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PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 10:45 pm 
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Location: Bellingen, NSW
Hi I wish this forum was around (and the internet) while I was driving this car 21 years ago

I am having to decide with only 1 week notice what to do with a 1971 Datsun 1200 that has been stored in a shed since.

The engine was rebuilt with a lumpy cam and has done around 20k km. It has extractors, and four new struts in it, brake callipers rebuilt and break lines. Ocean Blue colour, dash has cracked, was great mechanically though.

There's a heap of parts in the back seat, from the Sunny I got into afterwards which had the parts I wanted for the 1200, including carb (might be a little holley), 13" wheels and fat exhaust etc. I ended up in a R31 Skyline which needs a home too if anyone is in the Coffs Harbour area, the engine is great in that car too.

What would a 1971 Datsun 1200 be worth these days? I either need to transport it from Armidale to Coffs Harbour, or find an enthusiast who might be interested in a project.


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 8:50 am 
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Welcome to Ozdat. I can certainly relate to you wishing the forum had existed earlier, I wish I had discovered it a couple of years before I did, would have made my life much easier!

It's hard to say without some photos, but unfortunately 1200s don't really seem to fetch a huge amount of money. Some may give you unrealistic figures, but if you are in a rush to sell, the car hasn't moved for a long time, and you are quite rural, I think you will struggle to get much for it.

I would look into trying to take it with you if you can. Call some towing companies or if you have a car capable of towing another car then even look into one-way traileelr hire. Good luck, hopefully you find something!

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green200b - aka Alistair

The fleet:
'80 200B GX - the green200b - hibernating indefinitiely
'81 RX-7 - 12A extend port, 4.375 LSD - daily (currently hibernating)
'74 RX-2 - 13B bridgeport, 4.444 LSD - cruiser (also hibernating)
Dato200B wrote:
Green200B has forgotten more about 200Bs than we will ever know.


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 11:55 am 
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Location: Newcastle, NSW
Is it a sedan or coupe ?

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 12:21 pm 
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Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2017 10:26 pm
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Location: Bellingen, NSW
Thank you for the welcome :)

It is a 4 door sedan too. I can't get any pics until I am up there Wednesday unfortunately.

That's a good tip just to tow it down here to have more time to find a good home for it. I'll be looking at $140 trailer hire and $240 for 4 decent 2 tonne tie down straps from SuperCheap unless I can hire some straps from an equipment hire place. I found the transport company post in this forum, I might try give one a call for a quote as it might end up similar price, cheers for the tip.

The tie down straps are the hard part, as I don't have time to order a heavy duty set for $60 off ebay. I have four 350kg tie down straps with break strength of 700kg, would that do the job if weight spread across four anchor points? There is a mountain range to drive down, so don't want to take any chances.

I found a member in this forum who lives in Armidale NSW too, so sent him a PM too. It's looking like this Wednesday will be the final day to move it. Also investigating friends up there who might be able to store the car for the short term as it would be easier to move the car locally.

Thanks for the feedback and empathy, it isn't pleasant having to decide at short notice.


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 5:06 pm 
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Location: Bendigo Victoria
even Bunnings sell 2T tie downs for less than $20


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 5:17 pm 
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Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2010 10:50 pm
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Location: Central Coast, NSW
Gasweld sell 2.5T straps that are ideal for these purposes for about $18 each. They're a blue/yellow strap with ratchet.

If you can, keep it. Cars from the 70s are desireable now because they have character and a lot of older generations can relate. New cars post 90s just don't have that feel anymore. They're a fun, cheap and easy way to get into a car social scene or just to enjoy yourself, less design and emissions rules to comply with as well.

And if the shell is relatively tidy the rest is simple. If you're simply not interested and never will be - sure, move it on. Though my 2c if you have an interest in cars you'll regret it if you later decide to begin a project, sometimes if the car doesn't owe you any more than a shed space (ie no regoes/insurances/holding money) it's no harm to keep!

Hope you come to the best solution - hope it may even be the start of something new.

_________________
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douglasamills wrote:
1600s arent the only datsun


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 11:55 pm 
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Location: Bellingen, NSW
Wow cheers I never thought to check at Bunnings hkszpower and cheers with the GasWeld tip too Imago! I'm in a panic and can't think logically at the moment... I've had some experience in the past not tying down a car properly and shitting myself if I had to break going down a hill with a car on the back, never mind going down the Dorrigo mountain range from 800m above sea level to sea level in 15 km...

Imago cheers, I really needed to hear that... It is a really tidy car, and was so fun to drive. I remember being young thinking I was being a hoon or something as after traffic light, it pulled away so much quicker than other cars... and didn't cost anything in fuel, back at 80c a litle lol it could get from Armidale to Brisbane with $25 fuel, so putting the pedal down wasn't expensive... Being vintage in 4 years it'd be fun to turn up to car events with it for people wanting to see the car they drove back in the day....

