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The Nissan Maxima of the 1980s remains one of my favorite Junkyard Finds, partly because it began the decade as a sporty rear-wheel-drive cousin to the Z-Car and ended it as a swanky front-wheel-drive pseudo-luxury machine… but mostly because these cars came stuffed full of the quirky futuristic technology that made Japanese cars so interesting during The Turbo Decade.
Here’s a high-mile ’87 Maxima I spotted in an East Bay self-service yard last month.
We tend to think of odometer readings over the 300,000 mark as the kind of thing you’ll only see on Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Honda cars (with the occasional Volvo thrown in for good measure), but Nissan did a great job with the first generation of front-wheel-drive Maximas and they held together very well. This car racked up about 10,339 miles per year for 33 years, and I’ll bet it was still a runner when it showed up here.
One of the most endearing features of the US-market 1985-1988 Maxima is the no-proofreader-ever-checked-this hyphenation of the label of the SECU-RITY indicator lamp. I’m sure this started life as a single Japanese character, and then someone in Yokohama plugged in the English translation and made it fit. I’ve collected several dozen of these lights for my next stupid car-parts boombox project.
After all those years and all those miles, the original “In Case of an Accident” guide remained with the car to the end.
The Datsun 810 became the Datsun 810 Maxima became the Datsun Maxima became the Nissan Maxima during the 1978-1984 period, and throughout this time the car retained an engine closely related to the one in the Z-Car of the time. Here’s the VG30 V6 of the 300ZX (with slightly fewer horses), flipped 90 degrees and driving the front wheels.
Most of the high-mile cars I find in junkyards will be in decent condition inside, because the kind of owner who keeps up with all the maintenance also avoids trashing the upholstery. This car is no exception.
Today’s automotive world is filled with compromise. To get luxury and performance, you have to sacrifice value. Nissan disagrees.
You’ll find links to 2,000+ more Junkyard Finds at the Junkyard Home of the Murilee Martin Lifestyle Brand™… and you should.
Last year I saw an extremely minty version of this generation – in white. It was so wonderfully square.
I drove for many years the younger brother of this car – the Stanza – which, in comparison, had a lackluster engine. Nothing sporty about it, but the old man drove three of ’em hard until they hit 200,000 miles and then would pass ’em on to me and my brother. Very reliable vehicles for the era.
Check out this super clean maxima currently for sale on eBay. I just found this and it’s not mine!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1987-Nissan-Maxima/274291247215?hash=item3fdd08486f:g:NRIAAOSwNYZeWsK4
That’s a lot of money for a 33 year old car
Too much money.
I bought my 92 BMW 735iL in similar condition for 2700 USD (3600 CAD).
I had the gen 2 4DSC version of this, probably one of the best sedans I ever had. After I was through with it it bounced around the family for awhile and was still going strong at 200K miles. A fine car, but too bad what it became :(
Same here, I had a 1991. It’s the only foreign car I’ve ever owned, and I still remember it fondly. But there hasn’t been a subsequent generation of Maxima that I would remotely consider buying.
I know, I wanted to replace my Maxima with a newer Maxima, but I just haven’t liked them since gen 2
It’s a shame what’s happened to Nissan. They went from building solid, reliable (and sometimes quirky) cars like this, to the cheap, unreliable garbage they build today. I lay all the blame at the feet of Carlos Ghosn.
They’ve taken on Mitsubishi, another make that used to have legendary reliability. Somehow fitting.
See, a single 1982 Datsun/Nissan 210/Stanza was my family’s single foreign car.
It was terrible. Bought from its mechanic, as an estate car about 1993-1994— under 90k miles. Stretched head bolts, an idle so rough it shook the steering column— automatic transmission that lost lower gears and reverse. Burlap upholstery that somehow matted, whited plastic trims— vinyl so thin it had stretch marks. Just gross.
Our Taurus (1987) and Tempo (1989) were wholly superior.
And I’m from a Mopar family!
And entirely irrelevant to this narrative, I’d say. A different model, 12 years old when you got it, and jeez, it didn’t behave like a new car! Obviously, by thought transference, all 1980s Nissans were junk. With logic like that, a career in politics beckons.
As a college kid in the mid-1980s, working a summer job at Jiffy Lube, I remember the trepidation that accompanied seeing a straight-six Nissan sedan enter the bay. It was summer, the cars that came in had always been running errands and were at full running temps. The oil filter on this motor (or its kin?) was behind the engine, between two 3-port exhaust manifolds.
Exasperation, cursing, and burns of some sort were almost guaranteed.
This is a V6
I always though these looked best in all black.
Very menacing look for the time.
? These were made with inline and V 6 engines ? .
-Nate
The previous gen (’84 and older) had an inline six. This gen (’85 and newer) had the V6.
Thank you .
I remember the Datsun 810’s, they had an InLine 6 engine .
I still have a nice 810 full size hub cap from a ‘7 810 wagon .
-Nate
The PU11 Maxima ran from 1984 to 1988 (Oppama production). Somewhere in that timeframe, I sat in a brand-new one of these in my front yard (someone’s rental or something) – young me was impressed with how nice it was inside (had very little experience with Japanese cars at that point) – and was later just as shocked to learn that the price was about double what I had been thinking.
I had a 92 or 93 Maxima as a Rent a Junk while my van was in a body shop. I thought it was very nice, smooth, with adequate power. Only bad part had nothing to do with Nissan. Whomever had it before me was a heavy smoker, you could not option for a “no smoking” car then. Almost started carrying a “Motion Discomfort” bag.
Rental company called less than a week later. Wanted it back, “You weren’t supposed to get that type of car”.
After that I had to suffer with some awful piles of dung such as a Grand Am.
Mom owned one of these. Same exterior and interior color, similarly optioned.
It was a great car. It replaced an 81 Chevy Caprice B-Body with the V6 that was underpowered and problematic. The 77 Chevy Caprice B-Body she had was solid as a rock and had the bigger V8 and the FE41 suspension.
This care was talking to you, literally
All that goodness wrapped up in the ugliest envelope in the industry. Hideously styled. Or the deconstruction of style, I don’t know which
My first real girlfriend had a very-high-mileage ’85 that looked exactly like this one. Stick shift, handed down from her megacommuter dad after 200k miles when he bought himself a new Volvo 850 Turbo. Even at its advanced age it was pretty fun to drive. After several more years, quite a few more miles, and the end of the relationship, it developed a rod knock and that was the end.
Just wish Nissan were the same company today as it was in 1987. Junky cars with CVTs.
SH
IT
BOX