Car Nicknames, Whats Yours?

[carterb]

Next came another 510 2dr.  Another one that I had to drag home on a trailer.  It was a really nice car but someone ran a red light and T-boned the owners wife while driving and pushed the rear end to one side about 8". 

 

 

I bought it for parts to fix all my other cars with and eventually just about everything on this car did find its way onto another.

Some guys that worked next to me bought the shell to turn into a racecar.  They extracted a roll cage out of a VW Rabbit, cut the roof off of the 510 and attempted to make it fit.  They gave up and eventually towed the shell back to my house where I finished cutting it up and said goodbye.

 

 

more photos here: http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/162-donko/

 

Oh yeah, it was named Donko.  Don't ask me why.  The kids named it.  I was just happy they were interested so the name stuck.

[carterb]

Pretty sure the next "car" we bought was our 1972 Chevy Suburban - The Monster Truck.  We bought it in Tacoma WA from the family of an older gentleman who had passed away.  He used to drive all his elderly friends around doing errands and such.  Had a neat story.  Later realized he had named it Blue Ox (eching on a set of keys), but Monster Truck had already stuck and it became our family getaway vehicle.

 

 

We've put a lot of time and energy into this one over the years and still have it.  Looks pretty awesome today!

 

 

Photos here:http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/678-monster-truck/

 

Build thread here:

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/55650-monster-truck-1972-chevy-suburban/

[carterb]

Next we were back to 510's.  This purchase was two wagons at the same time.  A running 72 wagon and an entire 2nd wagon (eventually known as The Mustard Wagon) minus the uni-body shell, plus loads more parts.  We drove the monster truck down and loaded it to the gills, filled the wagon too, and even had stuff on the roof rack.  It was quite a haul.

 

The kids named the wagon Donko II.  (pretty creative huh?)  To be fair, it was another red 510 so...

 

I fiddled with it for a while and eventually sold it to a co-worker who was looking for a project.  Not too long after, it ended up back in my garage.  I swapped motors and got it running again, fixed some of the rust issues, and sold it to another Canadian friend of Jason's.

 

 

Never heard from it since.  : (

 

lots of pics here:  http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/161-donko-ii/

[carterb]

Then came another 2dr.  I answered an ad in Olympia for some 510 parts for sale and went down and picked a few choice parts from this car.  Then I called him a few months later to see what he was doing with the car and ended up buying it and towing it home.  First thing I did was re-install the parts I had picked earlier and got it running.  This car quickly became known as Hammer due to the silver "Hammerite" paint job.

 

 

I didn't have this car before long before I sold it to a guy in Australia through The 510 Keeper.

 

Photos here:  http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/156-hammer/

[carterb]

I was visiting my other grandpa one day when I looked through the trees into his neighbors field and noticed what looked like a 510 wagon.  Went and knocked on their door and he let me go check it out.  It was super rough and rusty but he let me have it for free so I towed it home and stripped it for parts.  It was named the Lego Wagon because one of the many non-datsun items found inside the car as I was picking through it was a Lego Brick.  (I love Legos)

 

 

Photos here:  http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/160-legowagon/

[carterb]

Next up was a 1968 Datsun roadster I bought to fix up for Brenda.  I found it's taillights peaking out from under a tarp on a drive one day so I stopped and knocked on the door and made an offer on the car.  Got it real cheap and you guessed it - towed it home.

 

 

Held onto it for a while but realized it would be years before it made it to the top of the priority list so I sold it.  To some guys up in Canada!

 

\\
 

Never did get a nickname.  I guess that's because I never did anything more than push it around my property and give it space in my garage for a while.

 

Photos here:  http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/701-1968-datsun-roadster/

[carterb]

Next up was another cactus green 1972 Datsun 510 wagon.  I bought it from the same guy in Tacoma that I bought our first 510 wagon from.  This one quickly became known as Otto for a number of reasons.  It was my first Automatic 510 and when I drove it home (yes, drove, not towed) it wandered all over the road like a fish - and the kids favorite  book at the time was "A fish out of water" about otto the fish.  Sounds like a lot of thought went into that name but it didn't.  It found it's name right away and it stuck. 

 

 

I did a LOT of work to this car (including rebuilding the front suspension to help it drive straight) and drove it for years I think before selling it to a guy in Monroe who had a cactus green 2dr to park next to it.

