Playdat – A Players Datsun 520

Having worked with the Players team before, I’m always aware that when they build something, you’ll probably want to be top of the queue to shoot it. Their latest creation, a ’60s Datsun pickup truck is no exception. Whilst it may look rough around the edges, this is intentional. By combining its original patina with modern air suspension technology – and soon to rehome a 1.8 litre turbocharged Nissan engine – they’ve created a rather nice restomod build.

We scheduled the shoot as quickly as we could after Ultimate Dubs. For once the weather played ball, but to some extent, it was probably a little too good. The low, harsh sun done nothing to help the car so I chose to throw a couple of Speedlites into the mix to provide some fill. It was a pretty quick shoot, with everything wrapped up in under two hours. As the car was non-running at the time, it meant we couldn’t get rolling or action shots so we moved the car about as much as we could to vary the location. I hope to revisit the images some day and have a little bit more fun with them. There’s something quite wild west about the car and think there’s the potential to extract more from them.