Dodgeman is dead on for sure......when my buddy used the 1200 for his transport I remember he lovingly rebuilt the motor for $112. Tomorrow I'm going to pick up another Datto and use the A15 out of it......gonna cost me $60 and then I'll have maybe $500 total on the motor between cam , carb and head. (granted I'm doing the work)
By contrast my D-sports racer , which for anyone not familiar with SCCA classes is a 900LB with driver 150 HP motorcylce engine powered single seater , was the total black whole of cash. My wife told me to get the pokey back (The pokey is what we call our 1200) because I had so much fun with it. Thank God my racer buddy still had the car for me to buy back.(what the hell was I thinking when I sold it??) Despite it being 30 seconds a lap slower than the D-sports (D-sports are very fast)the Datsun really is a blast to drift through corners and I confess to loving the look on the faces of Elise drivers when your glued to thier back bumper mid-corner. Also because of it's lap times I often end up driving in the intermediate group , even though as an instructor it's cherry picking, I still love seeing guys struggle to catch the Datto in the corners. Nothing like dusting off Mustang Cobras and BMW M3's
The amazing thing now is that I have loads of people come up to me at the track and remark that a family member once had one and what a neat car it was. Plus when I tell folks the motor has been in the car for 15 seasons or so of racing their jaws drop.
Finally make no mistake I'm cheap so the parts prices appeall to me but the damn car hardly ever needs parts. Next Saturday I'll be instructing at a Porsche Club event and floggin the living poo out of the car...if the motor blows , I've go an A15 for it.......if that goes I still have another rebuilt A12 that cost me $80 in gas to go fetch. So I can blow 3 engines for $600.......try that with a Porsche or Vette.

Tom