During the 1980s, one of Nissan’s advertising taglines was “Major Motion” — cheesy to be sure, but looking at the company’s products with hindsight, Nissan did move majorly up the chain of respect in many consumers’ eyes over the course of the decade. I happened to come across four 1980s Nissans this summer, and given our recent feast of JDM treats here at CC, I figured it would be good to look at some North American offerings as well. Grouped together, these cars tell an interesting story of Nissan during the 1980s. None of these cars was by itself revolutionary, yet together they contributed to a remarkable transformation of how the public viewed Nissan’s products.
Nissan’s North American lineup underwent quite a makeover during the 1980s. Entering the decade being called Datsun, the company was shaking its image as purveyors of oddball designs and a perpetual runner-up to Toyota and Honda. Nissan sought to be more mainstream, trendsetting and technology-laden… and largely achieved this goal by the decade’s end. These four cars each tell a small part of this story.
Had I realized that Curbside Classic has never run a full-length article on the 1980-83 200-SX (known as the S110), I would have taken more pictures of this example. A somewhat overlooked car, this sports coupe helped bridge the gap between Nissan’s bizarre 1970s styling and its trendier 1980s models. It almost seems that Nissan was testing the waters with this car regarding the company’s future direction, particularly in the crucial North American markets. The SX was a well-designed car for its time – with angular lines that for once showed that Nissan could successfully interpret emerging styling trends.
Incidentally, I came across this example in Lebanon, Missouri – a city of 14,000 people that probably has the highest ratio of curbside classics on the continent. Of course, being in the middle of the Midwest (30 miles from the United States’ geographic center of population), most older vehicles there are of domestic makes, so it was surprising to see a 40+ year old Japanese car. But this one’s going native, sporting wire wheel covers from Ford products (Thunderbird on the front; Cougar on the back). Yet somehow these misplaced wheel covers don’t look too out-of-context on this car. Like many successful designs, this one could masquerade as several types of vehicles… a sporty car, a personal luxury coupe, a grocery-getter… you name it.
While the 200-SX’s design looked current, its underpinnings were somewhat less inspired. A 100-hp. 4-cylinder engine and live axle rear suspension were certainly acceptable by early 1980s standards, but driving dynamics weren’t this car’s strong point. Styling, fuel economy, value and build quality were instead the SX’s strengths, and it turned out those were just the things that people craved most at the time. While not a revolutionary car, and not the only ingredient to Nissan’s 1980s success, the S110 contributed more than its fair share to shaking off the company’s 1970s weirdness.
Since the S110 proved successful, Nissan stayed on course with its successor, the 1984-88 S12 200-SX. Styling-wise, this was a logical evolution, placing Nissan at the forefront of what had become a significant market for sports coupes.
Of my recent Nissan sightings, this 200-SX notchback is my favorite, in part because I spoke with the owner, who told me that he’d bought this car new, and that this SX has clocked over 525,000 miles. The owner happens to be a magician, and magic is probably useful to know if you’re driving a car with a half-million miles on it. While I was talking to him in the parking lot, he demonstrated some (impressive) magic tricks, and then proudly showed off some of his car’s own tricks. For example, it talks, and the dashboard lights can switch from orange to green – a detail that I’d long forgotten. I’ve rarely met a better match of car and driver.
Most 200-SX’s sold during the 1984-88 model run were hatchbacks, so finding a notchback was quite a treat, even though I think the hatches held the styling edge among this pair. While I’m typically a fan of notchbacks, this generation of SX looks better to me as a fastback – though I prefer the trunked version of both the predecessor and successor of this generation.
As was common for 1980s sports coupes, base models weren’t exactly fast, though Nissan added considerable performance credibility with the turbo model, and later in the model run, a V-6. When the S12’s time was up after 1988, it must have been hard to believe that only a decade had passed since Nissan was selling the seemingly alien-inspired S10 200-SX as its sports coupe offering. If that’s not major motion, I don’t know what is.
