Can You Believe There Are Two Of Them? 1982 Nissan Sentra vs 1983 Nissan Sentra

When you think of race cars, a first-generation Nissan Sentra might not be the last car you would think of, but it’s pretty far down the list. That’s why I was surprised to find not one, but two race-prepared Sentras for sale, on opposite sides of the country, for about the same price. Sometimes the car choices just fall into my lap.

None of you were very happy with me for yesterday’s choices, but if you don’t scrape the bottom of the barrel once in a while, you don’t appreciate the better stuff. Grudgingly, you gave the rusty, high-mileage Mitsubishi Lancer the win, but I don’t expect to see any of you driving around in it any time soon.

I disagree. I’m going to take the Accent for my choice. Yeah, it looks like hell, and the damage is all the result of one person’s bad driving, but that one person can also tell you everything that has happened to that car since day one. I’d rather offer them $1,500 for that than give some scummy dealership a grand more for a car they probably paid $400 for.

Race cars come in all shapes and sizes. You name it, somebody has put it on a track. I’ve seen a race-prepared Morris Minor, watched a Plymouth Reliant make a twelve-second pass down a dragstrip, and witnessed the hilarity of a Rolls-Royce Corniche autocrossing. (Remember the dancing hippos in Fantasia? Like that, only less graceful.) At the moment, amazingly, there are two unlikely old race cars for sale – both early Nissan Sentras. Let’s see which one you’d rather hoon around a race track.

1982 Nissan Sentra SE – $6,950

Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Tallmadge, OH

Odometer reading: 11,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

In 1982, the Nissan name was new in the US; prior to that, its cars were sold under the Datsun nameplate. The Sentra was the second car to carry the Nissan name here; the larger Stanza was the first. What we have here is one of the very first Sentras, an early preproduction car that was used in an endurance race series sponsored by Playboy magazine and Escort radar detectors. I don’t think it has ever been registered for street use; it has only 11,000 miles on its odometer, all from racing.

The engine in these early Sentras isn’t exactly racy: it’s a 1.5-liter four-cylinder with a little two-barrel carburetor. It makes all of 67 horsepower, delivered to the front wheels through a five-speed manual. This car weighs less than 2,000 pounds, so it’s not as sluggish as you might think. It runs and drives great, according to the seller, but I don’t know if it could be driven on the street. I guess it depends on your state laws and whether or not it has a title. Race cars often don’t.

There’s a lot of original Sentra left inside; the door panels, carpet, dashboard, and even the rear seats and cargo cover are still intact. The driver’s seat has been replaced by a racing seat, and there’s a full roll cage installed, but otherwise it’s not far from stock. Strangely, the speedometer needle has also been removed. Is that a requirement for a race car? Are you not allowed to know how fast you’re going?

I never would have thought a Sentra hatchback with racing numbers and sponsor decals would look so cool, but here it is. It’s probably one of the cleanest ’82 Sentras left, by virtue of never having seen road use. It would almost be a shame to drive it on the road after all this time, but it would also be a ton of fun to roll up to a car gathering in it.

1983 Nissan Sentra – $6,250

Engine/drivetrain: 2.0-liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Silverton, OR

Odometer reading: unknown

Operational status: Runs and drives well

Most amateur race cars don’t start out as new cars, of course. I imagine this ’83 Sentra started out as someone’s grocery-getter, and only after a long life of daily service was it converted into the racing machine you see here. It’s no grocery-getter now, unless by “groceries” you mean snacks from the track’s concession stand.

This car looks like it was built for a “Prepared” or “Modified” class, or something that allows engine swaps as long as the new engine comes from the same manufacturer. This Sentra is powered by a Nissan SR20DE four-cylinder engine that probably makes twice the horsepower of the stock engine. It has a five-speed manual gearbox with a limited-slip differential. The seller says it is “very quick” and “handles amazing.” I believe it.

This one is a lot more gutted inside than the other car. It has only one seat, no carpet or door panels, and not much of the dashboard either. I don’t think you could put this one back on the street without finding a donor Sentra and putting a lot of stuff back. But if you have the ability to trailer it to tracks or autocross events, it could be a lot of fun.

Outside, it wears the livery of a famous Datsun race car, and it looks pretty good. It has a few dings and scuffs, but hardly anything worth worrying about, and there’s no rust on it. I don’t think a car will pass a race inspection with any rust on it, except maybe Lemons.

Used race cars have a limited audience, I know, but finding two examples of such an unlikely race machine was just too good an opportunity to pass up. So just imagine you were going to try your hand at racing. Which one of these looks like a better starting point? Or, if you really have no interest in racing, which one would you try to put back on the street?