The Datsun B-210 - "Nifty-Fifty"

[Mauibound]

I just stumbled upon this ad in a book over the weekend and decided to see if I could find it online. Here it is. Circa 1977

The Datsun B210

They advertise 50MPG on the Highway, 37 MPG City. Amazing.

[efusco]

The pre-emissions control and crash-safety era allowed for some relatively fuel efficient vehicles, none could be legally sold these days.

[Syclone]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Nov 30 2006, 02:54 PM) [snapback]355848[/snapback]</div>

The pre-emissions control and crash-safety era allowed for some relatively fuel efficient vehicles, none could be legally sold these days.
[/b]

I owned one, a 1978 "fast back". It was real piece of crap vibrating tin death trap. It was Kelly green. I don't think I ever got over 40 MPG, let alone 50. Did manage to clock over 90K miles even after my wife got the throttle stuck wide open and never thought to just turn the key off for about 5 minutes. It used a bit of oil after that.

Cost $3700.00 - sold it after 5 years and 90k miles for $900.00

[efusco]

My wife tells me about the VW diesel Rabbit her father used to drive during his traveling sales back in the day...it go over 50mpg...but the emissions, noise, etc compared to the modern vehicles of today must've been attrocious.

[Mauibound]

I remember renting one of these back in the 70's in Hawaii. No air conditioning, black vinyl seats...man did those seats get hot. As I also recall, that particular car also had a roach infestation problem. Yuck. For some strange reason, I always thought the wheels on the B210 were cool.

[Beryl Octet]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JasonCon @ Nov 30 2006, 02:51 PM) [snapback]355847[/snapback]</div>

I just stumbled upon this ad in a book over the weekend and decided to see if I could find it online. Here it is. Circa 1977

The Datsun B210

They advertise 50MPG on the Highway, 37 MPG City. Amazing.
[/b]

That seems like incredible mileage for one of those, by '77 it would have had catalytic converters and other fun stuff that some companies hadn't quite figured out. I had a friend that had one of the early Honda Civic CVCCs, their claim to fame was they could meet the pollution standards without cats, IIRC, and it seemed to get high 30s city, low 40s highway.

[KS_prius]

"They advertise 50MPG on the Highway, 37 MPG City. Amazing."

We had an automatic and a 5-speed version. Both versions were so underpowered with the small 4-cyl engine. I guess the brakes may have been power-assisted but I clearly remember growing Popeye forearms as there was no power steering. The best we routinely managed with the automatic was 25mpg and the high 30's with the manual. I think this was mostly because you had to wrap the rpm's so high to get out of everyone's way and to get up any kind of a hill. Man, as much as those cars tried any kind of an uphill, let alone a mountain in the Rockies, resulted in embarassingly slow uphill speeds. Both were kept until around 1995...they were paid off many times over, they never seemed to break down, and the insurance was virtually nil.

[Marlin]

My Father's 5-speed manual transmission Renault Aliance from back in the early 80's claimed 51 MPG hwy and 44 City. And it got it too, or at least pretty close.

But... You had to turn off the air conditioner if you wanted to accelerate at anything greater that a sluggish crawl. And when my father let me drive it to school on cold winter days, I had to run it in a low gear the whole way just to get heat. If I shifted into the right gear for my speed once the vents started producing hot air, then the air would go cold again.

And it was tiny compared to the Prius.

[ibcs]

You just made my day. That was my first car and I have looked all over the place to find a picture to show my son. That car averaged in the mid 40's when driving a 70% highway driving. Had air conditioning through the floor board and the dust was free.

Thanks for the memories,
---Kent

[Tideland Prius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KS_prius @ Nov 30 2006, 01:23 PM) [snapback]355918[/snapback]</div>

"They advertise 50MPG on the Highway, 37 MPG City. Amazing."

We had an automatic and a 5-speed version. Both versions were so underpowered with the small 4-cyl engine. I guess the brakes may have been power-assisted but I clearly remember growing Popeye forearms as there was no power steering. The best we routinely managed with the automatic was 25mpg and the high 30's with the manual. I think this was mostly because you had to wrap the rpm's so high to get out of everyone's way and to get up any kind of a hill. Man, as much as those cars tried any kind of an uphill, let alone a mountain in the Rockies, resulted in embarassingly slow uphill speeds. Both were kept until around 1995...they were paid off many times over, they never seemed to break down, and the insurance was virtually nil.
[/b]

You know if we weren't in this horsepower race, we would've gotten better mileage. Aside from hp and tq (which, no doubt is to hide the extra weight from all the safety and emission add-ons) we really don't need a 268hp Camry that does 60 in 7 secs.