Datsun DS series

The Datsun DS series was the lower-cost range of small Datsun cars that replaced the Datsun DA in 1950 and was sold until 1954, also marketed as the Thrift and, for the last model, as the Convar. It used the truck chassis that Datsun had derived from pre-war designs closely based on the Austin Seven, while the more luxurious DB series was sold in parallel. Datsun built the chassis itself and outsourced the bodies, with the plain Thrift bodies made by Suminoe Manufacturing. The line ran from the DS of 1950 through the jeep-like DS-2, nicknamed Square Dandy, and the four-door DS-4 and DS-5 to the DS-6 Convar of July 1954. The Convar was hurried into production, proved weak in the body and door hinges, and only about 500 were built before the Datsun 110 replaced it.