80s Nissan Silvia (S12) - Any love them?

[cjhillman]

So I was driving along the other day on a boring 4 hour trip and started thinking of Cars I always wanted to own but probably never will now. One car jumped out at me straight away, the Nissan Silvia Turbo (S12).

I remember years ago when I was far too young to drive seeing one for sale in a faded Red for about £200. It must have been around 1999/2000 and probably only had a few months left in it. As a kid who loved all things mk3 XR3i this looked like a cooler stretched Japanese version and who doesn't like pop up headlights! I remember my mum saying if I was old enough she'd buy it me for my first car, unfortunately that never happened and 4 years later I ended up with a canary yellow Citroen Saxo... oh well.

Of course, Prices have crept up and theres hardly any left so, I'll probably have to live vicariously through other peoples stories of them... so go on then, lets hear about them. Oh by the way, I drive a Capri 2.0 so I'm guessing these would be more of a Japanese refined attempt at a Capri 

Heres a few pictures

[ChasR]

They are decent. Back in the day, they were overshadowed by their later brethren, in the form of the S13 to S14(a). After being in all of them, I can kind of see why. The S13 is quite a way ahead in refinement, fun, and power. Yes, the CA18DET had a variable rep, but when on song, they went very well, and had some lovely top end pull

The mechanicals on S12s are decent. The CA18ET may not be quite as fun as the DET variant (D for Dual Camshafts), but it's still a stout unit for the day. They are comfy and generally fine.

However, be on your wits. They can look fine from the outside, and pass an MOT too. However, the sills love to rot from inside out. Something you'll come to know if you next jack it up from the sill and it begins to deform. Rust is these cars no. 1 enemy, as are the bodges that come from this. The Sills are the most common area. for bodgery, and they can be bodged very sympathetically.

Parts will now also be awkward to source, moreso I dare say than Ford stuff.

I say go for it, but buy one with your eyes wide open.

[jimi]

Great car, I loved mine, a big reliable comfortable cruiser. I bought mine from an auction and it was delivered while I was away at work (offshore) so my first drive was about 2 weeks after I bought it. It was my first turbo car, I vividly remember my first drive, took it out on the local bypass and thought lets see what this turbo thing is about, floored it and thought well that's nothing to shout abo ..... Holy curse word !!!! Once you got used to the lag it was fine but it could catch you out if you forgot.





Fairly typical of Japanese cars of that era, mechanically very reliable, watch out for the bodywork.

[88zxturbo]

I love them, I think a lot of s12 parts would fit my t12 bluebird as performance upgrades. Theres loads of interchangeable bits on 80s/90s Nissans.

[88zxturbo]

Aug 23, 2023 1:43:57 GMT jimi said:

Great car, I loved mine, a big reliable comfortable cruiser. I bought mine from an auction and it was delivered while I was away at work (offshore) so my first drive was about 2 weeks after I bought it. It was my first turbo car, I vividly remember my first drive, took it out on the local bypass and thought lets see what this turbo thing is about, floored it and thought well that's nothing to shout abo ..... Holy curse word !!!! Once you got used to the lag it was fine but it could catch you out if you forgot.





Fairly typical of Japanese cars of that era, mechanically very reliable, watch out for the bodywork.


did your one have this blue interior aswell? Seem quite common back in the 80s/90s 

[jimi]

Interior was definitely that 80's Japanese blue but I seem to think the seats were a dark blue ? I'll check with my mrs she might remember.

[Quasimoto]

My late Brother owned an S12 for years / bought cheap of a car lot as no one wanted it. Ahead of its time in some ways / pop up headlights pure classic touch / he was doing a extra injector mod something he found on an Australian web site for these cars / went quite well and yeah rust on sills was an issue eventually. Even had a spare car to use for parts replacement. Still going but i would imagine after having money spent on it / sadly no photos of it

[norm75]

I remember a mates dad bought one of these brand new back in the day, black with that very 80’s terracotta velour upholstery, 1.8 turbo.

I knew they rallied them in the wrc (winning one event and a couple second places) and they were quite successful in African events but having just looked it up I didn’t realise they ran the US spec 3 litre v6 naturally aspirated unit from the 300zx.
Just watched a YouTube vid of one, it sounded fantastic.

[adam73bgt]

Always thought these looked cool (though for me just about anything 80s/90s, Japanese with pop ups looks cool 😅) and a bit like a Toyota ae86 without the Initial D tax haha

So many examples of nicely modified ones out there, think I'd go with something like this if I had one www.speedhunters.com/2010/08/car_feature_gt_gt_henry_s_s12_not_an_ae86/

[88zxturbo]

This version looks tasty

www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/NISSAN/SILVIA/700020874430221121001/

[88zxturbo]

Nice original one in Germany

www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/x/2497800716

[pseudonymous]

There's a chap down the road who has one, looks fairly standard but sitting on fairly modern alloys. At the time they weren't that interesting but as with everything, it really stands out when I see it now and it looks great.

