THE success of Japanese automakers in the United States, though typically remembered as a story of smooth, steady sales increases, was in fact a road full of bumpy stretches. For Nissan, which can point to a half-century of experience in this country, the time has been more akin to the description of combat flying offered by the World War II ace Col. Gregory Boyington: hours and hours of boredom sprinkled with a few seconds of sheer terror.

In the case of Nissan, which sold its cars and trucks under the Datsun name during the company’s first decades in the United States, that meant a model range that included plenty of dull-but-practical vehicles, punctuated by some truly brilliant ones.

The flow of car imports from Japan after World War II began as a trickle in 1957, when Toyota established its American sales arm in California. Datsun followed the next year, starting with the Datsun 1000, a bug-eyed, slab-sided little sedan of just 37 horsepower.

In the December 1958 issue of Road & Track, reviewers described the performance as melancholy. It had a top speed of just 66 miles an hour; with patience and a tail wind, zero-to-60 could be achieved in 46 seconds. The magazine summed up with: “Any car that is to be successful must have either better performance or better economy than its competitors, or some fascination. The Datsun has as shortage of all three.”

In 1960, Nissan decided to form its own American distributorship, the Nissan Motor Corporation in U.S.A., and appointed the charismatic Yutaka Katayama as vice president. In an interview by e-mail exchanges, Mr. Katayama, now 98 and living in Tokyo, said: “My commitment to stand behind Datsun gained the trust of dealers and sold cars. My motto was dealers make money first and then we make money.”

Mr. Katayama went to work on the vehicles, making sure that they would suit the American market. His influence on Datsun’s early days in America was enormous, and he remains a legend among Datsun fans, who know him as Mr. K. He was even portrayed by an actor in a series of 1997 Nissan TV commercials — ironic in light of an outspoken style that sometimes chafed his conservative bosses.

Datsun made its first real splash in this market in the late 1950s, as a pioneer in the compact pickup market. The Datsun 520 pickup, an improved version introduced in 1965, was an instant hit and led to Datsun’s 10-year domination of the market segment.

In addition to small pickups, Nissan was early to the S.U.V. segment with the jeeplike Patrol. While rare in the United States, it has been a favorite vehicle of the United Nations — white-painted Patrols have been seen in more war zones than Christiane Amanpour.

The first Datsun automobile to register with American sports car enthusiasts was the SPL 310 from 1962. Over its 18-year production run, it was known by various names, including Fairlady, 1600 and 2000. Enthusiasts refer to them collectively as Datsun roadsters.

It was often assumed that the Datsun roadster was simply a poor copy of the visually similar MGB. In fact, it predated the MGB, and as the MGB’s performance became weaker with the addition of pollution controls, the Datsun’s got stronger.

Datsun’s take on the traditional sports car was also generally regarded as more comfortable and more reliable than its British competition. Car and Driver was so enamored of the 2000 that in June 1968, the editors said “We wouldn’t miss a chance at driving the Datsun 2000 even if it looked like a peach crate.”

The roadsters trade in a rather thin market because most people have forgotten about them. Eric Hoffman, an Atlanta collector, considers them the last worthwhile inexpensive sports cars around. “Most of the really cool 1960s sports cars have appreciated out of sight,” he said. “I picked up my 1600 roadster in California for just $8,000.”

The word may be getting out: Mr. Hoffman sold his car at a collector car auction in Florida last year for $14,300.

After establishing itself with small pickups and improving on the traditional British sports car, Datsun hit the ball out of the park with a small sedan, the 510, a worthy competitor to BMW’s entry-level 1600 and 2002.

In performance, the 510 was nearly the equal of the BMW, delivering excellent handling from a sophisticated independent suspension and a smooth power plant influenced by Mercedes-Benz designs. And while build quality was not up to the BMW’s, it put the enthusiast press on notice as to what the company could do. With its next major product, Datsun would change the auto industry’s perception of Japanese cars.

Nissan was determined to produce a sports car that was a better performer than its competitors and at the same time cheaper and more exciting. The resulting 240Z was all of those things.

A zero-to-60 time of around eight seconds and a 120-m.p.h. top speed put the 240Z in the same league as a contemporary Porsche 911T, but its $3,500 price was about half that of the Porsche. The new Z was an instant sensation. In 1970, Road & Track offered a prescient observation: “The Japanese industry is no longer borrowing anything from other nations. In fact, a great struggle may be ahead just to prevent a complete reversal of that cliché.”

Never before or since has a single car done so much for the reputation of an entire nation’s automotive industry. So fond was the public’s memory for the car that more than 25 years after it went out of production, Nissan commissioned private restorers to rebuild tired 240Zs to factory standards and sold the restored examples through its dealer network, complete with a factory warranty.

As collectible vehicles, the Datsun roadsters, 510 and 240Z have few shortcomings other than the fact that they were clearly built to a price. Their thin sheetmetal rusted badly and their cheap plastic and vinyl interiors wore out quickly. But most parts continue to be readily available and they are simple to work on and mechanically durable.

Datsun’s sedans of the Z-car era ran the gamut from uninspired to downright bizarre. While models like the B210 and F10 sold well enough, they were tinny, anemic and oddly styled. Even the beloved 510 was replaced by the 710, a car uniformly criticized as a pale imitation of the 510, at a much higher price.

Early in the 1980s, Datsun completed a highly publicized and very expensive rebranding campaign that informed consumers “the name is Nissan,” the corporate name since 1933. The name change did little more than confuse consumers.

Nissan finally seemed to get its mojo back when it revamped the 300ZX in 1990 and introduced the Sentra SE-R in 1991. In the Sentra SE-R, Nissan had finally come up with an inexpensive performance sedan that was a worthy successor to the late 510.