I know this happened with the Z's. At the beginning of the 260Z production run some 240z parts were used in the 260z's. just things like centre consols etc not whole cars though.

my oringinal engine number is: 525466

I donno what grill mine had originally though. Are there any other periodical changes to them throughout the years?

Im starting to lean towards the theory that these utes were assembled from the remaining parts stock for 1000's at the end of the production run of 1000's.

Another theory is that they [shipping containers] were unloaded in WA in error, similar story to the stanza coupes. In the end it was not viable to reload send to the intended distination.

Im sure Nissan thought no one would notice. well it looks like someone has picked up on this 35 odd years later.

Benny

A very nicely researched piece of work Steve, I'm impressed. I suspect that your long suffering VB10 has suffered some more neglect as a result of it, but it's all good.

Once Beatie showed up with his ute, I imediately discounted the cut & shut theory as the chances of two utes with the same repair is slim, but Mynute289 mentions as many as four others [including Beaties?] like this & the chances of up to five cut 'n' shuts would about zero.This was noted in an earlier post.

Were they made in PNG? We don't have any verifyable evidence yet that any utes were actually assembled there, but where there's smoke etc. so we can not rule this out completely just yet.

The fact that the only known examples so far [two known & up to three more to be verified] are in West Australia is certainly significant.

The fact that the engine numbers are so high is another significant point. My own 1970 model engine number is A10- 671xxx, so I am satisfied that the cars were very likely built during the last part of the production run, otherwise lower engine numbers would be used, so your point is well taken.
[EDIT] Actually, my engine falls between these two utes & there were at least 15,000 coupes built after mine, so perhaps these utes were built during the regular production run. I know of a 1970 Datsun 1000 ute not too far away, so I will have a look at it's chassis number if I can.

I am most pleased that the chassis numbers that you quote tally exactly with my parts books, so we are in agreement with that piece of information.

The grille & headlight trims in the bakkie ute shown in your link are standard 1968 model ute items & are shown in the parts book as being used up to Sept 1968. From Oct '68 a diferent grille was listed & used untill the end of [regular] production.
The ute was the bare bones, no frills, basic model, so there were no chromed or polished trim pieces, which is why the grille & headlight rims are a matt, or satin, painted finish

What you have successfully made clear is that these two utes [& possibly up to five of them so far] seem to have been made from parts that do not tally with our existing knowledge of what these utes should be built from. We have,...
A. 1970 engines as original fitment in the two known examples.
B. 1968 & '69 passenger model chassis numbers
C. A 1968 ute grille in at least one of them [to be confirmed]
D. A yet to be verified story of a PNG production of utes after [or 'at'] the end of Japanese production.

So your question " Where were they made?' is quite valid. From the currentlly available evidence it would seem that there is a very real chance that these two utes were made from unused, or leftover components as well as some new made parts, very likely in late 1969 [as 1970 models?] quite possibly to provide a ute model untill the 1200 ute came on line, or perhaps to utilise the unused parts still stored at the body plant. It's even possible that both of the the above were combined killing two birds with one stone.
If the engines were installed as they were being made, then these utes would have been made during the regular production run as it would seem odd if some engines were stored & not used untill the end of production. The engines from these utes, as noted earlier, seem to have been made well before the end of production.

Were they made 'IN' PNG, or 'FOR' PNG?
I still suspect that the bodies were assembled at the Zama factory as this would have been where the parts with the 1968 & '69 chassis numbers would have been made & it seems a major undertaking to send all the body parts & jigs & other plant to PNG for the assembly of a realtively small number of utes, even if this ran as high as a thousand units or so.

I don't know just what the significance of the two currently known [& three unverified] B10 stamped utes all being in the west is, but it would seem to be an important link at this time. Any theories?

Wherever they were made, & by whom, doesn't seem to matter as far as the factory was concerned as they didn't include any reference to them in any published material that has surfaced so far. My parts book is Publication number C-053E dated June 1973 & I bought it new in the early 80's, so I believe it to be the most up to date edition. Since there is no reference to these particular utes, they either escaped notice, were ignored, or were built after the publication date & I have no idea which could be correct, but I doubt that they were made after 1971 as I believe that 1200 utes were well & truly in production by then.

I have been thinking in this direction during the day, but your inclusion of engine numbers has put you ahead of my thinking on this matter. As I wrote yesterday, the theory was based on evidence available to me at that time.

If there is anyone else has a B10 numbered ute. then please let us know as this is turning into an adventure that can only be resolved with more input & knowledge.

Question for you. While your Van has had its body plate re marked with a 'V' stamp as per your photo, can you tell if the 'V' was also added to the inner guard as a separate process, or does it look to have been stamped by machine at the time that the rest of the serial number was pressed in?
I wonder if a dedicated VB10 plate was ever made, or are they all marked like yours.
I will need to get a picture of a coupe one if i can.

This is getting interesting, should have started a new thread for it so we dont have all the bullshit at the beginning!

Now we should find more 1000 utes in WA and see if they are B10 or B20's! I know dattoman1000 knows of a couple more.

Is there any chance of getting info from Nissan Australia about this or will they just ignore it? because I would really like to know the story behind these 'mystery b10 utes'.
I always thought it was a B20 from the research i did prior to buying my ute.

Also my NISSAN plate doesnt have anything stamped infront of the 'B10'. There could have been something printed but half of the original black print has been removed.

