The Datsun Sunny B10 sedan had gone on sale in April 1966 as Nissan's entry level passenger car, and it was decided to build a small truck based on the B10. The B20 truck went into production in February 1967 and continued through until February 1971.
The B20 used all the mechanicals from the B10 sedan, including it's suspension, which bizarrly for a late 1960s vehicle, used an ancient transverse leaf spring front suspension design. The engine used was the new Nissan A10 engine, which was a 988cc pushrod 4 cylinder engine that produced 62hp. The A series engine was an all new engine based loosly on the old E series "Stone" engine, but vastly improved, with it's alloy head and four intake ports. The A series engine was a little gem, it was smooth, it reved way past 6000rpm, and most importantly it was totally reliable. These little engines are virtually indestructable.
Badges on the Japanese market versions of the B20 say Sunny on the side, and there is a shield shaped badge in the grille with a large S. In most export markets the side badges say Datsun and the grille badge has a D rather than an S. In most markets it was sold as the Datsun 1000. The grille on the first model has seven thin horizontal bars. The next model has a slightly wider bar top and bottom, with four thin horizontal bars in between. The last of the B20s has a grille with three wide horizontal bars.
The B20 sold reasonably well in Asia and Australia, but no attempt was made to sell the B20 in the United States. Whilst the B10 was reasonably successful, the sales of it's replacement, the B120, went balistic. It was a massive seller for Nissan, who kept it in production in Japan until 1994, and incredibly it was still in production in South Africa in 2007.
