I feel a special connection to this car. It represents a lot. I started the Lamley Group blog 6 years ago this month. In June of that year, I met a guy named Matt Bradshaw, who with Matt Payner had a small diecast sales business on ebay. We decided to partner up. As you know, we have been partners ever since.
I started writing about certain models, previewing others, and showcasing new stuff. In the fall of 2012 I saw the Datsun 510 Wagon in Jun Imai’s hand at JCCS. I was instantly in love. In the first week of January, it was released to hobby dealers along with the rest of 2013 Boulevard Mix L. Wheel Collectors got a batch, and sent me a set. I showcased it. I have documented the story since. Wheel Collectors was selling it for $5.99, and it sold ok. But more and more folks started noticing it. It finally hit a limited amount of stores in April 2013, then vanished again, only to appear at a few discount stores in late 2013. By then it had turned into the must-have model it is today, and ushered in the JDM era.
It also helped create the myth of Lamley Hype. I knew it was a special model, and surely talked about it a lot. But it was the model that sold itself. Matt at Wheel Collectors also knew it was special, and ordered as many cases as Mattel would sell him. And every few months since then – the last 5 years – they put them up for sale.
Lamley has grown, so has Wheel Collectors, and the Boulevard 510 has always seemed to be a part of it. And now that chapter comes to a close, as Wheel Collectors has listed the last of their Boulevard 510 Wagons:
With our hobby dominated by the brilliant HW Car Culture line, I think more and more people are returning to lines like HW Boulevard, Vintage Racing, and Garage. I also think they are giving themselves a facepalm for the amount of those models sacrificed for wheels. Nonetheless, these lines from earlier this decade have taken on lives of their own.
When Matt told me the last of the Boulevard Datsuns were listed, and could not help but feel nostalgic. It seemed appropriate to post something about it. It may seem odd, but this blog has been a thing in my life for the last 6 years, and the model most symbolic of those enjoyable years is the Boulevard 510. It is special to me. And definitely to Wheel Collectors.
Needless to say, if you want one, I’d jump on it.
Here is to six more years with WC, and we will figure out our next mascot model.
I would love to have this 1971 datsun bluebird 510 station wagon in my collection but no way I’m paying that much for that one. I will wait until the prices come down before I get one.
I kinda regret drilling apart a bunch of Boulevard Civic Coupes seeing what Wheel Collectors is asking for them.
Compound that with the fact that I was taking the wheels off to put on custom 510s I was making when you couldn’t sell a 510 on the secondary market for $1.
Being on the east coast means I didn’t get to see this mix. I managed to find plenty of 993s but I’ll probably never get the wagon unless I feel like splurging one day.
Like many other folks, this model never came my way. I’d like to have it, but I know I never will because I can be pretty confident that prices will never dip down to the level I’d be willing to pay. And I gotta admit…even considering the car’s popularity, it’s puzzling how much coverage is dedicated to this one single model. Perhaps a more accurate blog name would be “The Datsun 510 Wagon Group”
Price is too high for me, but I’m happy with the Japan Historics version, and the cool vintage blue ‘JNC surf patrol’.
I’d like to see a more badass version in the future, like thise one https://pedal2themetal.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/datsun-510-wagon-1971-bengis/
This is one I’m grateful to have found at retail. I should see if I still have the second one sitting in my trading cache.