Introduction

[DonkyBastardo]

I am without my 68 510, at least until the spring, and damn I'm missing my car right now. Black with red interior, almost 100% stock with original block and trans. First car I bought when I moved West and was an older woman's last before she passed. It was her daily until 1981 then sat under an aluminum car port for 15 years. I brought it back from hibernation and I've owned it almost 20 years. After flushing the cooling system and replacing most of the fuel system, it came back to life bright eyed bushy tailed and ready to go. 

 

Well I just moved back East (Upstate NY New Paltz area) from Monterey Ca for a new job. I grew up in Brooklyn and there's no way I'll subject my Datsun to a NorEast winter. Until I can find a safe place here, for now it remains in storage at my sister's 3 fucking thousand miles away. 

 

I was hired as a master carpenter at a 150 year old Quaker resort called Mohonk Mountain House. Great old place right in the middle of pristine New England forest. The place is in a constant state of restoration / maintenance of the main building, out buildings, and landscape structures spread out over  2500 acres. Very isolated up here 6 miles from any town, or house for that matter. I'm part of a skeleton crew for the winter living at the resort, and next spring we begin full restoration of a 100 year old lakeside dining space.

 

I was wandering around on line and stumbled onto this site. I miss my car and thought I'd check in and poke around.

[datzenmike]

Well you're always welcome here to talk 510s. Do could move your dime out there and only drive it in the summer? Three K road trip. Post some pictures of your 510 when you get a chance. Lived just north of Lake Erie in Ontario when I was a kid about 20 miles from Niagara Falls..

 

[Dolomite]

All work and no datto makes Jack a dull boy.

 

Hopefully you get a place secured so you can have it with you again.

[DonkyBastardo]

Shining references L'nOL. I'm there.

 

This place stays open year round, so they frown on chasing folks around with an ax. Winter's not over yet though.

 

Most of my life is piled up in storage right now, the only thing I have up here was stuffed into two suit cases 2 months ago. This job works out, I'll definitely spread out here though. That would mean finding a suitable place down the mountain, likely in Rosendale, High Falls, or New Paltz. Until I feel my stakes are truly set here, I'm not bringing anything here. I love this area, but I'm not going to fight for existence the way I did in California. Don't get me wrong, Monterey is filled with a wealth of beauty both the people and the environment, but for me it required too much effort to hold a sense of place there. Although I never struggled to make a good living, there's a transient superficial culture of reinventing identity rather than settling into it. I think there's something about the absolute terminus of the West coast. There's no land left to keep reaching for something new, so the existential drive for novelty is directed inward. This fuels a boiling kind of creativity that is long on originality and reinvention, but short on mastery and craftsmanship.  

 

As long as I can remember, the Hudson Valley has felt planted in it's history, and the people move in rhythm with the environment and natural cycle of the seasons. I think it's the common hardship of a harsher climate that fosters deeper human relationships and stronger sense of communal interdependence. Here, creativity still seems bound to a heritage of craftsmanship and core human experience.

 

I wish it was all work, because I wouldn't have time to miss my Datto.  Obviously I have way too much time on my hands and that makes the donkey edgy.  Better hide the axes, it's going ot be a long winter. 

[The Taterhead]

Thank you for the correctly punctuated, well put together collection of intelligible words. Sometimes it's refreshing to read coherent sentences.

 

There are a few guys on here from your "area" (broad sense of the word). Three B's and Fisch come to mind.

 

So is the black the original color? If so, it is an odd bird for sure. With Japanese cars that old, black was usually reserved for dignitaries and politicians.

[Chuck Most]

Thank you for the correctly punctuated, well put together collection of intelligible words. Sometimes it's refreshing to read coherent sentences.

x2

 

 

Welcome aboard- there's no better place to discuss Datsuns. And often, very non-Datsuny subjects. 

[DonkyBastardo]

Thank you for the correctly punctuated, well put together collection of intelligible words. Sometimes it's refreshing to read coherent sentences.

 

There are a few guys on here from your "area" (broad sense of the word). Three B's and Fisch come to mind.

 

So is the black the original color? If so, it is an odd bird for sure. With Japanese cars that old, black was usually reserved for dignitaries and politicians.