It's a real goer and has all the parts in the back seat (fat exhaust, a holley carb, heaps of other parts).... I guess atm it is stock, except it has a rebuilt A12 engine with lumpy cam and a sligtly higher piston bore, it took a few blocks to find a good one to rebore.... new pistons and rings etc... it almost sounded like a moster just with stock exhaust though with the lumpy cam, friends used to comment on the sound.... it needs these other parts putting on it to replace the Hitachi carb and get some fat exhaust on those extractors... all those parts are in the back seat!

I was going to try find a car company to tow it down, but cheap straps sound good...

My kids are approching P status, but I don't think they'd be keen driving an old car, but at least if I get it down here it would be an option..

I appreciate the feedback... I knew I couldn't send it to the scrappies, like I have done with other cars recently... Thanks Imago... I needed to hear that it is worth hanging on to. It is almost a perfect 'barn job' like I read in the forums here, kept 1km above sea level for it's whole life so away from salt air....

I'll keep you guys posted and get some pics up over the next week for a better informed decision. Cheers!

I was really stuck knowing what to do with this, but you've help me decide it is worth the tow down here, then I can find a good home for it with due time...

(edit: at the time I had a great mechanic friend who has passed away since god bless him, however no stones were left unturned late 90 with new stuts and breaklines, rebuilt engine, caliper rebuilds, I can't think of them all 20 years later.., I ended up in the R31 skyline afterwards being young (which he helped with too) as I needed a bigger car with a family, so the Datsun has kind of sat there mechanically perfect for 20 years since... thus needing a good home

And you're right too Imago, being my first car, I'd hate to part with it then want to do a resto project later in life for nostalic reasons... It is such a small car to store, will be like 1/4 of my garage here.... Glad I came to the right place for feedback! :D

So yeah either I keep it or find a really good home for it, me thinks :)
)


Last edited by RichardFX_Datsun on Fri Mar 17, 2017 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 8:25 am 
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Location: Zermatt, Switzerland.
Good to hear that it looks like you can now keep it :thumbsup:

I had a similar predicament with my Datsun a few years ago, it was also my first car. It nearly went to scrap, but I managed to find somewhere for it to sit for if I do manage to get back to it.

Hopefully you will be able to get yours in the garage and get it going again. Historic or Special Interest registration makes keeping these cars on the road much more affordable, so look into that as well.

_________________
green200b - aka Alistair

The fleet:
'80 200B GX - the green200b - hibernating indefinitiely
'81 RX-7 - 12A extend port, 4.375 LSD - daily (currently hibernating)
'74 RX-2 - 13B bridgeport, 4.444 LSD - cruiser (also hibernating)
Dato200B wrote:
Green200B has forgotten more about 200Bs than we will ever know.


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 9:23 pm 
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Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2017 10:26 pm
Posts: 4
Location: Bellingen, NSW
Thank you all for the morale support and advice for this decision.

While planning to move it to a mate's shed locally in Armidale, as someone offered on the day I was driving up, it came to mind to ring a transport company even for transport locally, after the advice you guys gave, even for a quick tow locally to save me the 3 hour trailer hire.

Armidale Towing quoted me $220 for transportation all the way down here to Bellingen! as long as I wasn't in a hurry to get it down here, which suited me perfectly as I just needed it out of mate's shed at short notice. I thought to ask as they did trips to sydney and brisbane regularly. They were really great, moved it within a few hours of calling them, and storing it until moving it here in due time. I would highly recommend Armidale Towing to others. The other place I rang were $88 for pickup and then $100 an hour there after.

It would have cost me $160 for trailer hire, and $80 in straps so I was very happy. Probably saved my life too, as it was raining heavily and would have been towing it bad weather and then I found out the next day there was a diesel spill the whole way up the mountain. So thank you for the advice.

I only thought to take some pics after it was being transported, it was covered in dust and was flat out getting tires pumped and towing it out of the shed for transport, was heavy rain too.

I'll take some pics once it's here, and see what you guys think. At least the nissan sports steering wheel and all the parts from the hotted up Sunny were still in the back. Hopefully she fires up and I can take a video of it too.

Might have to bend the caliper cover or grind them down on the front brakes to get the 13" chev mags to spin freely, least I can do that over time now, and found the right place for repair tips here. I put the old front tyres on there for the transportation though.

Cheers too Green220b, funny a green 200b was my first car for a short time, but this 1200 feels like my first car too as drove it for years. It's been nice I've had good mates who didn't mind storing it in the past, I'd hate to pay $50 a week for 20 years (50k in storage!). And good tip with the cheap rego in 4 years time once vintage, there are plenty of old car events around this area too.

So yeah all worked out nicely in the end, thanks for the support and advice! :)

I'll post again with some pics once it is here. Have a good weekend guys, cheers!


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 10:15 pm 
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Haha got any pics? I hope yours was more fun than mine!

Good to hear that you have managed to hold on to it. Start a build thread on here once you get into it. Hopefully that will help with the motivation!

_________________
green200b - aka Alistair

The fleet:
'80 200B GX - the green200b - hibernating indefinitiely
'81 RX-7 - 12A extend port, 4.375 LSD - daily (currently hibernating)
'74 RX-2 - 13B bridgeport, 4.444 LSD - cruiser (also hibernating)
Dato200B wrote:
Green200B has forgotten more about 200Bs than we will ever know.


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