1976 Datsun 260C GL review from Australia and New Zealand

The exhaust manifold had warped when it was given to me. Turns out there were only 6 bolts holding the manifold on, when there needed to be 12. Possibly the work of an absent-minded mechanic. Performance was mediocre at best, however I machined the face of the manifold and secured it using all 12 bolts and the difference was astounding.

The original alternator wore out at about 132,000 kilometres and I replaced it with a Bosch 80amp unit.

I had to top up the power steering fluid about every 1000 kilometres until I got the power steering fixed at 137,000. I'm pretty sure the power steering unit was not original, and that it was installed not long after my grandfather bought it new.

Quite frankly, I love this car. It was given to me by my grandfather, in mint condition and I've kept it that way ever since.

For one thing, this is a very comfortable car. The seats are supportive, comfy and perfectly shaped.

There is ample room inside the cabin, enough even for my 6'3" figure.

Noise inside the cabin is limited to the quiet sound of the engine and the slight whirring sound of the automatic gearbox. At high speeds (100+km/h) there is also a very faint differential noise (very similar to that of the gearbox). To tell you the truth, I like these noises. It reminds you you're in a car, not a lounge room.

The performance is good from the 2.6 Litre 6 cylinder. The 3speed auto is a bit limiting when it comes to acceleration, but once it gets up to speed, it's a great cruiser. It happily sits at 100km/h down the freeway and on a trip to the Northern Territory, it ploughed along at 140km/h quite fine. It held its own up to about 165km/h when I decided that 140 was just fine after all. It also felt a bit 'floaty' above 150.

In addition to this, the car is extremely solid. I often joke about the car being carved out of a solid block of steel.

There are also a few points of interest about the car: the retractable aerial can be controlled inside the cabin via a rocker switch (you can make it go up and down). There are light failure indicators for the headlights on the front of the car and ones for the tail lights in the parcel shelf. (the ones in the rear look like 2 little red eyes). This car has the same engine as in the 260Z and has about 140 horsepower.

As an overall car, its just as good as my '95 Holden Commodore (the Commodore is my daily driver as I am currently in the process of doing up the 260C).