Dali's Datsun

During our six-week excursion in Spain (and other parts of Europe) we have come across many unique stories from Barcelona and the surrounding "Pueblos", like L' Autrodrom De Terramar, Artes, and Automoviles Utilitarios S.A.'s PTV, to name a few, and one such find is this Datsun 180B Wagon owned by Salvador Dali himself.

Figuring in documents since the 11th century, the basic structure of the present building, on three floors and arranged around a narrow inner courtyard, dates from the time of utmost splendour of the barony of Púbol: the second half of the 14th century and beginning of the 15th century.

This car now sits in the gardens of what is now the Castell Gala Museum in Pubol, but was once the home that Dali purchased in 1969 and gave to his wife Gala as a gift.

If has only been there for the last five years after being found in very poor shape in a local barn near the Dali home. The museum purchased the vehicle and restored it and is now part of the items on display, including Dali's main vehicle, the Cadillac.

The Datsun was a rare vehicle in Spain and while Dali used it, it was primarily used by the staff to go shopping and run errands and was purchased because Dali did not want them to use his Cadillac.

He probably got it as part of the fee he got for doing the illustration for the 1972 Datsun 610 Wagon at the bottom of this post.