A rung up the 1980s social ladder was the 300-ZX – this one being a 1985 Turbo, complete with T-Tops. When this car debuted for 1984, Nissan’s transformation into gadget-laden urban chic was complete; upscale suburbs were teeming with these cars in the mid- and late 1980s. Purists may have scowled that the original 240-Z’s legacy had been thoroughly compromised, but this car had more enthusiast qualities than its ungainly 280-ZX predecessor. The turbo model developed 200 hp (just 5 hp shy of an ‘84 Corvette), sending it to 60 mph in under 8 seconds.
Nissan sold over 70,000 300-ZXs per year in the US during 1984 and ’85 before the concept became stale and sales plummeted. But for a while, this car was on the top of the world – lots of gadgets, swoopy good looks, and a quick turbocharged engine. Nothing says “mid-1980s performance” quite like a 300-ZX turbo, and Nissan gladly used that association to uplift its whole model line.
Our final car for today is not a sports coupe like the others, but a sports sedan. Well, not quite a sports sedan, but close enough for marketing purposes. This 1988 Maxima GXE served as a flagship for Nissan in its pre-Infiniti era. I spotted this particular Maxima occasionally on my morning commute several months, and after several sightings was finally able to get a good shot of it. Then one day I saw it broken down by the side of the road, and afterwards didn’t see it for quite a while. Given that string of sightings, I worried that someone had bought a cheap older car, and then was unprepared for the unavoidable problems. But just last week I saw the Maxima again, so maybe my pessimism was misplaced. I hope it continues to ride the highways in 1980s style.
Nissan tried to cover all bases with this 1985-88 generation of Maxima. Sports sedan? Yep… it had the 300-ZX’s V-6 engine and styling that was more exciting than a Cressida. Luxury car? Yep, buttoned upholstery and “rich Saxony carpeting” (whatever that was). The following generation of Maxima became more genuinely focused as a sports sedan, with Nissan likely sensing that there was greater demand for sports sedans rather than trying to outdo Buick with fancy carpeting. It was this Maxima generation, though, that firmly established the brand’s ability to sell mainstream, premium family cars… something that Nissan capitalized on in the decade that followed.
Few manufacturers can achieve such a complete transformation – both in its products and its perception by the pubic – as Nissan did in North America during the 1980s. No longer viewed as an eclectic collection of oddballs, Nissan was very much a mainstream marque by the decade’s end. And while no single car was completely responsible for this change, each of these four (along with many others) played a significant part. Major motion, indeed.
The body style of the 82 200SX looks almost like my 79 Century.
And the bodystyle of the notchback 200SX shown in that vintage ad look more or less similar to the 1980 Chrysler Cordoba/Dodge Mirada.
An excellent review of Nissan’s ascent to mainstream success in the 1980s. I loved this generation of the 300ZX and really wanted one to replace my dowdy Buick Regal, but it was beyond my budget at the time. BTW, talking dashboards were common throughout the Nissan line in the mid ‘80s: I remember reading of a crazed trip/sports sedan comparison test through Baja Mexico by the Car & Driver staff with constant references to the Maxima’s proclivity to issue stern warnings: “the door is ajar”! Also, when I moved to Texas, my next door neighbor owned a 300ZX whose alarm ordered me to “Stand away from the car” if I happened to park in the space next to his.
I remember that C/D trip. Was that the one where they drowned a car and had water squirting out of a plughole? They must’ve had a huge operating budget to afford to do stuff like that.
That’s one of the best things ever written in C/D. Those were all test cars, just like the RAM’s and the Alfa we reviewed here recently, they didn’t buy or pay anything for them. The difference is though if I had drowned one of the vehicles I probably wouldn’t be invited back for more….
They also hit a cow with a Dodge 600 and simply unbolted the crumpled hood and left it behind.
