Nissan Repair and Service at Wayne's Garage
The first Datsun imported in the United States was the 1000 sedan in 1958. |
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27 East 27th |
333 Q St. Springfield, Oregon 97477 (541) 746-7142 tech@waynesgarage.com |
DAT-Datson-Datsun-Nissan
The origins of Datsun/Nissan started with an automobile called the DAT which was
first built in 1914 by the Kwaishinsha Motorcar Works. DAT was an acronym of the
company's partners' surnames: Kenjiro Den, Rokuro Aoyama and Meitaro Takeuchi.
The Datsun name was created in 1931 by the DAT Motorcar Co. for a new car model,
spelling it as "Datson" to indicate its smaller size when compared to the
existing, larger DAT car (Dat'S son). Later, in 1933 after Nissan Motor Co.,
Ltd. took control of DAT Motorcar Co., the last syllable of Datson was changed
to "sun" to honor the sun depicted in the national flag, hence the name "Datsun"
Nissan continued to manufacture cars under the Datsun nameplate and trucks under
the Nissan nameplate in Japan.
In 1958 the first Datsun sedan was officially imported to the United States. The
strong, heavy Sedan packed a 48-hp 1200-cc engine encased in thick body panels.
In 1959 the first Datsun compact pickup is sold in America with a modest 37-hp
1000-cc engine.
In 1981 Nissan made the decision to stop using the brand name Datsun worldwide.
The decision to change the name Datsun to Nissan in the U.S. was announced in
the fall of 1981. The rationale was that the name change would help the pursuit
of a global strategy.
Industry observers, however, speculated that the most important motivation was
that a name change would help Nissan market stocks and bonds in the U.S.
Also, the absence of the Nissan name in the U.S. surely rankled Nissan
executives who had seen Toyota and Honda become household words.
The name change campaign lasted for a three year period from 1982 to 1984, and
cost Nissan a figure in the region of US$500 million.
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 The 1937 Datsun was their first mass produced car. |
 The Datsun 310 |
 First DAT car. |
 1965 Fairlady 1600  1970 Fairlady Z or 240Z |
The name "Fair Lady" was given to Datsun's new sports car line in
1960 by Mr. Katsuji Kawamata, President Of Nissan Motors Japan, after he
attended the Broadway Musical "My Fair Lady" while visiting the US in
1958. In 1965 when the Fairlady 1600 was first introduced into the US, Mr. Yutaka Kayatama, then President of Nissan Motors USA, knew that his American customers would not accept the name "Fairlady" for a sports car, so the badging on the front fenders was changed on the US cars, from "Fairlady" to "Datsun 1600". With the Fairlady Z in 1970 it was changed to 240Z, a shortened version of the 2400cc engine displacement, and the "Z", which had been the new car's product file designation within Nissan's Design Department as most all of the other characters in the roman alphabet had been previously used. |
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