Nissan Sunny

The Nissan Sunny is a small car manufactured by Nissan of Japan. It was launched in 1966 as the Datsun 1000 and although production in Japan ended in 2004, it remains in production today for the African and American markets. In the US, the later models were known as the Nissan Sentra; in Mexico, the Sunny is known as the Nissan Tsuru.

The Sunny fitted neatly into Nissan model line. It was larger than the supermini Nissan March (Micra) models, but not as big as the compact Bluebird or Stanza models. The latest versions of the Sunny were larger than the early models, and may be considered compact cars. Earlier versions (through at least the B11 series) were subcompact cars. All Sunnys through the 1982 model year (except as noted below) used Nissan A engine motors.

The name has been used on some European export versions of the Nissan Pulsar between 1986 and 1995, and is still used on some Asian export versions of the same car. In countries such as New Zealand, the Sunny and Pulsar ranges were combined into a single model range, the Nissan Sentra—which differed (apart from the station wagon) from the models sold under the same name in the United States. In South Africa it was sold as the Nissan Sabre.

B10 series - Ushering in the "My Car" Era of Japan

The first Nissan Sunny, exported as the Datsun 1000, was launched in 1966, with two body styles, a two-door sedan [B10] & a van/ station wagon.[VB10] These were available in both a Standard & Deluxe version & featured drum brakes, conventional leaf springs at the rear with a wishbone type independent front end that used a single transverse leaf spring for support.

The 1968 model, introduced in October 1967 added to the lineup the four door sedan [B10] in both DeLuxe & Standard form. October 1968 saw the new '69 models released & a snappy new coupe [KB10] was added to the lineup. Marketed as a 'Sunny Coupe' in Japan it was available in a wide variety of levels from Standard, right up to the GL [Grande Luxe, when De-Luxe is simply not enough] The range of factory options & accessories was bewildering & clearly marked the coupe as the factory's darling of the B10 series. All of the other models got new grilles & larger tail lights, which now included reversing lights in the Van.