At a big auction festival like Auburn, looking for a truck usually requires a major sort through the semi-customized and hot-rodded pickups that sometimes dominate the offerings. Doing so can yield a real prize, like this, which we found at the Auctions America sale conducted by RM Auctions.

This, friends, is a 1972 Datsun pickup, out of Oregon, two owners, a claimed actual 29,000 miles and no rust spots or obvious touch-up areas to indicate otherwise, at least during the spitting rain at Auburn when we shot it. For everyone who tools a Titan today, this is where Nissan was at nearly 40 years ago, 1,600cc and tie-down cleats outside the pickup bed. This flawless truck got the hammer at $4,070, clearly a rock-solid buy.