The Pathetic ‘Pintara’ And A Minivan Called The ‘Prairie’: A Look At The Strange Nissans I Saw In An Australian Junkyard

Holden and Ford are thought of as the two big Australian car companies. Despite sticking it out until the bitter end of local manufacturing in 2017, Toyota never really got put in the same category, nor did Mitsubishi. Even fewer people remember that Nissan used to build cars in Australia, and yet, on my latest junkyard tour, I came face to face with those long-forgotten Japanese cars built in Australia.

As with my previous junkyard visits, I’m at a local pick- a-part yard which mostly deals in common commuter vehicles. You pretty much get scrap value for selling a car to a place like this. That means more desirable vehicles tend to end up elsewhere, while this yard serves as a good cross-section of everyday vehicles from the last 30 years or so, plus the occasional older outlier.

You might think that with Nissan being a global brand, you’ve already seen everything that it has to offer. And yet, the Australian Nissan range has varied quite distinctly from what was sold in North America over the years. Let’s dive in!

Japanese Cars & Local Stars

You wanna know the headline model that Australia got that America didn’t? It was the Nissan Pulsar!

In the 1980s, America got the Nissan Sentra, which was known in Japan as the Nissan Sunny. It was the first front-wheel-drive model in the Sunny lineup, and served as a compact sedan, hatch and wagon for the US market. Filling a similar market role in Australia, the Pulsar was available as a hatchback and sedan. The model line is originally linked back to the Datsun Cherry.

The models in question most prevalent in this junkyard were the N13 Pulsars. While the model was built in Japan for several markets, it was also built in Australia from 1987 to 1991.  These models were also rebadged and sold as the Holden Astra as part of Australia’s well-known Button Car Plan.

The Australian cars actually differed a little from their overseas siblings. The five-door hatches had different rear quarter panels and the doors were slightly modified, too. The engines were different, too, with Nissan instead fitting the cars with the GM Family II engine.

The N13 Pulsars could be had with the carbureted 16LF, a 1.6-liter engine, good for 75 horsepower and 92 pound-feet of torque. Alternatively, spendier customers could option the 1.8-liter 18LE, which came with multipoint fuel injection. That bumped power up to 106 horsepower and 111 pound-feet of torque—quite the jump over the base model. There was also a Special Vehicles Division (SVD) model which came in a higher state of tune, offering  113 horsepower and 119 pound-feet of torque for those wanting the quickest stock Pulsar available. I found examples of both 16LF and 18LE engines in the yard.

Also of note was the Pulsar Vector. In Australia, this was based on the Nissan Langley, which was basically an upmarket sedan version of the JDM Pulsar. It got a sporty taillight treatment and angular good looks.

Hilariously, though, the version I found here had been given a DIY ute conversion with a daring yellow-and-black paint job. Plenty of artificial grass was used on the body, too, which I assume helped cover some ugly weld and cut lines. Overall though, it looked fun as hell and I’d love to have seen it out on the road.

What was great about Nissan in this era is that it wasn’t afraid of a bit of color. Bright blue and bright yellow were common sights on the Pulsar, with bright red popular on the Holden Astra models. Later imported Pulsars continued the trend, with the junkyard featuring a lovely red N14 model from the early 90s, too.

Nissan would ultimately stick with the Pulsar through the N14 and N15 generations. It then applied the Pulsar name to the Bluebird Sylphy from 2000 until 2005 or so, which was known as the N16 model. At that point, Nissan’s global headquarters pushed its operations all over the globe to sell the Tiida, using the same name worldwide. This rankled with the Australian arm, which wanted to stick with the Pulsar name. Research showed that Pulsar was one of the most trusted nameplates in the country. Head office forced the Australian arm to go with the Tiida name regardless. Nissan would sell the Tiida in Australia until 2013, with the C13 Pulsar eventually replacing it in 2012 for a few more years before disappearing in 2017.

The Cherished Skyline

Once upon a time, Nissan built Skylines in Australia. The plant in Clayton, Victoria was charged with building the R31 Skyline from 1986, fitted with the venerable RB30 engine. Good for 153 horsepower in basic trim, it could make up to 187 horsepower in the special Silhouette models. That engine also starred in the Holden Commodore VL.

Local production also spawned the Pintara, a nameplate unique to Australia. It first showed up in 1986, applied to four-cylinder models of the R31 Nissan Skyline. These cars were locally built at Nissan’s Clayton plant. Instead of the RB30E, the Pintara featured the CA20E engine, with just 105 horsepower on tap.

The idea of the Pintara was to give Australians a replacement for the outgoing Bluebird. The Bluebird sedan and wagon had gone front-wheel-drive in the mid-1980s. Nissan didn’t expect these to sell well in the Australian market at the time, but it still wanted a four-cylinder sedan and wagon. Hence, the R31 Pintara.