 

My high school English teacher would be shocked to read that, but thanks. 

 

No, the car was originally a sickly tan color that had too many flaws to try and save. About 6 years ago I finished a light tare down restoration. Nothing over the top, more of a pull it off and clean it up job. I changed the paint and interior color then. The black and red color scheme was pinched from a Bluebird Coupe I saw in LA. 

[thisismatt]

Interesting place, but I don't think I could make the switch (as a carpenter in Santa Barbara).

[thisismatt]

Shining references L'nOL. I'm there.

 

This place stays open year round, so they frown on chasing folks around with an ax. Winter's not over yet though.

 

Most of my life is piled up in storage right now, the only thing I have up here was stuffed into two suit cases 2 months ago. This job works out, I'll definitely spread out here though. That would mean finding a suitable place down the mountain, likely in Rosendale, High Falls, or New Paltz. Until I feel my stakes are truly set here, I'm not bringing anything here. I love this area, but I'm not going to fight for existence the way I did in California. Don't get me wrong, Monterey is filled with a wealth of beauty both the people and the environment, but for me it required too much effort to hold a sense of place there. Although I never struggled to make a good living, there's a transient superficial culture of reinventing identity rather than settling into it. I think there's something about the absolute terminus of the West coast. There's no land left to keep reaching for something new, so the existential drive for novelty is directed inward. This fuels a boiling kind of creativity that is long on originality and reinvention, but short on mastery and craftsmanship.  

 

As long as I can remember, the Hudson Valley has felt planted in it's history, and the people move in rhythm with the environment and natural cycle of the seasons. I think it's the common hardship of a harsher climate that fosters deeper human relationships and stronger sense of communal interdependence. Here, creativity still seems bound to a heritage of craftsmanship and core human experience.

 

I wish it was all work, because I wouldn't have time to miss my Datto.  Obviously I have way too much time on my hands and that makes the donkey edgy.  Better hide the axes, it's going ot be a long winter. 

 

That was the deepest thing I've ever read on ratsun.

[datzenmike]

I think I remember that the 510 did not have a Black paint option.

[datzenmike]

And I checked. The 510 did have a black paint option....  It's paint code 505, called Thunder Black.

 

Not that common or maybe not popular.

[DonkyBastardo]

Interesting place, but I don't think I could make the switch (as a carpenter in Santa Barbara).

 

Ay another plumb. Any specialty, or specific trade? Over the years I've done just about everything from framing to copper foil stain glass. These days I leave the rough to the youngins and do more custom fixture, finish, and restoration. In my mid 40s, I figure I've earned it. 

 

The more time I spend here, the more at home I feel. A few people on skeleton crew at the resort have rented a place in New Paltz. We each kick in a few bucks and get to crash there on days off. New Paltz is a little college town 90 minutes from Manhattan, so there's a fun metropolitan feel and good grub without all the pretentiousness. Then there are the townies who are crunchy creative earth folk as they come. Kind of the New England rock climber equivalent to the California surfer. As one would imagine, weed is king here and a social currency all to itself. Kinda like Amsterdam in that respect where many of the bars have speakeasy style "smoking rooms". Very much it's own little world.

[thisismatt]

Ay another plumb. Any specialty, or specific trade? Over the years I've done just about everything from framing to copper foil stain glass. These days I leave the rough to the youngins and do more custom fixture, finish, and restoration. In my mid 40s, I figure I've earned it. 

 

The more time I spend here, the more at home I feel. A few people on skeleton crew at the resort have rented a place in New Paltz. We each kick in a few bucks and get to crash there on days off. New Paltz is a little college town 90 minutes from Manhattan, so there's a fun metropolitan feel and good grub without all the pretentiousness. Then there are the townies who are crunchy creative earth folk as they come. Kind of the New England rock climber equivalent to the California surfer. As one would imagine, weed is king here and a social currency all to itself. Kinda like Amsterdam in that respect where many of the bars have speakeasy style "smoking rooms". Very much it's own little world.

 

Finish carpentry, but I seem to end up being macgyver more than anything.  Everything is custom, one-off installations for the clients I usually end up working for.  Keeps it fairly interesting most of the time, although right now I'd like to have a few weeks of just baseboard & trim!