Yes indeed. It is a phonetic spelling of "dattosan"

How is Datsun or Datsun 1200 written in Japanese?

ダットサン

Is from google translate for datsun

What I know is written.
1 Nigata is a meaning of the prefecture name.
2 58 is a meaning of the compact car.
(651cc/2000cc)
The large-sized car in case of 3.
3 The hiragana is private or different by the rent-a-car.
4 The favorite one can be chosen to be a figure.

The plates work like this:

1. The kanji is for the prefecture
2. The numbers at top right echo the prefecture* (5 is Niigata) + a sequence (extra digit circa 1969, third digit on newer cars, It seemed to me as if 2004 cars had them, earlier did not, at least in Niigata Prefecture)
3. There are more than four digits in the main area -- there is also a small hirigana character at the left.

In-depth details: Tigerdude's License Plate System of Japan.

*I asked about the "class" system Tigerdude documents, but was told it is based on year and prefecture rather than engine size. So I'm not really sure.

K-cars have yellow plates. Big cars like our Datsun 1200s would have a normal white plate.

How do the plates over there work ?only having 4 numbers and all.

The plates are just souveniers. I thought I'd display the Yokohoma (横浜) plates on show days ... the other set is Niigata (新潟).

Whats the go with the plates David ?

Sounds like your trip was a good one. The company you visited is'nt one I had heard of before. Now time to plan a summer trip downunder ...hint hint.

I'm back home! Everyone I spoke with in Japan - from young to old - was surprised and interested to find that I drive a Datsun 1200.

The Sunny Truck Shop was fantastic, it is a good place to buy a truck (1990 or newer) and the parts as listed on their web site. The owner and mechanic were both very friendly and took my picture and talked a bit. The trucks are all nice varying from original to modified.

I got some Sunny emblems there. They were out of used tachometers at the moment, though new ones are available about $300 USD. They had a NISMO 10,000 rpm Sunny speedometer but of course it was not for sale (it was different from the Datsun Competition 10k model).

Sunny Truck Shop is a must see if you've never seen B120/B122 utes. It was my first look in the metal, and I must say I like them more than ever now! The Shop is straightforward to get to by train:
1. From Tokyo, take Keihin-Tohoku line to Higashi-Kanagawa station (station map PDF)
2. Take Yokohama line to Nagatsuta station
3. Take train to Onda station. You can see the Shop from the station (look for the Jomo gasoline station sign)

Here's a picture of the Datsun 1200 stuff I got while there.


stuff

Aoba-Auto is bery nice shop for SUNNY-TRUCKs !