SRS (Service Road Series)
AHH Yes the forever boring and uninteresting Service Road Series. Not only does the series not offer beautiful views and charming vistas, it will make your hip waders wish that you wore your chest waders. Cache containers vary in shapes and sizes. Some winter friendly some not. Some real easy, some may be head scratchers. Since this is a road series, I thought I would showcase cars. Not just any cars, but cars that I owned and drove. The odd puzzle would be cars that I would own depending on the size of the lottery win. Please enjoy, cache responsibly and above all, have fun.
In the US, the 720 came in regular cab and "King Cab" models, with regular and long bed options with standard (GL), deluxe (DX), and "Sport Truck" (ST) trim packages, all of which had two doors. In addition, from 1984 to 1986 a covered utility body style like that of the first generation 4Runner was available as an aftermarket conversion by a company called Matrix3 called the Bushmaster. The Datsun 720 was available in both 2WD and 4WD configurations, the latter having a divorced transfer case. The long wheelbase 2WD trucks (King Cab, short bed, and regular cab, long bed) had a two-piece driveshaft with a center support bearing. The dome light could fold rearward, to provide illumination to the bed.
The 720 was assembled in the then- newly built Smyrna, Tennessee plant from the 1983.5 model year until 1986. However, Nissan of Mexico continued to build the pickup until 1991, 1992 being its last official model year. They were exported to the whole of Latin America.
The 1980 to 1983 models were called the "Datsun 720". They had single wall beds with outside rolled lips and rope ties, two faux hood vents (some had real vents), and tail lights on the lower rear valance (similar to the 620). These vehicles were badged with a small Datsun logo on the driver's side of the grill, a raised plastic Datsun badge on the front fenders, a large Datsun embossed on the rear tailgate, as well as Datsun stickers on the bottom left of the tailgate, and model designation on the right. The owner's manual and service manuals retained the Datsun name.
For a limited period, 1984 models built in the US had the single wall beds with rope ties, yet used tail lights on the rear bed corners with amber turn signals over the red stop/tail lights while the backup lights remained under the tailgate. These "in-between" models were a combination of Datsun and Nissan badging, with Nissan replacing Datsun in similar fashion to the earlier models, but incorporated a "Datsun by Nissan" plastic trim piece on the front fenders, and "Datsun by Nissan" stickers on the tailgate. The late model trucks produced from 1983.5 to 1986 used double wall, smooth sided beds, with revised tail lights on the corners which resembled those on Chevrolet/GMC S-series trucks. The badging was exclusively Nissan (going along with Nissan's rebranding and conversion of 1,100 Datsun dealerships to Nissan dealerships), with the name officially being "Nissan 720", which is found in the owner's manual, service manual, and literature from the period.
Ahhh, time to get rid of the sports car and the orange clunker. This vehicle actually made it to the end of the Bouctouche dune. Yes you heard it right. Once upon a time, there was a 4X4 road along the dune that brought you close to the lighthouse. It was a Sunday afternoon excursion with fellow 4X4 enthusiast. There may even have been a couple wobbly pops in the back. Rolled the truck a year after purchase on my way to work. Truck was written off. Not sure how I made it this far....