Peter Brock and BRE made a legend out of the humble little Datsun 510 when they dominated the SCCA Trans Am series with the car in the early 1970s.
BRE’s history with the 510 actually goes back even earlier to 1969 when Brock and company put the Datsun to work in the famous Baja 1000 off-road race.
By 1969 BRE had already established a good relationship with Datsun in SCCA racing and Brock had even campaigned a Datsun truck in the 1967 Baja event. For ’69 the team went all out at Baja with a group of three 510s from the Nissan works program in Japan. The 510 you see here is one of those three cars, preserved in unrestored condition at BRE’s new shop.
Of course being prepared by Nissan’s works operation in Japan the car isn’t technically a Datsun 510 but a RHD Nissan Bluebird SSS – very similar to the cars that ran the African Safari Rally.
Although the 510s proved to be very fast over the course of the rally, they were hampered by problems with the struts. Thanks to the help of the Nissan mechanics from Japan, the cars were repaired along the way and Peter Brock’s own 510 finished fourth.
I just love the fact the car is completely in original condition. Then again it’s almost sacrilegious to “restore” a veteran rally machine like this one.
The body damage, rust and and grit are very much part of its core.
Hope you guys enjoyed this quick slice of BRE and Datsun history.
-Mike Garrett
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Restore it and run the Baja again!!! Old cars should be driven, and that one's in no state to be driven.
In my humble opinion, its easy to say a car doesnt need a restoration when you have plenty of them around.
Living in a place (Brazil) where you don´t have almost any of all those cool and old JDM machines, even the simplest civic VTi (not the most exclusive, vintage or intersting of them all, just an example) deserves to be preserved. Thus the plenty of VW beetles around here, would make any vintage VW fan crazy to see them rusting or being sold cheap.
"I don't get these dents buffed, pulled, or painted by nobody. They are way to valuable."
-Mater
"Hellaflush"
R.I.P. Peter Brock.
Damn talking about battle scars! Sick.
Wrong Peter Brock. That was an Australian driver who passed, not Pete Brock of Brock Racing Enterprises (BRE).
peter brock (the aussie) never raced the baja ...
Says who? Datsuns love rust, its apart of who they are. You should look up the Ratsun community. Also to be fair, this car has earned the right to rest...
Most of those will buff right out...
If that is the one that was at Les' shop, i used to look at it every single day. Always hoped something good would happen to it!
actually the factory datsun mechanics are to blame for the strut problem. Notice the hole in the hood over the right front strut tower
that came from the strut being rammed through the hood at speed . At the shop while building the car the factory mechanics would not let
BRE modify the strut to what they knew would be reliable , a mono ball bearing at the top of the strut tower, so a stock rubber cone was used