If it isn’t perfectly clear already, we’re big fans of vintage Nissans and Datsuns around here. And that’s especially true if we spot a classic truck that’s still pulling work duty as a parts runner for a local import tuning and restoration shop.
But first, some context.
If you’re a regular OnAllCylinders reader, you might know the name Ritz. The Ritz family’s love of Nissans spans generations and their projects have been featured on Summit Racing catalogs and displayed in top-tier shows. (The cars are equally at home on the Autocross course too.)
So when we saw this humble 1976 Datsun 620 pull up into the Summit Racing Retail Store near Akron, Ohio a while back, we had a feeling we knew who its owners were. Our suspicions were confirmed when we spotted the “R&R Racing” livery painted on the door.
Yup, this truck belonged to one of the Ritz brothers—and no, we don’t mean those Ritz Brothers.
So of course, we had to run down to get the scoop on this truck and make it one of our regular Lot Shots features.
Special Hat Tip to Summit Racing’s Patrick Miller and Justin Weideman for their help with this article.
We caught up with Larry Ritz as he was walking in the Summit Racing store, and quickly asked him about the truck’s history.
“It belonged to a volunteer fireman in Fort Lupton, Colorado,” Larry explains. “And they used it with the Fire Department.”
Thankfully, the relatively dry Colorado climate preserved the truck—as many northerners know, Datsuns of this vintage are notorious for rust issues. “My theory is that they put ’em deep down in the hull of the ship when they came over,” Larry jokes. “All that saltwater just soaked in.”
But as a longtime owner of many, many Datsuns (over 50 of them!), Larry speaks from experience.
“I bought a brand-new 1973 510, and within a year the front fender started rusting out,” he laments.
Larry tells us that he thinks the truck was, at one point, owned by a savvy machinist who made all sorts of clever, well-thought-out modifications to the truck.
He describes a custom made tool secured inside the fuel door to help install the tonneau cover snaps and an amazing bracket system that held a set of household Venetian blinds neatly in the rear window. Heck, Larry says the license plate bolts had special tabs soldered on like scratch-built wingnuts to make them easier to install/remove.
But our favorite part about this patina’d Datsun is that it’s a truck—and gets used as such.
“I’ve hauled gravel in it. I pull a trailer with it. It’s my daily driver in the summertime,” Larry smiles. “It’ll be loaded up with tires and be our support vehicle at an autocross event tomorrow.”
All told, this tidy vintage truck is the perfect workhorse for folks who spend a lot of seat time zipping around cones in race-prepped 510s. And considering how scarce these 620s are in the northern climates, we’re glad this one got into the Ritz family’s hands.
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