Michael Satterfield
Marvin Askew bought his Datsun 1600 truck on November 30, 1971 at Hippodrome Datsun in Nashville for about $2000.
“This was his baby,” said Dan Tito, the second owner of the Datsun truck. “Marvin didn’t have a name for it, but we named it ‘Sweet Pea’ obviously because of its color. This man can stand here and talk about this truck hour upon hour upon hour. When you have something for 42 years and you take this good care of it, obviously it meant a lot to him.”
In 2014, Nashville businessman Dan Tito saw Marvin at a local dealer where he had his truck serviced and offered to buy it. Thinking he needed more room in the garage, and knowing that the truck would be loved and maintained well, Marvin agreed to sell it to Dan.
Dan, a man who has an extensive car collection of his own, realized he wasn’t going to have room to put all his cars in his garage with “Sweet Pea” in there. Realizing the historical significance and the amazing condition of this much-loved truck – he reached out to Nissan and offered it to the Heritage Collection, where the truck now sits.
In this special Datsun heritage video, Marvin reunites with “Sweet Pea” inside Nissan’s U.S. headquarters near Nashville and reflects on time with his beloved Datsun.