I disagree.
I fail to see why nissan would make some 1200 utes as B110's and then later as B120's but fact is they did.
This leads me to believe it is possible for the 1000 utes to be the same.
Nothing is denying that (THESE) dont have these numbers. But this is a document of vehicles released to Australia.
Nothing has said that no others were brought into the country.

Now both (THIS) and (THIS) documents - both of models released to Australia - Leaves me with questions.
If you look at the documents you will make note that with the chassis numbers given - some years show that more than one body style was made within the same designated chassis number range.
eg, In;
1968 2 door sedans were made
from B10- 80,003
to B10-250,000
1968 4 door sedans were made
from B10- 80,003
to B10-200,000
1969 4 door sedans were made
from B10-200,001

So if you called nissan for parts and gave a chassis number B10-200,000 you could end up with parts for either a 68 2 door or a 68 4 door,
And if you gave B10-200,001 you could get parts for a 68 2 door or a 69 4 door

Now add wagons to the list.
1967 Wagons were made
to VB10- 84,000
1968 Wagons were made
from VB10- 84,003 ( 2 went missing I guess)
to VB10-149,600
1969 Wagons were made
from VB10-149,601
1970 Wagons were made
from VB10- 240,001
Now remember
My 1000 Wagon has clearly had the V added to the chassis number.
This lead me to conclude that it is likely that all the above stated models were built with in these same chassis number designations.

The documents also state that the 1970 1000 coupe were made from numbers;
KB10-080,001.
Now I have never looked at a coupes plate to see if the K was added to the chassis number. If it has been added it could quite likely fit in with the chassis number designations as all the above.

Now to the 2 1000 utes before us bearing B10 chassis numbers -
Mynute289's B10- 247,294
and
Beattie's B10-283,729

Going by the above documents Mynute289's 1000 is said to be either a 1968 2 door or a 1969 4 door.
and
Beattie's 1000 is said to be either a 1969 2 door or a 1969 4 door, with neither model giving a end of build date.

Mynute289 spoke of a 1967 grill on his B10 1000 ute. Well (HERE) is an African document showing the 1969 model 1000 ute clearly showing headlight surrounds of a 1967 1000 ute.

So whats that tell us? Mynute289 and Beattie quite likely have factory released B10 1000 utes.
I believe the Chassis number equal year of make but not actual model designation.

Further more My 1000 wagon a stated 1968 model came with engine number A10-212,167.
My Friends 1970 4 door has the engine number A10-644,788.
While Mynute289's B10 1000 ute has engine number A10-673,805.

Going by the engine numbers Mynutes was the last built, likely 1970.

I believe both Mynute289 and Beatties utes were brought into the country at a later date than all the Australian designated datsuns of the same model. The fact that they are both in WA might mean something.

Where were they made?
Were they made in PNG like it has been stated as of late?
Either way, they are B10 1000 utes not cut and shuts and this is what I will believe up untill and only when - documents are produced showing they are not.

..but can you talk to dead people ???

I disagree.
This factory document, dated December 1967 clearly shows that the ute was known right from the start as the B20. The two examples that have come to light so far cary car numbers that were allocated to the 1968 & 1969 sedan production which is clearly later than this bulletin.

If these two utes bore numbers that were in the ute serial number blocks, or if they bore numbers that were not allocated to any block that can be found in factory published material, then, & only then, I might be persuaded to your view, but they don't, they have numbers that clearly identify with a diferent body type altogether.

I fail to see why the factory would intentionally make a second series of utes, that are exactly the same as, & built concurrent with, the existing range of B20's, but with a model designation that marks them as a passenger model, using serial numbers that parts salesmen around the world would identify as sedans.

I believe that these utes are a production oddity that was sufficiently commonplace for several examples, seemingly widely spaced in production, to still survive almost forty years later.
We can't use only part of the vehicles serial number to support our claims, we must use the whole thing, so these are either mis-numbered B20's or very cleverly disguised B10 sedans.

Further, I believe that the mixup probably took place at the Zama plant where the bodies were made under contract to Nissan/ Datsun & the bodies were simply delivered to Nissan & turned into vehicles in the normal way without the error ever being noticed, or acted upon. as there are no notes in the parts book to signify any oddball serial numbers, yet single serial numbers, or small blocks of numbers are noted in other Nissan/ Datsun parts books to denote that some individual vehicle [or small group] were diferent from their production bretherin. No reference to a B10 pick-up/ ute exists in any of my parts books.

Still so many questions to be answered before this theory becomes fact, but it's the view I have formed from the available evidence.

If both those utes are stamped B10 - then from factory they are known as B10 utes. Exactly like early 1200 utes that were stamped B110 still.
We may be able to say that all 1200 utes are B120's and all 1000 utes are B20's but what they are stamped as is what they are know as from the factory.
Saying they are B20 from factory, is like saying they are known as B20 Nissans when they are not.
B10 ute is what both the above talked of 1000 utes are.

They are stamped on the right side inner guard, but it's possible that a shortage of pre stamped B20 ones meant that some were robbed from the sedan assembly line, umm, I guess, or even complete front sections of the body as this part would be the same.
Beats me.

EDIT
The visible part of the chassis number in the photo is 20-000001, What is hidden behind the wiring is the prefix LB, so this one is LB20-000001 which is the first of the left drive B20's to be made. This number aligns with the model release bulletin information.
The parts book says only that the last number in the allocated block is LB20-001000, so thats not a lot of 1968 model left drive utes as there would have been less than 1000 actually made.

by chance to the 1000 series share the same firewall panel. is it plausable that they were stamped with Id number before being assembled into a vehicle................