RE: Shed Of The Week: Nissan Sunny

RE: Shed Of The Week: Nissan Sunny

Friday 23rd December 2016

Shed Of The Week: Nissan Sunny

Your nightmare of a white Christmas



At this time of year it's important to remember that, no matter how bad things may seem, there's always someone worse off than yourself.

Let's spare a thought then for the owner of this 1989 Nissan Sunny, a simple London trader. All he was doing was trying to make a living when the old geezer came in with the keys and a sob story to end all sob stories.

Those are some super shiny bumpers
Those are some super shiny bumpers
Next thing, the dealer is standing there somewhat poorer with a wrinkly old key fob in his hand. The only sound he can hear is the ghastly cackle of the old geezer running off in a suspiciously sprightly manner.

The good thing about a Sunny is that it will always take you where you want to go. Unfortunately this is also the bad thing about a Sunny. Handsome, inspiring and memorable are just three of the words that will never be used to describe one.

For those who care, this is the B12 model, named after the vitamins you were well advised to take after driving one, or the N13 as it was sometimes more evocatively named, presumably after the postcode of Enfield where it was a popular vehicle.

Don't go thinking that there can't be anything worse in motoring than a Nissan Sunny, because there is: an automatic Nissan Sunny. And that's what we have here. No worries though, because this one is 'powered' by the Sunny's mediumly sporty spec engine, the feared 1.6 with 84hp. You could even get a GTI version with nearly 110hp. Petrol was the fuel choice of the private owner, whereas cabbies for some reason favoured the glacially slow and not even particularly cheap to run diesel version.

The blemish-free MOT history shows that this low-mileage example has covered just 2,000 miles in the last ten years. It is actually fairly remarkable for a Sunny in that it shows no obvious signs of rust. We have no pics of the underside, which is where they really go brown, but judging by the pics on hand it looks like our Shed has been lovingly billetted in a nice warm garage all its life, possibly with a cosy tartan blanket on the bonnet and a pair of sateen cushions bookending some sort of terrier on the back parcel shelf. Which is what they called them back then, even though nobody in the entire history of motoring has ever put a parcel there.

Mmm, beige
Mmm, beige
Let's take a gentle wander into the lounge, sorry, cabin, where we are greeted by a large acreage of rigorously vacuumed veloury cloth. Hang on though, check out that steering wheel! Straight out of a 205 GTI!

Skirting around the dealer's slightly dodgy use of the shortened form of 'Japanese', we must credit him for making a brave effort to list the car's main attributes, which in this case seem to be anything that's not from the same period as the car, for example the Bluetooth CD player and iPod connection, and the fact that you're unlikely to see any more like it in a day. A year, more like. But there's a reason for that. Nobody else is brave enough to be seen in one.

Seriously though, if you want to feel good about yourself and your life in general, just remember one thing: you don't drive a Nissan Sunny. Happy New Year.

Here's the ad.

On behalf of a Jap car collector.Astonishingly low mileage by 2 senior drivers who gave up driving. Not the usual cars we sell but just could not resist an old Jap mobile. Imagine how many you will see in a day probably none. This great little very easy car to drive as may be old but has power steering, auto gearbox, central locking electric windows and many more little options including a optional expensive pioneer bluetooth CD player with iPod connection and Bluetooth phone!! How cool is that.This car comes with 2 factory keys, the original dealer book pack with stamped service book mainly serviced by main Nissan Dealer. Even has the dealer mats and number plates. I also have a big file of receipts etc. The bodywork is immaculate and so is the plush interior. This really is a time warp car that was in a garage and under a dust sheet with a big steering lock to protect it. Great first car or even town runner perhaps a collector???

 

 


 


Author
Discussion

V8 FOU

Original Poster:

2,970 posts

146 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
Nowt wrong with these.
Very reliable. Rust proof it and off you go.
Good shed........




Now bring on the haters.......

court

1,485 posts

215 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
I can almost be sure an identical white F-reg Nissan Sunny was the very first new car I ever sat in as my friends mum had got one on 1st August '88. I was amazed at the electric windows I think... nothing else of course.

I can imagine a hipster buying this just to be 'ironic'

Richard-390a0

2,224 posts

90 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
Would it qualify age wise for classic insurance?, as it could make a cheap to insure first car for someone.

crofty1984

15,830 posts

203 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
I'd quite like a manual and powerful one...

HorneyMX5

5,308 posts

149 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
If I had the space I'd be all over this. It's brilliant.