Then a flash flood blocked the road back to SD
Forcing them to fly home and retrieve the cars weeks later.
AFAIR the Maxima never ran again after the drowing.
This is my favorite era of Nissan. All of their cars at the time were smartly styled, comfortable, feature-laden, and reliable. I did some time in three of them too. My cousin had a second-gen 200SX hatchback similar to the one here though with two-color paint (was the ’77 Caprice singularly responsible for the great two-tone paint revival? By 1981 it was an option on everything from Ford Escorts to Toyota Supras, then just as quickly it disappeared again). I had a friend with an ’84 200SX hatchback as well. I rode in back quite a bit; despite not being able to stretch out my legs, it was strangely comfortable back there with nicely done surroundings, wraparound armrests, storage compartments, and openable windows. I recall the gauges on the pre-facelift models being orange day or night; later ones had white gauge markings that I saw glow in green; I didn’t know about the magic color change feature. Finally, my neighbor had a 1985 Maxima with brougham-tastic button tufted loose-cushion velour seats and true keyless entry with numeric keypads on both front doors (these were available on the 200SX and 300ZX as well). I still see these on the road with some regularity; the V6 is durable and original owners pampered them.
One odd feature on mid-’80s Maxima and 200SX was a strip of warning lights across the top of the dash on the passenger side, leaving you reliant on your shotgun rider to relay the message.
“was the ’77 Caprice singularly responsible for the great two-tone paint revival? ”
I am going to say no, but they were certainly popular. This would be a great idea for a CC piece, 1970s 2 tones. I know the Ford LTD had one in 75-76 and the Thunderbird did as well. And there was the AMC Matador Barcelona. 🙂
The Matador Barcelona first became available the same time as the Caprice in 1977, a year less than 10,000 Matador coupes were built and most of them weren’t Barcelonas, so it wasn’t a significant instigator. I had no recollection of pre-’77 LTDs having a two-tone option but indeed they did; however, it doesn’t seem to have been popular and there are only a few pics I can find of them online, whereas well over one-third of ’77 Caprices seem to have it. Two-color T-Birds were more common, but as far as I can tell they were only available as part of the color-themed option groups like “Creme and Gold Luxury Group”. The Granada had two-tone paint too if you ordered the Luxury Decor Option on the Ghia, which hardly anyone did. There were also the Stallion versions of the Maverick and Pinto with black and silver paint and the Pinto Crusing Wagon, although they look more to me like single-color cars with reeealy wide paint stripes (which Ford liked – see Mustang II Cobra II). Two-color paint was popular on the full-sized vans, trucks, and SUVs of the mid-seventies. And Chevrolet themselves offered two-tone paint on Colonnade Monte Carlos by ’76, emphasizing the fender swoops in a way that was more akin to 1950s style than 1970s. But somehow to me it still seems the Caprice is what threw the floodgates open; it was heavily promoted in brochures and ads wearing two-tone paint, and large numbers of buyers checked that box too.
I love Nissans from this period, although I found the 300 ZX a challenge at the time. The Maxima sedan was one of my favorites.
Even when they were brand new I (who was in my brief snobby European car phase) found the 300 ZX to be associated with the gold chain crowd I saw as Corvette owners at the time. I have come to like the styling of the 300 ZX, especially in comparison with the Z that followed it.
Minor correction. The predecessor to the 300ZX pictured was also a ZX, at least in the US, not a Z. But I would agree that the new model was better, and sportier, in every way. The ‘78-83 ZX was to me more of a “gold chain” car, in fact, with its added weight over the original Z, two tone paint and T top options, yet without the performance of its successor.
Thanks — I corrected it.
Maybe it’s because I more vividly remember the original owners of the 300-ZX, but to me the 300-ZX was more of a gold-chainmobile than the 280. But at least around Philadelphia where I grew up, they both sold heavily to that market segment. I’d love to know to what extent this perception varied regionally.
