I'm Back In The Fold!

My 5yr old refers to this as dad's new "flat car."  Fair enough assessment from a kid.  Now, after about 7 years, I'm back in the S12 fold.  This is my '85 coupe.









Big shout out to HOT-SX for pointing out this car on Craigslist.  I didn't turn it up during my search because it seems the seller never used the word 'Nissan.'

The back story:  This car was owned by a little old lady who only drove it to church on Sunday.  No Joke.  I have the original window sticker and her original canceled check from 1985.  The church must have been pretty close to her home.



She garaged this car until 2012 when it went to her nephew who parked it outside while using it as a daily driver. 



The interior is nearly perfect save for the dash vents and dirty floor mats. I'm not sure anyone ever sat in the back.  There are still pieces of clear plastic wrap around the rear seatback from where it was torn off during assembly.  The spare donut has never touched the ground and the full toolkit is beneath the trunk carpet.







She needs new pipes because the originals have several rust holes but I just wrapped them with some aluminum flashing to keep the noise level down.  All I'm concerned with for now is arresting any deterioration and preserving factory conditions for as long as possible.  It's a CA20e automatic which is the obvious down side but the mileage and condition were too stupidly good to pass it up.  I had an '86 for 19 years and began to sorely miss it.  And so I begin anew........

Nice pinstripeing - keep it stock!

It's crazy seeing so many low mileage cars popping up lately. Congrats on the new Flat.

I am glad I was able to help you find this car. It sure looks a lot like your 86 model did in the photos you provided in your "welcome thread". I knew it had your name written all over it when I saw your thread so as much as I hated to pass on it myself I decided to let it go to the proper home. I think you'll be really happy with it for years to come. Best wishes!

Hahah. Flatcar

Smart kid. Welcome back!

I have been looking at that car for months.  Almost dropped the cash a while back.  Very jealous.  Well done sir.

The first post had my ROLLING hahahaha

But holy cow! My car has over 10x the mileage of yours. But yours is 1000x better looking. I'm stunned that you were able to find one in such pristine condition

Felt like posting some interior pics. A couple weeks ago I bought a strip of blue tweed carpet and cut it into floor mat shapes. A pretty nice match I think.



Proof of my 5-speed conversion...

Damn. That's probably the cleanest interior I've ever seen. Good call on the 5 speed swap

NICE!

great condition interior!
Wish mine would still be so nice , but it´s already cracked in various places from the sun.

Happy to see the manual swap.  I almost had my wife talked into buying that car twice in the months before you picked it up.  She didn't want an automatic in our garage . . . She's awesome.

I didn't want an automatic either but the car had enough going for it that I initially overlooked the drawback. It blew out a big cloud of smoke after the second start when I was evaluating it which I used as a big lever to get the price down. That issue was cured with new valve stems seals as I documented on this sight.

Having experienced both the 71B and 71C transmissions I knew full well the way to go was the 71C. I can't tell you the technical differences but the feel is night and day. The 71B seems unrefined and gives an S12 the sense that a lot of effort is required to drive it whereas the 71C is smooth and much more in balance with the vehicle. The swapped 71C came from an '87 that had a completely munched suspension and horrendous paint job. The interior, what was left of it, smelled like old brake fluid but the dash was clean so it sits in my garage in a box. It's for sale, too.

The door cards on my '85 have a couple of tiny splits in the upper portion of the vinyl. Soon I'll be investigating ways to arrest their development and camouflage but so far the repair methods I've seen documented are for deeply damaged dashboards. I'm also toying with the notion of aluminum vent covers sprayed to reasonably color match.

I've also managed to acquire a used Mk1 front lip with attaching front mudguards, a complete NOS set of Mk1 rear mudflaps still in the factory box with instructions, and a NOS set of Bosch clear fog lamps all of which I intend to get mounted in the spring. The rear mudflaps look perfect of course but the front lip and guards are clearly aged. I've got to figure out how to treat them so they look as black as they used to be.

Really good to see an S12 in this condition.  Can't wait to see your final end product.  Keep us posted on the aluminum vent covers.  Super clean "flat car".

God damn thats clean! nice find!

As nice as it is to find an s12 with a manual trans and avoid the swap headache I would have totally made the same choice. That is way too nice to pass on just cause it had an auto. Really like the matching mk2 steering wheel as well. The mk1 wheel is hideous. And yeah the 71C is nicer then the 71B but it gets the job done. I've been using the 71B mated to the ka24de for quite awhile and have gotten pretty used to it. Can't deny I'd prefer the 71C though haha.

The steering wheel is actually from a period correct Maxima and came from OEM Surplus. It's a nice leather wrapped version yet I do feel the rounded center isn't quite right for the S12 and it's straight lines and angles. The original wheel was crumbling away from sun exposure and skin oil.

weitrhino on 10:22:46 AM / 28-Jan-16The steering wheel is actually from a period correct Maxima and came from OEM Surplus.

Redneck on 09:56:12 PM / 29-Jan-16Wow didn't know the maxima had the same wheel as the mk2's. They are identical. Nice OEM surplus find.

Oh those new foggers! Found a NOS Bosch Pilot 150 kit. I simply repurposed the defunct 'overdrive' switch to run the new lamps since I yanked out the auto trans.

No joke: At the grocery last night a guy stops me inside the door and says, "Is that a Toyota or a Buick?"

Seriously nice car! Great addition to the fold.

Nice find for sure Lol @ the buick comment