Repco applied the restomod treatment to a scruffy Datsun 1200 pickup. The truck gets a turbo engine swap, coilovers, and deep dish wheels. Customers in Australia will get a chance to win the restomod. Some project cars are bought finished, but the best ones never quite are. Australian parts company Repco recently ran a commercial built around an unfinished Datsun 1200 pickup, holding it up as the embodiment of the DIY spirit. The little Japanese truck has earned a second act through a restomod that reworked the body, cabin, and mechanicals alike. Outside, the work starts with a high-gloss gunmetal grey finish set against a black mesh grille. A chin spoiler, fender-mounted mirrors, and a hard tonneau cover wearing the Datsun emblem round out the look. The truck sits on 15-inch deep-dish black mesh wheels with polished lips. More: Nissan Let Its Students Build Whatever They Wanted And This Is What Happened The cabin tells the same story. The team fitted a pair of reclining Recaro sports seats trimmed in diamond-quilted synthetic leather and suede, a treatment carried across to the door cards. The original analog gauges are gone, replaced by a Haltech IC7 digital motorsport display sitting behind a Sparco steering wheel. While the truck looks cool, the most important changes hide under the skin. First of all, the wheezy original 1.2-liter engine has been pulled in favor of a much punchier Nissan-sourced turbocharged 1.8-liter twin-cam. Backing it up are an upgraded clutch, custom intercooler piping, a reworked radiator, a modern Haltech ECU, and a bespoke exhaust by Kamikaze Customs. More: Retro Kit Turns Tiny Suzuki Truck Into A 70s Datsun The tired old chassis got attention too. Up front there’s now an adjustable coilover setup, fresh ball joints, rebuilt bushings, and a lower ride height. Braking has been sorted as well, with front discs sitting behind red calipers. The finished build won’t spend its life gathering dust in a garage, as Repco plans to give it away. Anyone who spends AU$100 (about US$72) or more on the company’s products through June 2026 is automatically entered into the draw for the heavily worked “Repco Datto Resto.” More: Nissan Is Opening Its First Nismo Centers Outside Japan To Restore Classic GT-Rs Mitch Wiley, Executive General Manager of Marketing at Repco, said: “The Repco Datto Resto project has turned a scruffy TV star into a shining star. Its journey represents the same path taken by many of our customers and staff with their own car projects.” The Datsun 1200 pickup dates back to 1971, sharing its bones with the second-generation Nissan Sunny that went up against the Corolla. In Japan it soldiered on with minor tweaks until 1994, quietly becoming a cult favorite along the way, while the South African “Bakkie” version stuck around until 2008. Light and rear-wheel drive, it’s exactly the kind of blank canvas tuners love. Below, you can see the building process of the Repco Datto Resto across four episodes.
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