Junkyard Find: 1983 Nissan Pulsar NX
Just about the time Datsuns were getting Nissan badging, the suits at Nissan HQ decided that they needed a cheap sporty car to compete with the likes of the Honda CRX and (cringe) Ford EXP in the American marketplace. A little cutting and pasting on the Sentra and voila! Pulsar!
The 70 horses of the E16 engine wasn’t much, but it was comparable to the competition. I remember reading a review of this car that suggested the best way to get the automatic to accelerate was to neutral-drop the transmission. Argh!
The crazy Sportbak option wasn’t available for a few more years, but the early Pulsars still managed to look science-fiction strange.
I’ve never heard anyone refer to a “Datsun Pulsar,” but Nissan was still slapping Datsun badges on most of its American products in 1983.
Such a red interior, though it’s not quite up to the whorehousey standards of the later Dodge Dynasty.
Genuine Datsun AM/FM sound! This option probably cost plenty back then.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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My father had one of these. A black 1984 Pulsar NX with a 5-speed stick and a grey interior. Dad always kept it in pristine shape-that black paint was shiny even in the middle of the night. I swear I could still smell the Rain Dance carnauba wax! The only issue that car ever had was that it was never driven enough-it would sit for 10 days at a time! The Hitachi carburetor on it(and other Nissans of the time) were known to be troublesome. It went to the boneyard at 72K miles when a hole got punched in the block. By that time the Pulsar had long ceased production.
I have a project 87 or 88, don't have the year in front of me. Tranny was starting to slip when my daughter drove it, original tranny so it's likely the rubber seals are failing. I had a backup tranny so i disassembled it to see what kind of shape it was in. I did see it needs all the rubber seals, hard parts are all good. So a basic rebuild kit should fix it.
The reason she stopped driving it was because she heard a slight engine knock.
So both engine and tranny likely will need a rebuild.
We are from Wisconsin but only rarely driven in snow, underside looks solid and a bit of surface rust here and there. Some fading from the sun.
She has decided to let it go now that ahe is a mother and no air bags. This car is fun to drive but at my age i don't need another project.
Will send pictures if anyone is interested, I will let it go at junk price, just would rather see it fixed and driven then crushed and melted down.
Contact info thewoz69@gmail.com