Datsun 1200: Nissan?s First Global Mini-Me Challenger
As Australians were pre-occupied with the life and death struggle between the Monaro and Falcon GT, there was a far bigger war going on globally. The first Toyota Corolla had caught Nissan napping with its shandy-strength Datsun 1000. Even if it was a sweet little car, the little Datsun’s four door option was all that stood between it and obscurity in Australia. Nissan rectified that with its benchmark Datsun 1200 B110 series in June 1970. It marked the beginning of a new slugfest with rounds occurring around the world in showrooms and on the race track.
Sitting in the wings ready to feast on the scraps were competitive new models from Mazda, Mitsubishi and Daihatsu. If tough local protection hadn’t capped individual sales figures to 7500 units annually even with local assembly, the Australian passenger car market in 1970 could easily have resembled today’s market where small cars are kings.
Light cars like the Corolla, Mini, VW Beetle, Escort and Torana were already accounting for 40 per cent of total Aussie sales when the Datsun 1200 was launched. If these artificial limits had been dropped and exposed the market to the huge advantages of these new generation Japanese models without tariffs or sales limits, sales could have been knocking on the door of Australia’s big cars just as they are today.
The so-called demise of the local industry started right here when almost as many Australians in 1970 were as interested in what the latest small Datsun offered over the Corolla as any other rivalry. It was also why the competition in the showrooms and on the racetrack was as blistering and as focused as it was in the large family car segment. Local manufacturers were on notice to follow with competitive new models such as a better local Ford Escort, Holden Gemini and Mitsubishi Lancer.
It was in this context that the Datsun 1200’s arrival was headline news, not because it could now outperform the Corolla in some increments but it dispensed with the two door sedan body as it went into local production at the Volkswagen factory in Clayton, Victoria.
Sharp local VW executives identified small Nissans as the perfect replacements for declining Beetle volumes. The Datsun 1200 could match AMI’s local assembly of the Corolla for the first time. Hardy local paint and beefier trim would soon replace these more temporary features of Japanese imports at the time.
There was more! A new imported Datsun 1200 coupe could take the battle to the brilliant imported Corolla Sprinter coupe, also for the first time. As an affordable cross-gender runabout, the 1200 Coupe’s mini-Mustang looks soon found a broader buyer base than the more toy-like Japanese coupes before it. One of the first coupes with a fold down back seat, it offered the flexibility, style and low running costs that many younger drivers were looking for.
An imported four door Datsun 1200 wagon, joined by the ute which ran locally from 1971 to 1985, added to the seismic impact of this significant new arrival. Barely six years after Holden’s overhyped local commitment to the two door Vauxhall Viva shoebox, Australians could now buy a four door Datsun 1200 for the same money then choose between a ute, coupe and wagon. No wonder the Federal government had to tighten the clamps on volumes and price!
The A12 Engine
The Datsun 1200’s new 1171cc engine had everyone’s attention after it boosted power to 69bhp or 51.5kW. This was almost as much as an FC Holden which by 1970 was a cheap starter car for a young driver in much the same way as a VT Commodore is today. Imagine a $20,000 small car arriving in 2012 with 150kW for a similar context.
No one cared about torque figures in 1970 which was where the old FC still had an advantage but it didn’t matter. The Datsun 1200 weighed just over 700kg depending on specification. This figure would soon become particularly significant after Toyota presented the very last of its first series Corollas in February 1970 with its little blinder of an engine stroked to 1166cc for 74bhp or 54kW. It delivered a similar advantage in torque and supported a serious aftermarket hot-up industry amongst young drivers.
That Corolla power figure was almost 50 per cent higher than a comparable Ford Escort, VW 1300 Beetle and Holden Torana 4. It also made the Corolla appear as though it still had the jump on the new Datsun 1200. Yet the Corolla weighed 787kg, about the same as its local rivals. By the end of 1970, that same engine was powering a beefier new Corolla series that not only looked flabbier, its weight had crept up to around 800kg. To compensate, Toyota gave it a taller diff to maintain economy which hurt performance.
Although the Datsun’s new A12 engine was not quite as sophisticated as the Corolla’s centre-plug, inclined engine, the 1200’s performance figures quickly ensured that its better power to weight ratio became the focus of attention. The lighter weight didn’t seem to bring any durability compromises. On the contrary, the Datsun 1200 excelled in track and rally events.
Against the clock, it was enough to give the Datsun 1200 an edge in key areas especially after the second generation Corolla arrived without an engine upgrade. In the showroom, the Datsun 1200 could claim to be the most economical car on sale in some markets. Particular attention to a new Hitachi dual throat carburetor allowed drivers to make the choice.
Because of the underbonnet appearance, many Australians assumed that the Datsun 1200 (and its successors) was still powered by a variation of the original 1.2-litre engine developed for the first Austin A40 in the late 1940s. It is true that the Allies allowed the Japanese industry access to Western technology immediately after World War II in the belief that the Japanese were not capable of doing much with it.
Isuzu cars had Hillman origins, Toyota had access to some Chevrolet developments and the entire Nissan range featured developments of Austin engines. As a result, the Japanese companies were jump-started with reasonably modern overhead valve designs. No one anticipated that the Japanese would build on these foundations so quickly.
The original Austin A40 engine was an overhead valve update of the old pre-war Austin 10 side valve lump hence the 65.5mm bore and long 89mm stroke to ensure a low 10 taxable horsepower under the bizarre British RAC horsepower system. Adequate torque on poor ration fuel was also an issue.