However, you almost certainly won’t find an R31 Skyline or Pintara in a junkyard like this anymore. Rear-wheel-drive and vague notions of their applicability as drift cars means they’re too popular and thus too valuable. So why am I going on about these cars that I didn’t see? It’s because I had to fill in the backstory!

You see, I did spot a Pintara, only it wasn’t an R31. Instead, it was the lowly U12 model—an Australian-built version of the U12 Bluebird from Japan. It was sold as a sedan and an ugly hatchback and was built in Clayton from 1989 to 1992. The so-called “Superhatch” was sold as the Bluebird Aussie in Japan. It allegedly sold with a fluffy koala and an Australian flag on the dash. It was available with a 2.0-liter CA20E engine with 111 horsepower, with higher trims getting a KA24E good for 129 horsepower.

The second-generation Pintara was poorly regarded. Low sales saw Nissan Australia give up on its local factory and switch to an import-only business from 1992 onwards.

The nameplate hasn’t been missed, much like the Toyota Paseo or Holden Camira. I believe I will never live to see the day that Nissan builds another Pintara.

Birds of Blue

The Bluebird did keep showing up in Australia for some time, though. The U13 model was imported and sold from 1993 to 1997. You’d see them around the place in the 1990s and early 2000s, but they weren’t hugely popular.

Australians would typically either go for a full-size Commodore or Falcon if they wanted a sedan, or they’d look for a hatchback if they wanted something smaller. If they were willing to make do with front-wheel-drive, they’d go for the Toyota Camry or Mitsubishi Magna. In the 1990s, there were an embarrassing number of good sedans on the market. The Bluebird just didn’t offer anything special to win hearts.

Nissan tried to make it work by packing the cars with equipment across the range. Climate control, airbags, and sunroofs abounded, along with heads-up displays and lashings of woodgrain, but it wasn’t enough to make a difference. Hilariously, the SSS model might have sounded the sportiest of the lineup, but it didn’t have any additional power. All models had a KA24DE under the hood with 150 hp on tap.

It was much the same story for the Nissan Maxima that came later. Nissan tried to position the sedan as an upmarket option with leather interiors and bells and whistles. Ultimately, it was up against luxury versions of the Falcon and Commodore, the tastier Camrys, and the Mitsubishi Verada. Nissan wasn’t seen as a luxury brand, either, so buyers looking for that kind of thing would more likely head over to BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus, paying a premium for the pleasure.

Several Maximas I checked out had climate control and surprisingly nice interiors, as seen in my video tour above.

It’s funny to see these cars in the junkyard. You’ll rarely see Falcons, Commodores, or Camrys with climate control or sunroofs in a place like this. The nicer trims are mostly outnumbered by the bargain basement versions. In contrast, cars like the Maxima were mostly sold with a higher level of equipment as a point of difference. If you find one in the yard, it’s probably going to be nicely specced. It’s much the same for Euro imports, too.

Other Charms

The X-Trail is another Nissan that may be unfamiliar to the American audience. It hit the market in the late 1990s as a boxy fun-loving SUV. They’ve lasted pretty well, but a few are starting to turn up in the yards as their odometers crest the double ton.  The U.S. would eventually get an X-Trail, but not until the third generation—and over in Yankland, it’s called the Rogue.

Another rarity that I never expected to see here was the NX Coupe. This was a nimble little Nissan from the early 1990s. You’d rarely expect to see a sports coupe in the yard, as coupes are usually worth too much to see them sent here. It’s also probably the only car with an SR20 engine I’ve ever seen in this yard, albeit a non-turbo version.

Predictably, someone identified that the engine had some value, and plucked it out. Motors at this yard only cost a few hundred bucks, so someone really scored with that one.

The other notable coupe was a Datsun 120Y. These were everywhere in the 1990s, but rust claimed many, and youthful hijinx most of the rest. It was glorious to see this gorgeous 1970s design in the flesh, even if it was too far gone for someone to bother with a restoration. Still, those tail lights will probably be of great use to somebody.

Oh, and the Nissan Prairie. You didn’t see many of these around, but they were glacially slow. If you did get stuck behind one, you’d be seeing it for a while. [Ed Note: Holy crap, is this a minivan? -DT]. 

Looking Back

As beloved as Nissan is in Australia, it’s mostly for the cars you didn’t see here. Think later Skylines, Silvias, and the 180SX. Most of these vehicles were all grey imported, though, not brought in by Nissan Australia itself. Despite its era as a local manufacturer, the company never really felt Australian, much like Toyota. The honor of being a local is really only bestowed on Holden and Ford, even despite their strong American connections.

It’s fun to imagine an alternate universe where Nissan stuck around in Australia. It’s also enjoyable to look back at an era when sedans ruled and the SUV was yet to dominate all. How times change.

Image credits: Lewin Day