Ron Johnson (who worked at Pacific Stereo and briefly dated Stacy) drove the 280ZX and I believe wore a golf chain as well in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Being set in the area I grew up in at that time it definitely colored the perception, at least among my set of friends. The 300ZX was viewed more as a golfer’s car along with whatever baggage that may imply – mostly that if you are going to line up at a light behind a 300ZX with chrome rims or a lightly smoking ’68 VW Bus, always take the bus to get across the intersection faster.
If only Nissan had stayed this interesting, and not fallen under the malguidance of Ghosn and Renault, they would still entice me. Looking at their cars on their website, nothing does now, expect perhaps the Sentra Nismo turbo with a manual, and I think I’d enjoy the $1,640 cheaper Civic Si more.
I had an 85 300ZX Turbo with five-speed and all options including the digital dash and electronically-adjustable suspension, purchased new by friends and acquired by me when they moved out of state. The Zs were ubiquitous in SoCal for decades but by now are pretty much gone. These cars were driven by folks from all walks of life, not just the gold chain crowd. Mine originally was owned by a female kindergarten teacher.
The Zs were solid, well-built cars with great reputations for the long haul – many accumulated hundreds of thousands of miles. Their biggest weaknesses were sloppy handling in inclement weather and a fairly stiff ride despite evolving into a luxury-oriented boulevard cruiser that was far from the sports car nature of the early Zs. The VG 6s were very reliable and the Turbo was a great performer for its time and relatively trouble-free by 1985. Nissan definitely made a mark with this car.
A LOT of people I knew growing up had that generation of Maxima in all its button tufted, velour, electronic wizard glory. They were basically an Oldsmobile delta 88 Royale brougham with Japanese size and Japanese reliability and more modern than the cars the greatest generation were still lining up to buy. No one I knew who had that generation Maxima thought of it as a sporty car, they tended to be young moms with smallish kids.
There were three Maximas of this generation on my block back in their day, one of them a wagon, that were all driven by older drivers that used to drive Oldsmobiles or Buicks. These (along with the Cressida) were amongst the first imports that really pulled in buyers who previously bought bread-and-butter American near-luxury sedans. Nissan did offer a sporty SE model (5 speed manual, adjustable shocks, sport seats, plainer upholstery, fewer luxury gizmos, and the then-compulsory gobs of black painted trim replacing chrome), but these were less common. The Maxima wouldn’t be pushed as predominantly a sporty car until the next generation.
Great piece! I’ve always found the styling of the 1985-1988 Maxima weirdly seductive! It was trying to be so many things, yet is a rare example of a car that accomplished wearing many hats well.
My mom owned a circa 1981 Datsun 200 SX notchback, which I’ve shared over the years. She still speaks very highly of that car!
That hits the nail on the head regarding the Maxima. It actually succeeded at wearing many hats.
I was a teenager when those Maximas came out, and I remember a few parents of my high school classmates bought them. And other kids would be really impressed when they would drive their parents’ Maximas to school. A mid-priced sedan that appealed to both teenagers and their parents? That’s an impressive feat.
Yep that’s an ’80 or ’81, the one in the post itself is at least an ’82, the older cars had the chrome in the black bumpers, newer ones had the body color ones with the huge black pushpanel.
Good eye for detail because Mom can’t even remember what year it was. She bought it new and kept it until she traded it in for a new 1987 or 1988 Camry. Definitely one of her longer ownership periods of a car.
The Highlander comes close at 6 and a half years before it became mine, and her GLK just turned 6 this summer!
My 2 youngest sisters owned a total of 4 of these (ok, one of them was a 200SX, but the other 3 240SX)…all of them notchbacks (I’m the hatchback fan in the family). My youngest sister died of Ovarian Cancer, but my surviving younger sister still has a ’97 240SX she bought new (and people keep trying to buy it from her).