Pop up lamps? Sold!

[jimi]

Seems I'm not alone in liking pop ups it's one my favourite styles on a car, mention pop ups and I'm in
I've had 4 cars with pop up lights, in order Fiat X1-9 1300, Silvia 1.8 Turbo, Mazda 323 1.8 GTi and a Toyota MR2 MK1 which I still have

[Midland Performance & Retro]

I spotted one on eBay the other day

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134676519149?hash=item1f5b5898ed:g:J~4AAOSwNGFkJKK3&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4HQpaE6am6wIWY0eBc0zuOEAnWlbORt0x05ZU8jheUHkSVJHdtVNQp7P6zjA9%2FqhuBvPk9J%2B8%2Fo93OqF17nOem5j13HieE8IDkpXYvD%2F0I4P2g4EkWwiZNBp07N2578xgno2urdEaeM8hLefRfbhXsQBckwY0palIoxBMBKbdmOxQdKAHlC117i05revUviihSr6Q%2BSK3TNuaeRLfdWZHJnOC3UUz6l1eliWo3lboFd%2BRGWJmo0rIi71XLIJLjXj%2FDmptwB%2Bzu41j1OljY%2BDoC3BmNQfQwcO9HWXQLhzKYye%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR97B_KfEYg

[88zxturbo]

That one’s been for sale a while now and seems awful cheap. Would need a good going over in person I think

[88zxturbo]

Was looking at s12’s for sale all over the world out of interest and came across these things. Built the same time as the s12 and very similar.

collectingcars.com/for-sale/1985-nissan-pulsar-exa-n12

[adam73bgt]

Aug 23, 2023 12:21:48 GMT jimi said:

Seems I'm not alone in liking pop ups it's one my favourite styles on a car, mention pop ups and I'm in
I've had 4 cars with pop up lights, in order Fiat X1-9 1300, Silvia 1.8 Turbo, Mazda 323 1.8 GTi and a Toyota MR2 MK1 which I still have

Never get tired of pop ups, test drove a couple of Mk3 Supras but never quite bought one, have long fancied an SW20 MR2 as well but the right car for the right price didn't come up, glad I managed to own an FC RX-7 when I did though, do miss that car

[88zxturbo]

Aug 23, 2023 19:31:24 GMT adam73bgt said:

Aug 23, 2023 12:21:48 GMT jimi said:

Seems I'm not alone in liking pop ups it's one my favourite styles on a car, mention pop ups and I'm in
I've had 4 cars with pop up lights, in order Fiat X1-9 1300, Silvia 1.8 Turbo, Mazda 323 1.8 GTi and a Toyota MR2 MK1 which I still have

Never get tired of pop ups, test drove a couple of Mk3 Supras but never quite bought one, have long fancied an SW20 MR2 as well but the right car for the right price didn't come up, glad I managed to own an FC RX-7 when I did though, do miss that car

Funny you mentioned rx7 I just came across this browsing, never heard of them

collectingcars.com/for-sale/1985-mazda-rx-7

[jimi]

adam73bgt
There's still some very nice SW20's going about, depends on your price range. Prices have started climbing in the last year. LINKY

I liked the late 80's Celica's and early MK3 Supra's also the MK1 REX's as well, just never got the chance to buy a decent one 👍

[cjhillman]

Aug 23, 2023 13:06:14 GMT Midland Performance & Retro said:

I spotted one on eBay the other day

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134676519149?hash=item1f5b5898ed:g:J~4AAOSwNGFkJKK3&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4HQpaE6am6wIWY0eBc0zuOEAnWlbORt0x05ZU8jheUHkSVJHdtVNQp7P6zjA9%2FqhuBvPk9J%2B8%2Fo93OqF17nOem5j13HieE8IDkpXYvD%2F0I4P2g4EkWwiZNBp07N2578xgno2urdEaeM8hLefRfbhXsQBckwY0palIoxBMBKbdmOxQdKAHlC117i05revUviihSr6Q%2BSK3TNuaeRLfdWZHJnOC3UUz6l1eliWo3lboFd%2BRGWJmo0rIi71XLIJLjXj%2FDmptwB%2Bzu41j1OljY%2BDoC3BmNQfQwcO9HWXQLhzKYye%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR97B_KfEYg

Saw that one the other day when this idea popped into my head. Looks pretty rough haha. I wonder if wing panels are hard to find for it. I guess it is cheap in comparison though. Seems like mint ones are about £10k on auctions I’ve seen. There was a nice red one floating around but not sure what it sold for.