Cargolex
Treasures lost: 1983 Datsun Stanza Sport
As I've said before, the west coast is not well acquainted with rust (it still happens, just not as much of it) - so you sometimes see things thrown away that almost anywhere else would have been snapped up and preserved. This rare specimen is one of those vehicles.
The Datsun - it was still Datsun then - Stanza was introduced to Americans in late 1981 as a 1982 model. It replaced the conventional rear-drive 510 (1977-1981), a car with a legendary name but one which had largely failed to excite compared to it's illustrious 1960s predecessor of the same designation.
In the early eighties, Japanese and American manufacturers were following the European lead and migrating their smaller cars to front wheel drive - a trend that had started in the 1960s with the Mini and especially the Fiat 127/128 and Lancia Beta, cars which arguably set the template for modern small-to-midsize front drivers.
Datsun was no exception and moved their small midsize Auster/Violet to front drive with the new T11 series and positioned it to compete with the Honda Accord and similar established front-drive cars. The more conventional and larger Bluebird, the first car to get Maxima badging in the U.S., continued with rear-drive for another two years.
The T11 series at first had several names globally - Auster, Violet, Stanza, and was available in Japan in a variety of forms. But in the U.S. it was only available as the Stanza, and only with a 2-liter four-cylinder engine (global versions had several displacements to choose from) fed by a single 2-barrel carburetor.
The American Stanza was less powerful than the 2-liter JDM Auster by a good measure - 88 hp to 110, despite slightly larger displacement, but it was still a respectable performer for what it was.
What it was not, however, was a sports car. The three door was an attractive car, but it was not fast - and reviews of the Stanza at the time largely praised its neutral if soft handling and quiet, smooth operation.
An upright looking Stanza sedan bowed in 1983 and quickly eclipsed the original two 1982 models - the three- and five-door hatchbacks, both of which were dropped at the end of 1984. Despite the increased appeal of the sedan, this generation of Stanza was not a strong seller.
It did not help that this was a time of relative confusion about Datsun - which formally switched its name to Nissan at the end of 1983, or that the Stanza was boxed in between the cheaper and more popular Sentra and more opulent Maxima.
This is the only Stanza "Sport" I've ever seen - it's a dealer-installed package, but likely included no actual performance enhancements other than tires and stripes.
The Stanza Sport was also offered in Europe where it seems to have been only moderately more popular. At least in Europe it got to keep the aerodynamic headlights of the Japanese version. The clean looks of this car were somewhat sullied by the standardized square lamps set into gigantic bezels, as mandated by the U.S. DOT. "Aero look" lamps did eventually arrive for U.S. models, but only after the hatchbacks were gone.
Rare cars usually don't get picked over at the junkyard, and that was certainly true here. This car had sat in this spot for many weeks without any parts being taken other than the grill and headlight bezels. The interior was similarly in perfect (though slightly dusty) shape with nothing missing. There was not a spec of rust on it, and had the gas tank not been punctured when it was processed into in the yard (from which it cannot return without legal hurdles), it looked like it could probably have driven away with a fresh battery. Should've been saved.
©2015 A. Kwanten.
Treasures lost: 1983 Datsun Stanza Sport
As I've said before, the west coast is not well acquainted with rust (it still happens, just not as much of it) - so you sometimes see things thrown away that almost anywhere else would have been snapped up and preserved. This rare specimen is one of those vehicles.
The Datsun - it was still Datsun then - Stanza was introduced to Americans in late 1981 as a 1982 model. It replaced the conventional rear-drive 510 (1977-1981), a car with a legendary name but one which had largely failed to excite compared to it's illustrious 1960s predecessor of the same designation.
In the early eighties, Japanese and American manufacturers were following the European lead and migrating their smaller cars to front wheel drive - a trend that had started in the 1960s with the Mini and especially the Fiat 127/128 and Lancia Beta, cars which arguably set the template for modern small-to-midsize front drivers.
Datsun was no exception and moved their small midsize Auster/Violet to front drive with the new T11 series and positioned it to compete with the Honda Accord and similar established front-drive cars. The more conventional and larger Bluebird, the first car to get Maxima badging in the U.S., continued with rear-drive for another two years.
The T11 series at first had several names globally - Auster, Violet, Stanza, and was available in Japan in a variety of forms. But in the U.S. it was only available as the Stanza, and only with a 2-liter four-cylinder engine (global versions had several displacements to choose from) fed by a single 2-barrel carburetor.
The American Stanza was less powerful than the 2-liter JDM Auster by a good measure - 88 hp to 110, despite slightly larger displacement, but it was still a respectable performer for what it was.
What it was not, however, was a sports car. The three door was an attractive car, but it was not fast - and reviews of the Stanza at the time largely praised its neutral if soft handling and quiet, smooth operation.
An upright looking Stanza sedan bowed in 1983 and quickly eclipsed the original two 1982 models - the three- and five-door hatchbacks, both of which were dropped at the end of 1984. Despite the increased appeal of the sedan, this generation of Stanza was not a strong seller.
It did not help that this was a time of relative confusion about Datsun - which formally switched its name to Nissan at the end of 1983, or that the Stanza was boxed in between the cheaper and more popular Sentra and more opulent Maxima.
This is the only Stanza "Sport" I've ever seen - it's a dealer-installed package, but likely included no actual performance enhancements other than tires and stripes.
The Stanza Sport was also offered in Europe where it seems to have been only moderately more popular. At least in Europe it got to keep the aerodynamic headlights of the Japanese version. The clean looks of this car were somewhat sullied by the standardized square lamps set into gigantic bezels, as mandated by the U.S. DOT. "Aero look" lamps did eventually arrive for U.S. models, but only after the hatchbacks were gone.
Rare cars usually don't get picked over at the junkyard, and that was certainly true here. This car had sat in this spot for many weeks without any parts being taken other than the grill and headlight bezels. The interior was similarly in perfect (though slightly dusty) shape with nothing missing. There was not a spec of rust on it, and had the gas tank not been punctured when it was processed into in the yard (from which it cannot return without legal hurdles), it looked like it could probably have driven away with a fresh battery. Should've been saved.
©2015 A. Kwanten.