200sx up like this one day.