 

 

Lots more photos here: http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/158-otto/

 

Now if you are keeping score, you will notice that up until this point, every single car I owned had either been sold to someone outside the US, sold to a co-worker, or scrapped.  It was actually a difficult to break that trend when I sold this car, but the trend was never intentional to begin with so I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

[carterb]

Picked up another 510 wagon from a kid south of Tacoma.  It had a bunch of bolt-on "boy racer" mods done to it immediately begging for the name Rice Wagon. 

 

 

I drove it home, I sold off all the "extras", pulled the drive train, and it has then become one of the slowest moving 510 projects in history. 

 

 

more pics here:  http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/314-rice-wagon/

 

Build thread here: http://community.ratsun.net/topic/43807-rice-wagon-vg33-510-wagon-project/

[carterb]

From the beginning, I always liked 4drs as much as 2drs and wagons.  I remember some "discussions" on the bluebirds mailing list where individuals shunned any 510 that was not a 2dr saying they were not "real" 510's, which is still a pretty funny opinion to me.  Anyway, craigslist lead me to a dilapidated 4dr in a field in Renton - Greengo.

 

 

Although I had long term plans to build this car.  Last year my son informed me that he wants it, so I guess it's his now.

 

 

I guess that means I get to go shopping for a replacement.  I think I'll look for a RHD 4dr Bluebird instead.

 

Pics here:   http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/298-greengo/

 

Build thread here:

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/63690-greengo-1972-datsun-510-4dr/

[carterb]

Found a rough old wagon out in the sticks and left a note on it asking if they were interested in selling.  About the only think it had going for it was a really nice stock chrome gas cap, but parts are parts...  Before I could put a deal together, another local guy showed up with a trailer and bought it.  He flipped it to me but kept the gas cap.  D'oh! 

 

 

Anyway, it had a brush finish latex paint job so I called it Dutch Boy and proceeded to remove and redistribute its parts, keeping other 510's on the road.

 

 

More photos here:  http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/315-dutch-boy/

[carterb]

This was another wagon that ended up as a pile of metal shavings.  Originally from California - hence it's name - Caliwagon.  I bought it in a package deal from a guy up in Oak Harbor with two other 510's and a couple truckloads of parts. 

 

 

This was a cool wagon and was obviously well cared for at one point in time but that time was long ago.  I started to sort it out in an attempt to get it running and while tracing the wiring, the main harness plug wires just crumbled in my hand.  While under the dash I noticed how rotten the unibody was.  Once again, I determined it was best to use the parts to save other cars so Brenda helped me chop it up after I had stripped everything.

 

 

photos here: http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/338-caliwagon/

[carterb]

Another car from the guy in Oak Harbor.  This was a STOCK 1970 2dr.  Named for it's brick red color I guess, The Brick was NOT going to be cut up.  This was one cool car! 

 

 

Super solid and the only damage was a very strange dent in the drivers door, a dent on the right front fender, and super baked interior.

 

I replaced the interior with all the nice red stuff from Donko and before I could do anything else, my Australian friend made me an offer I couldn't refuse and shipped it to Australia with Dixie.

 

 

Photos here: http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/340-the-brick/

[carterb]

Third and final car from Oak Harbor.  At first glance, this one was probably the least likely to be one of my drivers. Named Blanco for the white paint, at first, I just put a motor in it and got it running as the same co-worker who had Flipper wanted another project.

 

 

He played with it for a while and then ended up selling it back to me a couple years ago when I was looking for something to drive in the winter so I could park my coupe. 

 

Now called Blanco the Winter Wagon, I did a bunch of work to it and drove it all over until a local kid was T-boned in his wagon and came knocking on my door encouraging me to sell it to him.  He was still limping, how could I say no?  He HAD to have the car.

 

 

He sold it about a year later to a guy in Seattle so it's still around somewhere.

 

Pics here: http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/339-blanco/

 

Build thread here: http://community.ratsun.net/topic/40454-blanco-the-winter-wagon/

[carterb]

While driving Otto, I found a super clean, stock 1972 wagon down in Tenino, WA. Drove it home and started singing a song O' Tannenbrown so it had a name before I got it to my driveway. 

 

 

Nicest wagon I've ever owned.  I did a ton of work to this one before selling it to Rich Roberts.

 

 

He's turned it into a long term project of his own.

 

My photos here:  http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/473-o-tannenbrown/

 

He has a build thread on The510Realm

[carterb]

After years of looking, a post on the bluebirds mailing list led me to an awesome guy in Oregon with a 1969 SSS bluebird coupe for sale.  I picked it up during Canby that year, and towed it home.

