Rusty But Trusty

It’s interesting to find that, as recently as the mid-1960s, there were cars that are not considered freeway capable. One of these was the Datsun 320 pickup. While only having 60hp should not prevent you from maintaining freeway speeds (various compact foreign cars of the time did), the low gearing to support a 1-ton load capacity would. That said, for an around town runner – or, in a larger city, an alternative to a scooter or one of those metermaid cars – this truck would work just fine, and would allow you to occasionally move car parts, furniture, and livestock. Which brings us to our feature truck, a 1965 Datsun 320 in Spanish Springs, NV, near Reno, for $1800.

The seller makes a big deal out of the fact that this is a barn find – well, maybe the Four Brothers Ranch logo on the doors explains why it was found in a barn! Usually, the term “barn find” is associated with cars that are quite rare or valuable, and this one is neither. It is a neat little truck, though, with just the right amount of fading and a straight body that would allow you to keep it just the way it is.

Chrome hubcaps add just the right bit of flash to this little truck – any more than this and the grill and you’d start to look silly. The caps on the passenger side are off a later 520 truck, but will do for now. It sustained a minor hit to the right rear corner, and you’ll need to replace the tail light lens on that side. After 20 years’ storage, the truck is not currently running, but the E-series engine should be fairly simple to fix – just check that it turns over for now.

And speaking of the engine, here it is. Oddly enough for a barn find, it doesn’t look at all spidery or dirty down here. The battery is missing, but all the other basics appear present. The (apparently) factory finishes on the valve cover and filter cannister suggest this truck has low miles.

Well, some of the time you saved *not* doing body work, you will spend on the interior. There is enough of the seats left to use as a pattern, and you’ll probably want to re-skin the door panels as well. As you can see, this truck is fitted with the optional floor-shifted 4-speed, and the dash actually looks less primitive than you’d expect on a vehicle this simple. If you have experience with one of these, post back and tell us how you got it on the freeway!

Tags: 320, datsun, Feature, japanese, pickup, truck, under $2000

This entry was posted on October 23, 2013 at 2:01 pm and is filed under Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.