Mike & Ruth shots

1972 Datsun 510 in front of 2605 Green Acres Road (Mom and Dad's house)

Friends and family, June 1971.

Ruth & 72 Datsun 510 right after we bought it.

 We bought the Datsun for $2,300, new. I shopped for a Toyota too but got the best deal on the Datsun. Besides, Datsun was racing the 510 back then and copied a BMW body style. I traded in a 64 Chevelle and got $600 so we financed $1,700 plus tax, title and license. We drove that car across the country to Rocky Mountain National Park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mesa Verde, Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam, Redwood and Kings Canyon, Disneyland and Malibu Beach, Morrow Rock, Carmel, SLO, San Francisco, Yosemite, Yellowstone and others. I changed the oil on the way and managed to drop the oil filter across the starter terminals and shorted the wires out. A guy at laundomat hot wired it for us so we could drive it to a dealership. We took the back seat out and put on a roof rack and camped in a 10x10 tent.

Our first domicile, in Bellevue, Nebraska, a 10 x 50 trailer just off base lake road. I could drive to the back base gate at Offutt in five minutes.