Nissan started selling Americanized versions of Silvia here in model year 1977armorial like 200SX. Equipped with a Five-speed transmission and AM/FM stereo as standard equipment (both great expensive options on most cars at the time), the original 200SX was a good value in an affordable rear-wheel drive sports coupe. This continued with the next generation of vehicles; S110 version 1980-1983 sold quite well on our shores and its 1984-1988 S12’s successor (The current Sports Nissan Badge) competes directly with Toyota AE86 here and has for quite a long time been a common sight on American roads. Of today Junkyard Gems is one of the rarest S12s available today, a car that has lived a long and eventful life, enduring a painful downward spiral into complete disrepair before ending its days in a self-service patio near Pikes Peak.
While I see a lot of things left out Toyotas and Hondas display better than 300,000 miles on their odometera Nissan dump shows that the last type of mileage is more unusual (although I have recorded a nicely preserved Maxima ’87 that has almost reached the 350,000 mile mark a few years back, and a lot of 1980s Nissans popped up in car graveyards with more than 200,000 miles). While there was remarkable special casesmost of the biggest cars I’ve seen look amazingly clean and well-kept, no doubt, as owners have to be finicky about maintenance to get any car – no matter how well built – passed 200k territory.
That’s not the case with this Nissan, which gets very high reads on Hooptie-O-meter. We’ll start with the rear glass, which has been replaced with a laminated plastic sheet of glue and tape.
The alternative “glass” is a thicker material than what you normally see this kind of field emergency repair, and repeated applications of tape, glue and paint have made it semi-weatherable. Whoever did this work intended it to last more than a few months, but clearly had deep philosophical beliefs about do not spend real money on auto repair.
The mirror on the right has lost its original glass, so a giant blob of what appears to be Liquid Nails was used as a holder for a thrift store vanity mirror. You have to admire this post-apocalyptic ingenuity.
The passenger side door handle has long been faulty. So what? You only need one working stop (and this kind of problem could be a lot worse).
The electric lock has been punched in the most brutal fashion, allowing the car to be started with a screwdriver. Whether this modification was made by thieves or an owner frustrated by the cost of a lost electric lock remains a mystery to us.
The interior is rather shabby, but the wear and tear looks more like a gradual decline into frailty rather than intentional damage you see with cars with final owners i know they are the ultimate owners.
Decades of arms resting in this position on the driver’s side door panel have worn away all the steel.
By some way, optional factory aluminum wheels stay with this car till the end.
This is a CA20E 4-cylinder DOHC inline engine, 2.0 liter capacity, for a capacity of 102 horsepower when new. I suspect that it ended up producing fewer horses.
A four-speed automatic transmission is available for an extra $500 (about $1,295 in 2022 dollars), but this car has a sturdier five-speed manual transmission.
When it first launched, this was considered a powerful and sporty machine. The MSRP for the 1986 Nissan 200SX hatchback goes up to $9,999 for the base version and $11,099 for the snazzier version. CAR (about $25,885 and $28.730 today, respectively). The Corolla The AE86 GT-S liftback cost just $9,428 that year, and it had a 10 hp advantage over the 200SX.
The V6 was sold for the 1987 model year, while the 200SX buying demographic remained unchanged.
Who received the gift? Nissan!
This 1986 home market advertisement for Silvia emphasizes its elegant design.
I have to admit that I prefer the crazy JDM Silvia advertisement.
Have Karizma!
