Facebook Tweet Pinterest Email Nissan sold various types of economy cars in the United States prior to the introduction of the Sentra in the middle of the 1982 model year, all with numbers instead of names. The Sentra sold well enough right away, and still does so 35 years later. You won't see many of the 1982-1986 first-generation Sentras in wrecking yards these days, since most of them wore out and were crushed by the early part of the current century, but this '83 wagon turned up in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service yard recently.
In 1983, US-market Nissans had both Datsun and Nissan badging.
Nissan began the "The Name Is Nissan" changeover from the Datsun name starting in 1982 (with "by Nissan" emblems on some Datsuns), with all their vehicles fully Nissan-badged by the 1984 model year. This proved to be tremendously expensive. In 1983, the Sentra was referred to as both a Nissan and a Datsun.
These cars were marketed. mostly, as "Nissan Sentras" in 1983, but most people called them Datsuns at the time.
These were roomier and economical cars than their rear-wheel-drive Datsun 210 predecessors, and they proved to be worthy competitors to the Corollas, GLCs and Civics of the period. This one has zero rust, a decent interior and body damage that looks junkyard-inflicted. It may have had a lot more life left in it, but there's no enthusiast value for an early Sentra wagon, and those looking for cheap daily drivers want something a little younger.
The Nissan E-Series engine goes back to the late 1950s, and has no BMC ancestry.
With a 67-horse, 1.6-liter engine coupled to an automatic transmission, this car would have required patience on freeway onramps. Fuel prices plummeted during the middle 1980s, helping to push the Soviet Union into bankruptcy and Americans into trucks instead of little subcompacts like the early Sentra.
In 1983, the Sentra was pitched in most ads as "a Nissan from your Datsun dealer." Note the exquisitely early-1980s pleather jackets and big eyeglasses on the Sentra thieves.
