Last year’s SEMA show had plenty to see, from full-on race cars to the absolutely psychotic all-tube…erm, “thing” that was sitting out front to race cars, muscle cars, and the like, but the group that actually stood out sharply was some of the imports that were present. In addition to one of the 197 “Kenmeri”-era Skyline coupes, there was the BRE Datsun 510 that raced in Trans-Am in 1971-72 and Sung Kang’s absolutely jaw-dropping Datsun 240Z, but the one that actually made me stop and hang around for more than a couple of minutes was this Datsun Sunny 1200 ute. If it looks like a mid-1970s Datsun truck with a nose job, you would be thinking the same thing I thought…and you’d be wrong. The Sunny 1200 was a step below the 620 pickup, and had more in common with the Datsun 1200 car (the predecessor to the B-210 that was sold in the U.S. market) than it did with the truck. It’s still roughly the size of a 620, but has a unibody construction and a lower payload. Built by Dominic Le, the Sunny 1200 is now sporting a front clip that emulates an early 1970s “Hakosuka”-era Skyline GT-R’s nose. Slammed to the ground, powered by a boosted SR20 four-cylinder, and visually tweaked here and there, Le’s Sunny is a very neat piece and was a popular conversation topic at the show. So it’s only fitting that Jay Leno gets a chance behind the wheel of this neat little ute for a run around town!
In all the pics I saw of SEMA, this little truck garnered the most attention form both me and my son.
I love what he has done with this thing. Mashing the Sunny pickup and the Hakosuka front end is priceless.
This young man is going places after the attention this little truck has generated.