The Nissan Motors Corporation, Ltd. was established in 1932 that was first used the trademark Datsun up to 1983. Before Honda entered the four-wheel vehicle market in the sixties, Nissan was the second largest Japanese automaker next to Toyota. Today, Nissan dropped its lead making it only on third.

During its period as Datsun, the company produced remarkable vehicle like the Skyline GT-R with a powerful engine and excellent performance. During this period also, the Datsun 510 made its mark in the market. The Datsun or Nissan 510, which is also refered to as the "poor man's BMW" appeared in 1968 with a strong BMW 2002 resemblance of rounded lights and box-shaped body. However, this claim was baseless as the BMW 2002 was released in 1969.

The Nissan 510 produced in the United States was powered by a Hitachi downdraft carbureted 1.6 L L-Series motor that boasted a 96 hp, with front disc brakes, 4-wheel independent suspension, rear wheel drive, and an option of either a 4-speed manual or a 3-speed automatic transmission, and both the 4-door, 2-door, and wagon models. The non-US models were made a coupe body style with the "SSS" package that was powered by1.8 L L-Series engine and dual Hitachi sidedraft carburetors that came from a British Skinner's Union design used by Jaguar and MGs.

The advantage of the Nissan/Datsun vehicles were the availability of parts that were interchangeable to the vehicles from engines, transmissions, suspension setups, etc. that made drivers of the 510 easily upgrade or downgrade the performance of their vehicle. The popular Datsun Z-cars could easily be made from 1.6 L engine to the 2.0 L L20b motor or change from a 4-speed manual transmission to 5-speed transmissions. However, the life of the 510 was short-lived as the model was removed from the line in 1971.