Start with what the Datsun DS Series is: a 2-door sedan with 722 , built from 1950 to 1954, at the height of the post-war boom. What it meant takes a little longer.
The story
The Datsun DS series was introduced in 1950 as the replacement for the Datsun DA. It used Datsun's truck chassis, itself based on pre-war Datsun designs closely based on the Austin Seven.
A more luxurious range with the same truck underpinnings, called the DB series, was sold in parallel. With Datsun's own manufacturing resources being limited, they built the chassis and outsourced the manufacture of the bodies: the sparser "Thrift" (DS) series received bodies built by Suminoe Manufacturing, while the ponton-bodied Deluxe models were bodied by Central Japan Heavy-Industries' Ryowa Body subsidiary (this company later became Shin-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries).
What is underneath
The engine is 722 . On the scales it comes to 770 kg. Drive goes through a 3-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2005 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Datsun line-up the Datsun DS Series has a clear place: it replaced the Datsun DA; it handed the line to the Datsun 110; the factory was Yokohama, Japan. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Chevrolet Bel Air, the Toyota Land Cruiser, the Cadillac Eldorado. Nearby in the Datsun catalogue sit the 280Zx and the 310.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Datsun DS Series has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.