I kind of consider my first car, a 1974 Datsun 710 to be related to the 240SX…they did make a rare coupe version of the 710, and of course it was still RWD. Still, I’d moved on to my VW phase by 1981 (which I’m still in, my only car is a 2000 Golf)…but as only brother in the family it was my “duty” to help them acquire cars, and I grew to appreciate the 200/240SX. I even bought the service manual for the 200SX to help figure out the various problems that crept up (3 of the 4 were bought used) and was impressed with the level of detail in the service documentation…made me consider going back with Nissan (though I haven’t…yet).
No experience with the Maxima, though my brother-in-law did own a ’72 240Z back in the 70’s.
I look at this era of Nissan as a placeholder until the 1989/early 90’s glory days. When the Maxima was redesigned (the rounded ‘4DSC’ era), the 300ZX redo in 1990 (shedding the ‘Disco Danny’ era once and for all), and the introduction of the Sentra SER in 1991 (fun-to-drive returns to the lower end of the lineup), Nissan had a brief period of greatness. Once the mid 90’s hit and they started to de-content, the greatness was gone again…..
Eric is correct; Lebanon is indeed the CC Capital of North America on a per capita basis. I’ve found some goodies there and they just keep sprouting. One of the “Midwest CC Car Lots” I featured several years ago was actually in Lebanon, although that particular place is now defunct.
Incidentally, I have seen this same 200SX parked in about the same spot as seen on the roadsigns in the background.
During the eighties Nissan gave us the RWD Skyline in Australia rather than the FWD Maxima; it was reasonably successful but their strength was really in their smaller Pulsar. They ignored the Celica-class completely here until the S12 generation of 200SX (never common), and the Bluebird floundered when it went from RWD to FWD, thanks to major competition from Ford/Mazda and Mitsubishi whose Sigma and later Magna really owned this class. the Bluebird’s odd styling probably didn’t help. Nissan tried to position their Skyline as a major family car competitor, but the R31 generation’s great-grandpa styling torpedoed that plan, and Nissan Australia limped into the nineties before it went belly-up, degenerating into an importer.
If you mean by Bluebird the FWD Pintara (U12 or ’87 Bluebird, or Stanza?, it seems), then that is a car so deserving of floundering that I thought they intended it too. I have never driven anything newish that was so seriously awful. Just horrid. And dead boring to look at for the kicker.
Worse, you couldn’t kill the bastards! I have a good friend, who through great indifference to cars, tried very hard with hers. To no avail, ofcourse. Only a ‘roo finally did it in.
RWD Skyline apart (and not incl its styling), I can’t like ‘Nissans of this era.
Hot damn, that’s half my high school parking lot right there. The 200SX’s in the student lot and the others in the teacher’s lot. Nissan really had it going on in the 80’s, one success after another, at least in SoCal. Good finds and a great way of presenting them all.
Was the redesigned ’84 200SX coupe’s styling relationship to the ’82 Toyota Celica, the automotive equivalent of ‘My Sweet Lord’s’ relationship to The Chiffon’s ‘He’s So Fine’?
I have no idea on the story behind the styling development on the next gen 200SX, but it looked uncomfortably close to the Celica coupe. You know what they say about the sincerest form of flattery. 🙂
That’s nicely put! I thought exactly along those lines back in the day, and when the notch 200SX appeared, I was convinced. Or not, as I always reckoned the 200SX (Gazelle here) looked like an insipid copy.
Didn’t help that we only got them with the wheezebag twin-plug four and the optional anti-handling pack. They weren’t well regarded.
Saw this 200sx not too long ago, the first one I had seen in a long time.
Wow… and that looks like it’s in New England, too. Very impressive survivor.
1980’s Nissans were pretty much all over the road up until the mid to late 90’s, at least in my part of New York. But as a kid I had a neighbor that had that generation Maxima, and I though it looked futuristic and cool, and even now it’s still an appealing design IMO. It’s funny you’ll remember the cars mostly but then not much else from childhood. At least that’s how my mind works lol