What's the deal these days with using "Jap"? Some people seem to think it's poor form as per this article but there's two huge UK car shows who use this term int he title. Japfest and JapDay.

hornetrider

63,161 posts

204 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
I bought one of these for an ex many moons ago. No, it's not the reason she's my ex hehe

Pound for pound it outspecced it's competition. As I recall hers was a GL and it came with four electric windows, sunroof, four speaker radio and... I'm sure the list goes on, ahem.

Nothing went wrong with it either.

DirtyIrish

51 posts

116 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
Great first car for someone and those back seats look ridiculously comfortable!
You could get up to all sorts of things back there hehe

zb

2,498 posts

163 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
HorneyMX5 said:
If I had the space I'd be all over this. It's brilliant.

What's the deal these days with using "Jap"? Some people seem to think it's poor form as per this article but there's two huge UK car shows who use this term int he title. Japfest and JapDay.
Who knows.


WigWonder79

24 posts

96 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
I love a jap car. But this is really stretching that...and to rub salt in the wound, it's an auto!

Was expecting more, given the time of year?

Itsallicanafford

2,759 posts

158 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
my wife often criticises me for seeing the good in everything, always looking for the silver lining in any situation and giving people the benefit of the doubt...



...however, i'm really struggling here.

chow pan toon

12,356 posts

236 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
HorneyMX5 said:
If I had the space I'd be all over this. It's brilliant.

What's the deal these days with using "Jap"? Some people seem to think it's poor form as per this article but there's two huge UK car shows who use this term int he title. Japfest and JapDay.
Jap has been offensive in the US for quite a while but over here it has never really been used as a pejorative, the abbreviated version of Pakistani is the converse example.

V8 FOU

Original Poster:

2,970 posts

146 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
HorneyMX5 said:
If I had the space I'd be all over this. It's brilliant.

What's the deal these days with using "Jap"? Some people seem to think it's poor form as per this article but there's two huge UK car shows who use this term int he title. Japfest and JapDay.
This is a historic thing. Back in the 60's & 70's everything japanese was regarded with suspicion. Bit like Chinese stuff today.
Jap crap was the expression of the day.
Explains it - but doesn't excuse it.

BTW, I see that it does 0-62 in 1 sec according to the spec. Wow! Some "Jap" car!

neil-935ql

1,079 posts

105 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
Umm memory's of my dads one and I learnt to drive in one of these , passed first time so must have been a great car !

Turkishwaiter

12 posts

122 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
A friend of mine had one of these a few years back, he paid £200 for it and gave him three years trouble free motoring, only needing a couple tyres and a number plate bulb the whole time he had it, he then sold it for what he paid for it! Didn't actually drive too badly either!

eric twinge

1,614 posts

221 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
Ha, my dad had numerous examples of this shape and model year as his company car when they were registered as dealer demos at the dealer where he was service manager.
At the time they didn't seem too bad, especially the silver 4 dour saloon, i think it was a GLX or whatever, certainly felt rather plush to a 10 year old!
This certainly brings back a few memories, as a station car I think this would serve well.

Arsecati

2,284 posts

116 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
Are we really getting that PC now, that the term 'Jap' is offensive? It's not a term I'd ever use myself, but would it not be the equivalent of calling someone British a 'Brit'? I've never heard anyone being offended by that - we also have plenty of terms using the word too: BritPop, BritArt - the actual 'BRIT awards'!! I'd regard it as the opposite, as I only seem to ever see it used in terms of affection or enthusiasm, Japfest for instance, is clearly a festival for those who are major fans of Japanese cars: probably the last people on the planet who would intentionally intend to offend people or things from Japan! I really think we all just need to relax a bit! :/

si_xsi

1,189 posts

194 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
Miserable, hateful steaming white turd of a shed, i'd rather walk. biggrin Merry Christmas all.

james_gt3rs

4,816 posts

190 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
If I won the lottery I'd be making it into a sleeper with a Skyline drivetrain or something hehe

rcs5158

32 posts

227 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
Nothing wrong with a Nissan Sunny, if you want cheap, reliable, inoffensive transport then there are a lot worse ways to get around. I have my late fathers 95 Sunny Sequel which had done 22k from new, I have now done 31k in it and it hasn't missed a beat whilst also averaging 45mpg......this is my London runabout alongside two V8 American land yachts. My dad swore by Datsuns nee Nissans and part from a z31 300ZX which I had for a while I couldn't really see the appeal. Not everyone wants to tear about in a Nurburgring busting Supercars........as a cheap means of transport they are near on unbeatable........great shed! Merry Christmas

Hub

6,413 posts

197 months

Friday 23rd December 2016
quotequote all
The survivors are always the old man spec base model auto dull hatchbacks that spend their life garaged and doing 1000 miles a year. It even has the requisite AA badges and the cheap aftermarket wheel trims. Is there anything worse than cheap wheel trims?