Saucy S12: 1984 Nissan 200SX V8
The S12 generation Nissan Silvia was released in North America with the lame sounding 200SX name, but it was a decent handling rear-drive sports coupe. Unfortunately Nissan didn’t want to cannibalize sales from the profitable 300ZX so it was never given a powerplant more powerful than the non-turbo VG30, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a souped up example. Find this 1984 Nissan 200SX with Ford V8 offered for $4,800 near Worcester (pronounced whooo-staaaahhh), MA via craigslist.
This 200SX is now powered by a 5.0 liter Ford V8 that is mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. Stock power in an ’80s 5.0 can be as low as 150 horsepower, but it looks (in the fuzzy pics) that this might sport a few aftermarket performance parts and 300 horsepower is a streetable figure. The 200SX also features 5-lug brakes/hubs from a 300ZX but looks super sleepy. I like it.
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This is GENIUS! I don't think I ever thought of this one being v8 swapped even when they could be had with a v6 from the factory. I bet the ford 5.0 is an easy fit in there and do like the 5lug hub upgrade here. Very slick price too, these are awkward but fun cars.
I have to mention how impressed that this car was swapped and still owned by the original owner, that is dedication to 1984, in a good way. I applaud this form of ownership and modification.
Wonder if the engine/ecu swap allowed for the computerized "the door, is ajar" voice to remain.
Yes bitchin betty still works correctly it is equipped with a Haltech ECU 5.0 gt40 heads t-5 r200 differential
I once took a girl out on a date ( a total fiasco – her sister wanted to go out with me, not her and I collected the wrong sister but that's a whole other sory ) in her dad's Datsun 84 turbo 280-Z. Immediately got stopped for speeding and she was laughing hysterically, the car kept saying that the door is a jar, and I couldn't figure out how to open the windows. The cop comes up to the semi open door and says you need to close the door. I close it and he asks me to open the window, I say I don't know how, open the door a little and the "the door is a jar" lady starts up again. So he says "do you know how fast you were going?" I say "I have no idea. look at that" and I point at the videogame dashboard. The cop starts to say something along the lines of WTF is going on and I interrupt and say "it's her dad's car" and point to my hysterical passenger. Cop asks for the registration, looks at it and asks the girl what her father's name is. She tells him. Cop asks if her father is really an admiral, she says yes which is news to me – I knew he worked for the government on a ULF radio system to talk to submarines – turns out he had to be admiral rank to "read his own notes" as he put it . Cop asks "miss are you here of your own free will?" and now she's sort of waving her feet in the air making weird sneezing goose and cackling sounds and her nose is running she's laughing so hard. Cop looks at me rolls his eyes, hands me the registration, says I have enough problems already and goes back to his car.
At the end of the evening I return the admiral's daughter and car and he asks how I liked the car. His daughter says "he had trouble with the window"
the cah is wicket – the city is wistah
My brother (who lives in Worcester but is a California transplant) says Wooooostahh, but he is a big P.G. Wodehouse fan….so his pronunciation might be from the wrong side of the pond.
The car in the photos now belongs to my dad, It is now in Michigan and it still works.