Electric Quasi-Camino: 1980 Datsun 310 Lektrikar II
Colin Chapman’s motto for car performance was; “simplify and then add diamond plate.” No. Wait. That wasn’t Chapman. That was a young Elon Musk — he was building his first electric car, a canvas backed quasi-camino and he needed a lightweight, space-age material to use for the front valence, rear bumper, bed liner, seat cover, and tail light surround…and he thought “I can’t afford anything light, so I’ll hack the roof off, add 2 tons of lead-acid batteries and use diamond plate wherever I can”. Diamond Plate Motors was a total failure, but he joined the guys at Tesla Motors when they were converting lightweight Lotus Elises to electric and the rest is history. Find this 1980 Datsun 310 offered for $1500 in Santa Cruz, CA via craigslist.