The Datsun Type 14 is a phaeton, roadster, sedan, van from Datsun, built from 1935 to 1936, when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together. Under the bonnet: 722 . Noriyoshi Gotoh drew it. The total made was 3,800.
How it came about
The Datsun Type 14 was a small car produced by Japanese manufacturer Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. from February 1935 to 1936. It had a 15 PS (11 kW) sidevalve engine and was offered in several body styles. According to Britain's National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, the Type 14 "marked the birth of the Japanese car industry."
The hardware
Power comes from 722 . It shifts 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 1980 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Datsun Type 13; its successor was the Datsun Type 15; assembly was at Yokohama, Japan. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Bugatti Type 57, the Chevrolet Suburban, the Volkswagen Beetle — show what else the money bought that year. Its Datsun stablemates include the 280Zx and the 310.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the Datsun Type 14 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.