 

 

I've been fixing, modifying, and driving Cooper ever since.

 

 

photos here: http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/574-cooper/

 

build thread here: http://community.ratsun.net/topic/44192-cooper-1969-1600sss-bluebird-coupe/

[carterb]

When I got Blanco for the 2nd time.  It came with the remnants of another wagon.  He had bought it out of california with a 1/2 done KA24 swap but before putting it on the road, it became parts-car fodder. 

 

 

: (  With the front corner cut off and the interior filled with all kids of hubris, I named it Recycle Bin and proceeded to put it out of it misery and add all the parts to my collection.

 

photos here:  http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/639-recycle-bin/

[carterb]

I never intended on purchasing two coupes, but when someone from across the country calls you and offers to sell, what the heck else are you supposed to do?  I bought the car out of NC, and by the time I got it home, it had earned it's name - Trouble, which it lives up to to this day.

 

 

 

pictures here: http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/665-trouble/

 

build thread here:

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/45858-trouble-late-1969-sss-bluebird-coupe/

[carterb]

In another instance of someone calling me (looking back, that seems to have happened quite frequently) a guy down in Shorline who I had helped out a few times with parts was tired of having to tow his kids wagon home and asked if I wanted it before he called the wrecker.  Jeff and I went and picked it up and dropped it in my driveway.  Due to the low low price of $0, I named it Freebird.

 

 

It didn't take long to realize "what the heck am I going to do with another project" so I gave it to Jeff who had it towed to his place.

 

 

Then, shortly after, we got a new engineer at work who needed some transportation so Jeff gave it to him.  He's done a ton of work on it since.

 

My pictures: http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/644-freebird/

 

Sam's build thread: http://community.ratsun.net/topic/58566-saving-freebird/

[edekalil]

This was the Loogie....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is 5Teezy............we've been calling her that for 14 years.

 

 

 

 

 

I have a set of those 300Z rims, I just wish I had the time to get the car lowered and put them on. Love your car Busta.

[carterb]

We wanted to get a little truck project for my daughter that we could build together before she gets her license.  We found a decent running 78 620 KC in Renton and drove it home.  We named it Bruiser due to the black and blue paint scheme and over sized wheels and tires.

 

 

We've done quite a bit to it already (yes, this is the same truck)

 

 

but there is lots more to come before she can drive it on her own.

 

Pics here:  http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/682-bruiser/

 

Build thread here:http://community.ratsun.net/topic/57139-bruiser-78-620-kc-project/

[hobospyder]

since carter is bringing in other vehicle types in i'll play

 

 

little miss and toolbox

 

 

kimi (kimiko ross) and ceras victoria

 

 

carrie (she likes to make me bleed)

 

 

heather

 

 

 

sarah

 

only vehicle that was named before i owned it was kimi. all names other than that are due to particular personalities of the vehicles and people i have known with said names

 

 

all are currently owned. the cars that i didn't name have left me already. either by accident or dead heart. only heather isn't stored at my house and is on loan

[hobospyder]

O' Tannenbrown (place holder)

play on tannenbaum? or however christmas tree is spelt in german

[thisismatt]

I shall call him....Sancho

[edekalil]

I do not have a name for the 72/510 I just refer it after the lady who sold it to me way back in 79 or 80 I worked with in TV as the Lee Stevenson car.

 

 

You all have seen it as it is now.

 

This 70/510 is referred to as The old lady's car which I got from an 80 something year old lady way back in the country. I patiently waited after trying to buy over and over the years since I saw it in 84. 20 years later she called me and sold it to me when she got herself a new car.

 

 

This blue 72/510 I refer to as the Biloxi car because I got it in Biloxi, MS.

 

I really need to give them a real name some day.

 

My wagon I posted earlier my friends kids called the turtle car, I call Team Heineken kinda like the wagons ski teams used in the Olympics way back. It being green and me liking Heineken.

 

 

The red wagon has no name, it was bought just for the hell of it from a local locksmith who knew I had several and was into them.

[carterb]

My last 510 purchase was a 69 2dr dubbed Racecar due to the flares and my build plan.

 

 

This one needs some serious work!  I'll be lucky to start tearing into it this fall.

 

pics: http://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/album/692-race-car/

 

build thread: http://community.ratsun.net/topic/64753-cuz-racecar-1969-datsun-510-2dr/