THIS DATSUN 1200 UTE IS THE JAPANESE EL CAMINO

This Datsun 1200 UTE Is the Japanese El Camino

It's got the hunch of a Silvia and the encounter of a Line GT-R.

Over here, we had had the Chevrolet El Camino. It was zealous for when you loved to laden up with supplies and do a burnout on the way institution. In Nippon, where there was considerably less type on the roads, there was the wedged Datsun 1200.

The 1200 never appeared in the U.S., and wasn't fashionable because it was a unibody and not strengthened enough to action most trucky tasks. Originally, it had a 1200 cc motor that produced between 70 to 80 hp-so it wasn't rottenly fleet, either.

This 1974 1200 isn't any old 1200. Proprietor Saint Le tells Jay Leno that he swapped out the tiny engine for a turbocharged 2.2-liter four-cylinder from a Nissan Silvia (the straight-six didn't fit), which gives the 1800-pound pushcart most 350 hp. It's been down eighter inches, has a five-speed, and wears the surface of an archeozoic 1970's Skyline GT-R.

It is, undoubtably, the one of the cleanest custom-modded 1200s around.