The 1932 Type 12 was the first car to wear the Datsun name. Prior to 1932 the cars were sold under the name DAT, and very briefly as Datson. (With an 'O') . Available in a Phaeton model shown here, and also with a closed cabin. The Type 12 was powered by a 495cc 10hp 4cyl. engine.
(All cars built before 1932 can be found in the Pre-Datsun section)

DATSUN TYPE 12 
1933 Model

DATSUN TYPE 13 
1933 Model

The Type 13 models were very similar to the previous year, but featured a new slightly sloping grille. Mechanically identical, it contined to use th 495cc 10hp 4cyl. engine.

DATSUN TYPE 14 PHAETON
1934 Model

Powered by a 722cc 13hp 4 cylinder engine.

DATSUN  TYPE 15 
(1935 Model)

The Datsun 15 had a 722cc 14hp 4cyl. engine.

DATSUN  TYPE 16  PHAETON
(1936 Model)

The Datsun 16 had a 722hp 16hp 4cyl. engine. 

DATSUN  TYPE 16
(1936 Model)

DATSUN  TYPE 17  PHAETON
(1938 Model)

The Datsun 17 was pretty much the same as the 16. The only major difference was an increase in horsepower to 17hp.

DATSUN TYPE 17
(1938 Model)

NISSAN  TYPE 70 
(1937 Model)

The Nissan 70 was also known as the Nissan Six. It was an American Graham-Paige built under licence. It had a 3600cc 85hp 6cyl. engine. Nissan bought the press dies and tooling to build the Graham Paige Special Six (which had just been replaced in the USA with the Graham Paige Crusader) from Graham Paige in 1937. The Nissan 70 also used engines that were copies of the Graham Paige engine.

NISSAN TYPE 70 PHAETON
(1937 Model)

The Phaeton version of the above model.

NISSAN TYPE 50
(1939 Model)

The Type 50 had a 1468cc 35hp 4cyl. engine.

NISSAN TYPE 53
(1941 Model)

An update of the Type 50 with a slight revision to the grille and guards. Continued to use the Type 50's 1468cc 35hp 4cyl. engine.

NISSAN TYPE 30
(1941 Model)

In one of those bizarre little events that occured in the early days of the car industry, a small number of Datsun 15s were built in Australia before the Second World War. The Excelsior Body Works, a small coachbuilder in Melbourne, imported 20 Datsun 15 rolling chassis' and assorted components in late 1934 and fitted them with Australian made bodies and suspension components. Excelsior ran into trouble trying to get the suspension sorted out and in 1935 Nissan sent out an engineer called Kaoru Maeda, along with two fully assembled Datsun 15s, to assist. Excelsior and Nissan were aiming to build around 900 cars a year in Australia, but before the first batch of cars were even finished the Australian Government raised the import duty (import tax) from three percent to twenty percent, thus making the venture no longer economically viable. The 20 cars were eventually finished and sold in Australia in 1936-1937. Only one Australian built Datsun still survives today.