Back in April 2021 some online stores began to accept pre-orders of the Pro Street Datsun 510 in both Green (S1/01) and Purple (S1/02). Their demand was huge that I even needed to order each color from 2 separate online sellers. So why were they so popular?
Back in the day diecast collectors have known Jun Imai, who was a designer for Hot Wheels until he left around 2018. He has designed a lot of the JDMs for Hot Wheels and one of his iconic design is the Datsun 510 based on his actual 1:1 Datsun 510 wagon. Jun has been working on his own personal brand, which he named Kaido House for his love of Japanese kaido racers. Collaborating with a diecast brand called MiniGT a division of TSM.
This released referred to as Wave 1 most likely appealed to Jun's fan who were curious to see how the Datsun 410 would come out from their collab and it does not disappoint.
I It has 4-spoke wheels. The tires are Advan drag slicks according to Jun who also collaborated with companies like Yokohama although he did added that that kind of rubber does not exist in real life.
A Pro Street style spoiler.
When I received this model I felt that the size seems to mimic the Hot Wheels scale which most collectors know is not true 1/64. I decided to use a TLV Datsun Bluebird which is known for true 1/64 and compare the two.
It clearly shows that the Kaido House version is way bigger than the TLV. In fact I kind of remember in one of Jun's Youtube promotion of the MiniGT sometime ago he admitted that when asked whether the kaido House model is true 1/64 or not, he said that this is based on his 1/64.
I then decided to place the Hot Wheels 510 on the right for size comparison and there is just a slight difference between their scale.
This model features an opening hood with amazing engine detail in which Jun claim is based on a Nissan and not a swap V8.
The look of the chassis does not resemble anything like the real thing. Jun did mentioned in his Youtube video at that time that he deliberately wanted the base to look unique.
I forgot to mention that the inner packaging to protect the model was a bit similar to TLV but uses more plastic.
So even though it was not true 1/64 in which I know would disappoint some collectors, this is still truly a wonderful collection as being a bit larger gives it a slightly better visual of the detail as it claims to have 35 unique parts when making this model.
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