The History of Sunny/B Series

A contest was held in Japan to name a new small Nissan car, the result being the winning Sunny moniker.

The B10 Sunny 1000 was introduced in April 1966 as a new entry level car for the now automobile Japanese public.

Initially available in 2 door and wagon, the B10 Sunny was powered by a 988cc A10 engine that produced 56 horsepower.

A slightly fancier version, the Sunny DX(deluxe) came into production in September '66.

The first Sunny series wasn't offered in the US, but it was sold in Canada, Europe, and elsewhere in the world.

The Sunny B10

KB10 Coupe

The next real styling change came with the March 1968 arrival of the 2 door Sunny Coupe, the KB10. Enhancements under the hood including a new cam and bigger carb got horsepower up to 60 without increasing the engine size.

Sunny GL

May 69 saw the introduction of the Sunny GL, which appears to be a chromed up version of the standard car.

The first Sunny Series production tailed off in December 1969, with the introduction of a new series set for the following year.

Sunny B110/1200

The new Sunny B110 hit showroom floors in January 1970.

This car was larger than the B10 series, but not noticably. Initially it came with the A10 engine, with a larger A11 engine and Twin SU's on the GX model that was unveiled in April that year.

The B110, or Datsun 1200, was offered in the United States in 1971 in sedan and coupe form and achieved very good sales in it's less than two year run there.

Sunny 1400GL

Nissan introduced a Sport Coupe to the line in April 1971, with the Sunny 1400 GL/ KPB110. This is a division of the line a bit here with a series of 1200 and 1400 cars in Standard, Deluxe DX, GL, and GX Sport varieties. The 1400's were not your standard A series engined cars, with a 1428cc SOHC engine that delivered 85 or 95 hp, depending on Whether it was equipped with the Hitachi DCG306 DD carb or twin SU's.

A funny story about the "Sport" designation on Sunny cars. This is according to Syed, a Datsun Sunny owner from Pakistan. Back in the late 60's, Toyota launched the Corolla in direct competition with the Sunny series. The Corolla had a slightly larger engine than the Sunny, and Toyota used that as a selling point in an effort to outsell the 1000cc Sunny. What drivers who drove both cars soon found out was that the Sunny was more agile and peppy than the Corolla, even with the displacement disadvantage. Siezing on this, Nissan started putting the "Sport" designation on all the Sunny models as a way of saying the "Sunny is sportier than the Corolla".

A sport version of the A11/1200 cars was added in August 72 and was dubbed the Sunny GX-5.

The second generation Sunny line ended its run in April of 73, just over a year after its introduction to America.

B210

The third series of Sunny is the one that most people outside of Japan are aware of, the B210 series.

The B210 came on line in May 1973, with 2 door, 4 door, 2 door Hatch, and various Standard Deluxe, GL(KPB210) and GX versions available.

1400 GX

B211 1200 GL

The series continued pretty much unchanged until Febuary 1976 when new engine choices where added, giving new buyers the choice of A12, A14, and A16 engines, with various new trim and sport packages.

A Sunny 1400 GX-T was added in July 76, and I'm still trying to figure out if the T stands for turbo.

310 1400 SGX

310 1200 GL

The 4th Sunny series was the 310 group of cars. Three styles were offered initially, including 2 door Hatch, 2 door coupe and 4 door sedan. EFI versions of the now standard A14 engine were added in February '78.

1400 SGL wagon

The 1400 SGL(E-WHB310) Sunny wagon rounded out the line up with it's introduction in January 1979. In October of that same year, Nissan began offering 1200/A12 versions of the Sunny line, perhaps in response to the second Oil crisis. Not much changed style wise until the line ceased production in September '81, with the exception of an engine upgrade to 1.3 and 1.5 liter units in November 1980.

B11 Sentra

HB11 Sentra

The final series of Sunny's produced under the Datsun brand were the B11's. The B11 series were a front wheel drive car using the new 1270cc and 1487cc E series engines, and sold under the Sentra badge in the US.

The Sunny/Sentra Series continues to this day, with the SE-r models being the only ones generating any real excitement.

Sunny/Sentra XJ

The Sunny was always meant to be the car for the entry level buyer, but like the Bluebird line, it eventually moved up a step when Nissan decided to get back to basics.

The Nissan Micra/March replaced the Sunny on the bottom rung of the Nissan ladder in the mid '80's. Early B10 and B110 series cars are now somewhat collectable, especially 2 doors and Coupes, though they don't seem to have the following of the other Nissan enthusiast cars, not yet anyway.