Sadly the man who went behind Nissan’s back and began importing Datsuns to the USA passed away last month on November 13th. Nobushige Wakatsuki initially saw Nissan/Datsun as a company that could export well to the US market but was shot down for some time by the head execs until he took the job into his own hands.
He started importing the cars in 1960, three years after Toyota, and it took another full year to convince Nissan Corporate to take over the small dealer network. Thankfully for all of us the plan worked and Nissan began importing cars like crazy over the following years. Now almost 50 years later Nissan is a household name on these shores and we owe it all to him. Maybe I will name my ’71 510 “Waka” as a thank you.
Source: Autoblog via Automotive News
More good info at Japanese Nostalgic Car
Below is Rob and Meg’s early Datsun Bluebird sedan
