Datsun

[JonE]

I note there is one "Austin 7"/Datsun car at Beaulieu - the one brought back for patent infringement checks. Is anyone an expert in these things or are there any more over here? I'd be interested to know how the construction process occurred; chassis, bodies and so on.

[Mike Costigan]

The Beaulieu Datsun is not an Austin Seven, nor were any other Datsuns. The Beaulieu car is a Model 13 with a 747cc engine, but that's about all it shares with the Seven. Details of early Datsun cars can be found here:

http://www.earlydatsun.com/datsun13.html

The specification was largely dictated by the Japanese 'Kei' regulations; Austin exported rolling chassis to Japan in the 1930s, but they had to be to short-chassis specification in order to comply with the regulations. Most Japanese Austins had bodies fitted locally by the same company that built the Datsun bodies, and this seems to have been where the story originated that Datsun built Austin copies.

This is the 1929 Dat 91 prototype, which had a 500cc 4-cylinder engine:


  1929 Dat-son prototype.jpg (Size: 44.31 KB / Downloads: 387)

[Austin in the Shed]

Didn't Austin send a team out to Japan in 1953 to show them how to build cars?
Was there any truth in the story that the Austin 1200cc engine Somerset/Devon cylinder head would fit straight on the Datsun 120 Y ?

[Nigel Ricardo]

I believe there is a Datsun at Gaydon or is it the same one?

[Chris KC]

I did get a close look at a 1935 Datsun a few years back, which was on display in the reception area of a well-known Japanese car maker's design HQ. Sadly I was denied permission to take any pictures. It certainly bore a superficial resemblance to a Seven, but in detail it was a quite different car.

[JonE]

thanks Chris - so which cars had the Austin chassis' and are they recorded as chassis numbers in Austin manner?

[Peter Naulls]

Does this help? It's a locally bodied Austin export chassis.

Peter.

   

   

[Dave Prior]

Don't know about the 120y cylinder head, but Austin did help set up a plant that initially produced A40 Somersets in Japan in the early 50s.

[JonE]

Peter - that's very interesting. Is that over 'ere or over there?!
Is that in the same position as the Austin GE chassis plates.. and was it chassis rail stamped too?

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Jon - have a look here: http://pub25.bravenet.com/forum/static/s...3&cmd=show