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The Complete Guide to Classic Datsun Cars and Trucks
1964 Datsun Cablight A220
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The Datsun Cablight A220 was introduced in March 1964. The third generation Cablight finally offered some style and flair to what had up until now been a somewhat second rate and amateurish effort. 
The A220 is a rather attractive and quite cute little truck. It is still very much aimed at the bottom end of the commercial vehicle market, but now has signs of the attention to detail that compare with the rest of the range. For the first time in the Cablight range the doors are a conventional forward hinged design, rather than the suicide doors of the past models. The bodywork is now much better and the panels involve some fairly complex curves. 
 Inside the cabin it is still fairly austaire, but it now has an instrument cluster that incorporates a speedometer, a temperature gauge and a fuel gauge. The top of the dash is now padded as well. The instrument cluster is actually an old one that was used on the 220 series trucks from the late 1950s. 
 The badge just above the grille says Cablight, and on the front guards of the bigger engined version there is a 1150 badge. The smaller engined version has no badge indicating it's capacity. Rather interestingly, there are no Datsun badges on the truck anywhere. The only time the Datsun name appears anywhere on the vehicle is on the horn button in the centre of the steering wheel. 
 The engine carries over from the previous A122 model, which is the D series 1046cc OHV unit. A slightly larger engine was also available for the A220, which was the new D11 engine. This engine had a 1138cc capacity and produced 53hp. 
 The A220 underwent a minor upgrade in 1966 and became the A221. The A221 countinued in production until September 1968. This was to be the last model to wear the Cablight name, in October 1968 it was replaced by the new A320 Cabstar.
A sales brochure for the Datsun Cablight A220
1964 Datsun Cablight A220 Specifications  
Length - 3840mm   
Width - 1608mm   
Height - 1710mm   
Wheelbase - 2020mm   
Weight - 890kg  
Top speed - 90kph 

Transmission - Column change 4 speed 

Final drive - 6.43:1
Engine Specifications 
1000 Engine 
Model - D 
OHV 4 Cylinder 
Capacity - 1046cc   
Bore & Stroke   
Power - 40bhp@4800rpm  
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1150 Engine 
Model - D11 
OHV 4 Cylinder 
Capacity - 1138cc  
Bore & Stroke 73x68mm  
Power - 53hp 
 
Model Variations
 
Datsun Cablight A220 
The truck version was available with either a "styleside" cargo area as pictured here, or as the A200-H, which had a steel cargo area with fold down sides. Unlike the previous Cablight models, a double cab version of the A220 was not available.
 
Datsun Cablight VA220 Delivery Van  
A delivery van version was also introduced at the same time as the truck. The VA220(A) had glass panels in the cargo area with horizontal bars inside to protect the glass area. The A220(B) had steel panels in the cargo area instead of glass.
Datsun Cablight KA220 Bus  
The KA220 was essentially the same as the VA220(A)except that it had three rows of bench seats that seated a total of 9 people. The bus had no bars across the glass area.
Datsun A221 Update  
In 1963 the A120 underwent a minor change and became the A121. The only notable change was to the grille, which now featured two large slots rather than the six smaller ones on the A120.
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