Moving on with the press photo galore that is this Datsun-Nissan weekend, it’s time to showcase the Sunny B11, known as the Sentra on North American markets. Most importantly, it is also my duty to notify you that the B11 was available as a woody wagon that could be ordered in custard yellow.
Fender mirrors, small center hubcaps, some light red trimming on the plastics, it’s so 1981 I can’t stand it. It’s brilliant.
There were two wagon variants of the Sunny, this somewhat slanted, more aerodynamic car that appears in the photos as the SGXL California spec, and then there was the more van-like AD with a square back and round headlights.
There was also a hot hatch version of the same generation Sunny, appearing here as the Turbo Leprix. While the wagon above had a 1500cc engine with less than 100 horsepower (75-95 depending of the market), the Turbo one had 115 horsepower. The glass hatch looks especially neat.
Neater still was the extremely sporty red interior available with the Turbo. And note here, a manual gearshift.
The studio shot of an equivalent four-door sedan replaces the red seat goodness with light tan, and the 5-speed manual is thwarted by a three-speed automatic.
Datsun-Nissan Weekend Edition: 1981-1983 Nissan Sunny B11
By Antti Kautonen
Apr 11, 2015
By Antti Kautonen
The resident Finn of Hooniverse. Owns old Peugeots and whatnot, writes long thinkpieces on unloved cars. These two facts might be related.
Bradley Brownell
They sold at least one of these Sunny woodies in the USA…
More pictures here: http://www.oldparkedcars.com/2014/04/woodgrain-wagon-1983-datsun-nissan.html
I actually owned a 1984 B11 Sentra (Sunny) back in high school. It’s a shame that they’re so rare now, because it was a great car. It was the second car I owned but the first one that I owned which I actually liked. Although the doors eventually leaked and the stereo was junk, this was the car in which I originally fell in love with the manual transmission. Mine was a hatchback couple with the body like the attached here, and was badged as both a Datsun and a Nissan. Despite being front wheel drive and having less than 70hp, it remains the only car I’ve ever spun out in.
That last Sunny- is it a TURBO?
Not sure, needs more TURBO badging.
That Sunny woodie is AMAZING! It’s from my birth year as well. I guess earth tones never went away in Japan. I can’t stand avocado green but the yellow works well with the wood treatment.
Those sport seats look decidedly un-Nissan-ish.
They called it the Sunny California and then changed it to Sentra when the exported it to sunny California?
Similarly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_California
”
The “California” is not sold in North America, although demand is high.”
Billie Jean came on the radio Saturday. For once it wasn’t yet Another One Bites The Dust fakeout. I forget that Thriller is early ’80s, not mid ’80s, but it still struck me as looking backwards to ’70s disco. There’s the violins (or is it entirely synth?) over the bassline, the bassline itself, the background singing, the lightly funky guitar solo. If it truly is constructed in a contemporary sense, using the best of the past, it’s the pinnacle of that sound.
The aero-yellow woody is more like the opposite of that.
My first Car Nissan Sunny 130Y (B11) saloon.