Hot Wheels Datsun 510 Bluebird

This Hot Wheels Datsun 510 Bluebird is dressed for rally racing.  It's from the 2010 Nightburnerz series of cars.  This Hot Wheels car is loved for its stance and racing attitude.  However, the real Datsun 510 had an impressive record as a rally racer.

According to Datsunhistory.com, the Bluebird 510sss took team and class championships in the famed East African Safari rally in 1969.  It won the rally entirely in 1970.  You can see the aggressiveness of the Bluebird in the Hot Wheels car below.

This little Datsun has an impressive following and remains popular today.  It is a classic Japanese car.  There were two generations of Datsun 510.  The first generation was called the Bluebird and was introduced in 1967.  It sold in North America from 1968 through 1973.  A second generation of 510 was called the Nissan A10 Violet around the world and was sold as the 510 in North America from 1977 to 1981.  The Hot Wheels 510 Bluebird is obviously a first generation car much like the one shown below.

Photo by By Motohide Miwa from USA (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Cars like the Datsun 510 solidified Nissan's reputation and a maker of reliable, low-cost, cars.  In the late 1960s, Road & Track loved the Datsun 510.  While they tested the base model, they found it a sporty little thing.  The Hot Wheels version also fits that description.

If you are a Datsun 510 enthusiast or if the Datsun 510 was your first car, you may want to look at a nicer die-cast model like this one.