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The Datsun PL-510 (from 1968 to 1973) has often been called the poor-man's BMW, and many people believe that the 510's design was inspired by old 70's BMWs (particularly the BMW 2002) with their round lights and box-shaped bodies. However, this idea is unfounded - the Datsun 510 was released a year before the BMW 2002.
The Datsun 510 released to the US market came originally with the carbureted 1.6 L L-Series motor, 96 horsepower (72 kW), front disc brakes, 4-wheel independent suspension, rear wheel drive, and either a 4-speed manual or a 3-speed automatic transmission, and both the 4-door, 2-door, and wagon models. It gets about 20 mpg (US).
One triumph of the early Nissan/Datsun cars is that many of the parts are interchangeable - engines, transmissions, suspension setups, etc., were all similar enough to swap with minor modifications. This allowed the Datsun 510 to be easily upgraded from the 1.6 L engine to the 2.0 L L20b motor, and to go from the 4-speed manual transmission to the more versitile 5-speed transmissions made available for the later Datsun Z-cars.
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