This 1.2-litre engine evolved into the 1.5-litre B-Series engine which powered the entire range of BMC’s mid-range family cars including the Austins built in Japan by Nissan under licence. Its carryover 89mm stroke ensured that it was always a slogger, not a revver. It ended its life as a 1.8-litre powering the MGB and Austin 1800.
Austin then developed a smaller and entirely different engine family for the new baby Austin A30. Known as the A-series, it originally arrived with 803cc from a 56mm bore and long 76mm stroke to ensure a low taxable figure of 8 RAC horsepower. It later appeared as a 1000 in a number of local Morris models with capacities of 948cc, 997cc and 998cc, followed by the 1098cc/1100, before endings its days in Australia with 1275cc/1300.
Although Nissan drew on this A-series engine as a starting point, there are more differences than similarities. The A10, first seen in Australia powering the Datsun 1000 from March 1967, had 988cc from a bore of 73mm and stroke of 59mm. This gave it a taxable RAC horsepower of 13.2 horsepower. The Mini Deluxe of the same year had 998cc with a bore of 64.58mm and stroke of 76.2mm with a 10 horsepower RAC rating as it was still a slave to the British system.
The Datsun 1200 on paper appears to be the same engine as the Datsun 1000 with its stroke boosted from 59 to 70mm except that was only the start of it. Their fundamental differences in bore and stroke ratio compared to the BMC A-series engine plus a boost in compression ratio altered the character of the A10/A12 engines from sloggers to revvers. Maximum power in the Datsun engines arrived at 6000rpm. For the Mini Deluxe’s one-litre it was all over by 5250rpm, as the Mini struggled to post 60 per cent of the Datsun 1000’s output at that point.
Nissan’s attention to breathing, exhaust and carburettors could make a much bigger difference in an engine that wanted to spin.
This explains why the A12 in the Datsun 1200 arrived with five main bearings, a forged steel crankshaft, a free-breathing alloy head and the twin-throat carburetor, way beyond what you would expect in an $1800 entry level car. It provides some insight into why so many remained on the roads when they were so cheap to run, and bulletproof.
Because Australians were already familiar with extracting extra power out of the BMC A-series engine for their Healey-Sprites and Mini-Coopers, the expertise was already in Australia to tweak the A12 engine, an inherently stronger and more refined engine.
Wheels in April 1971 summed it up: “the conventional mill punches out fine performance. It is smooth and quiet, pulling surprisingly strongly from very low revs.”
The small Datsun 1200 had arrived without any need to apologise for its long-lived, frugal and easily maintained engine. As this pushrod engine started to look a little old school against the growing number of overhead cam rivals, it was in Nissan’s interest to keep A12 performance top of mind in motor sport as it would go on to power the later 120Y and Sunny models. There was not a better setting to demonstrate this than the B110 1200.
The B110 Datsun 1200
The B110 Datsun 1200 was the first light car from Japan that did not look like a narrow-gutted toy car. Its proportions and four doors gave it a grown up appearance, helped by tighter tyre to wheel arch clearances which made the 1200 look more stable and wide-tracked than usual for this class. Front and rear tracks were in fact wider than the Corolla and similar to the Ford Escort.
Following a naming competition in Japan, the entry level Datsun series was called a Sunny elsewhere. Just as the Mini name was removed from the first Australian Minis so it wouldn’t be perceived as a toy car, the local marketing would avoid the Sunny badge for another two generations.
The simple three box styling looked like what it was: a cleaner update of the Datsun 1600 theme that invited comparisons with Europeans like the Fiat 124.
This was in marked contrast to the frumpier-looking second generation Toyota Corolla which retained the original’s two door configuration in Australia. The Datsun 1200’s airier, more upright cabin created the impression of extra rear headroom and leg space, already at a premium in this class.
The taller 1200 cabin delivered another advantage: the 2 door fastback 1200 coupe version could not be confused with the sedan and soon became a real image-builder. The second generation Corolla coupe was almost indistinguishable from the two door sedan and offered no real advantage in looks or specification.
It was the Datsun 1200 coupe that addressed the sedan’s two main shortfalls: the old school rectangular instrument panel and the front drum brakes. The Coupe boasted a neat instrument panel full of round dials, a centre console and flow through ventilation for a driver environment that was at least on a par with any 1970 Monaro or Falcon GT. It also had radial tyres and front disc brakes as standard.
Unlike most small coupes at the time, it looked it was styled to be that way from the start with extra aggression around the grille and rear roofline.
For just over $2000, Wheels in April 1971 struggled to find fault with it: “As we dispatched bend after bend with considerable disdain, we revelled in the near-neutral handling. The lack of body roll was impressive and the Dunlop SP3’s suited the car well.
“At the same time, the ride was great for such a small car…” Fuel economy was consistently around 7L/100km and its turning circle was the best of the era: just 8.2 metres!
Did anyone mention racing it at Bathurst then driving it to the shops on the way home?
Wheels called it “Delightful, Devilish and Durable”. And while the Datsun 1600 is remembered as Datsun’s all time benchmark family and motor sport package, the Datsun 1200 simply got on with the business of moving people of all ages cheaply and efficiently.
After the 1200 Wagon offered a cheap new runabout alternative for families young and old, it was the ute that kept Australian buyers coming back long past its use by date. Although new emissions laws killed it locally in 1985, variations of the 1200 ute continued in production in South Africa until 2007! Which seems to suggest there was something fundamentally right about the original B110!
