Nissan has been promoting Sentras in america since 1982, when it was one of many first fashions (after the Stanza) to dispense totally with Datsun branding right here. The primary technology of Sentra was produced by means of the 1986 mannequin yr, and a lot of the examples I’ve present in automobile graveyards have been stripped-down base fashions with nary an improve within the consolation, comfort and/or look departments. Right this moment’s Junkyard Gem is a distinct sort of early Sentra: a top-trim-level coupe filled with nearly each possibility out there, present in a Northern California yard not too long ago.
What’s additional bizarre about this automobile is that it began its profession as an Avis rental. Rental fleet patrons in america are pressured to shell out for computerized transmissions, for apparent causes, however low cost subcompact leases of the center Eighties typically did not get extras past that.
The MSRP for the ’84 Sentra XE hatchback coupe with computerized transmission was $7,299, or about $22,038 in 2023 {dollars}. That was $150 ($453 now) greater than the worth of the identical automobile with a five-speed handbook, which was an awesome worth for a slushbox throughout the period.
However that determine was just the start. The air con, which this automobile has, added 610 bucks (1,842 of right this moment’s bucks). Amazingly, the clock and an AM/FM radio with two audio system have been normal tools on the Sentra XE that yr.
The “Sport Accent Stripes,” out there solely on the XE Coupe, regarded sharp. When you needed them in your new Sentra, the fee was $105 ($317 in right this moment’s cash).
The wheel trim rings and wheel lip moldings price $155 and $55 additional, respectively ($468 and $166 now). Maybe California Nissan sellers had a few of these loaded Sentras gathering mud on their heaps, due partially to the mid-Eighties oil glut and ensuing crash in gasoline costs and partially to the cheapskate nature of penny-pinching econobox patrons, and Avis stepped in with a proposal to take all of them.
The 1982-1999 Sentra was referred to as the Sunny in Japan. For 1984, it was out there in two-door sedan, four-door sedan, wagon and two-door hatchback configurations. The bottom two-door sedan was low cost, with a worth beginning at $5,199 ($15,698 after inflation). You may discover cheaper new vehicles that yr, after all; bargain-hunting American automobile buyers may lower your expenses versus the Sentra by getting the Subaru STD hatchback ($5,096), the Mazda GLC hatchback ($4,995) or the Toyota Tercel liftback ($5,098).
It was constructed for the California market and it seems to have spent its whole profession within the Golden State. Its birthplace was the Zama plant in Kanagawa Prefecture; Sentra manufacturing on the plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, started the next yr (however simply two-door sedans at first).
The very best-mile Nissan I’ve ever present in a junkyard was a second-generation Sentra with 440,299 miles, adopted by a 1991 Stanza with 402,505 miles. This automobile did not get wherever close to these numbers, traversing simply 131,148 miles throughout its driving profession.
Certainly one of its early house owners, most likely the one who purchased it from Avis, was a pupil at De Anza Faculty in Cupertino. Sure, that Cupertino. This automobile’s ultimate parking area is close to Sacramento, about 140 miles to the northeast of De Anza Faculty.
Maybe that pupil turned a bodily remedy assistant in a while.
The moss buildup on the physique (plus the truth that a VIN search within the California smog-check historical past database confirmed nothing) says that this automobile acquired parked a few years in the past. I believe it sat in a driveway or yard for many years earlier than taking that ultimate journey behind a tow truck.
That is a disgrace, as a result of it wasn’t in tough form.
The Sentra XE for ’84 had a extra highly effective 1.6-liter engine than the one within the base and DLX fashions: 69 horsepower as a substitute of 59. A diesel engine with 55 horses was out there within the early Sentra as properly, although I’ve by no means seen one in actual life.
Whereas the Sentra had no Datsun badges in 1984, the identical couldn’t be mentioned for the dealerships that offered it.
Simply rock all the way down to Chocolate Avenue to purchase one!
As was almost all the time the case throughout the Eighties, home-market TV commercials for Japanese vehicles have been way more entertaining than those we acquired right here. This one even has a Sunny managing to outrun a machine-gun-armed helicopter (some suspension of disbelief required).
Sadly, the Sunny Turbo Leprix by no means made it throughout the Pacific.