1985 Nissan Silvia Turbo

First registered on the 15th of November 1985, this wonderfully original Nissan Silvia Turbo gathered the vast majority of its 86,000 miles prior to 1994, at which time it was placed into storage. It resurfaced in 2017 and was lightly recommissioned before being put back on the road.

With no signs of it ever having been welded and still rot-free, it is also still showing what is said to be only lightly fettled paintwork and refurbished alloy wheels. Recently given a fresh MOT and a service, it drives very well.

As one of the pre-facelift cars it was always going to attract an awful lot of interest anyway but as a rare opportunity to buy an example of a car most of us had probably thought had long been extinct, it’s almost unprecedented….

The white coachwork is excellent. Lightly refinished only recently, the new paint sets off the tight and even shutlines beautifully; Japanese cars of the period might have been prone to rust but they yielded nothing to the Germans in terms of precision alignment and overall build quality.

The flanks are still straight and free of ripples too, and the wheelarches, front and rear valences, and the sills, all of which are prone to rot, are free of even the lightest corrosion and utterly solid.

The pop-up headlamps work as they should and even feature a pair of horizontal bars to protect the glass, which is very cool and not something we can recall seeing on anything else.

The rest of the light lenses are all excellent, as is the glazing and badging, including the useful glass sunroof. The side-stripes look great too, as do the various bits of black rubber trim that are dotted around it; it’s clear that this is a very carefully curated example indeed.

The lattice-effect alloy wheels are in fine fettle but then they are freshly refurbished. Shod with very good and matching tyres too, in this case 195/60R15 on all four corners.

As we will never tire of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but it does perhaps give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

Faults? Well, we aren’t sure that fault is the right word but the inside of the fuel filler cap could do with tidying up and the rear rubber spoiler looks like it’s started to degrade just a little. There is also a little overspray here and there that could do with removing.

The cloth and vinyl seats are in an incredibly good condition; the fact that 35 years have passed since they were installed seems to have escaped them and they are very nearly as firm and supportive as the day they were fitted.

The condition of the cloth is just as good, as is the back of the front seats, which are free of the usual scrapes, scuffs and kick marks you normally see inflicted by the feet of those sitting in the back.

Mind you, if the state of the back seats is anything to go by they haven’t been used very often, which will have helped matters.

The headlining is great too being taut, free of damage and very clean. It’s much the same story with the door cards, centre console, and dashboard; just like the exterior, someone has taken an awful lot of care not to mark or damage it over the years - and its condition reflects very well on the quality of the original design, materials and assembly, too.

The orange-on-black switches look very of-the-period and are much more interesting than the more usual white-on-black. They still work with an unusual precision too but then you’d guessed that, hadn’t you?

The dials, which share the same colour scheme as the switches, are in great shape and there’s a very of-the-period radio/cassette player in the dashboard as well. Power locks too, plus power windows all helpfully labelled in orange, just like everything else.

The boot floor is grubby but solid, and there’s a matching alloy spare wheel in there too as well as the original plywood wheel cover and tool kit. It’s protected by a very good ribbed rubber mat and hidden from view by a very good parcel shelf too, and one that’s escaped the usual fate of being hacked about to fit some inappropriate aftermarket speakers.

Work to do? Well, while the carpets are generally in good shape they have some holes on the front passenger side plus some sun-fading. This may or may not bother you depending on where you sit on the originality/condition spectrum. In the meantime, the wear is covered by some very good overmats, so there’s no hurry.

Some of the trim is peeling away on the nearside rear quarter too, but that would be an easy fix.

Other than that, there’s nothing there that would bother us at all. True, the boot could do with a bit of a clean, as could the two front seats, but that’s hardly cataclysmic, is it?

A pair of brake calipers were fitted in September 2019 and we are told that other recent work includes four new tyres and an ignition service. There looks to be a new battery too, which is handy especially as it looks like a good ‘un.

Recommissioned in 2017 too, work included a new turbocharger, petrol pump, camshaft and drive belts plus a full engine service.

It’s a famously robust engine and this one is as good as any we’ve seen; as the video shows, its starts, ticksover, and revs beautifully, and it drives as well as it looks.

The underbonnet area is pretty darned good too with only the odd rusty bracket and clip spoiling what is otherwise a very nice sight. Mind you, when Lockdown 5/6/7/8 (delete as applicable) comes into play we’ll all be glad of the excuse to hide away from the family in the garage for a while, won’t we?

The underside is excellent including the chassis legs, strut tops and wheelarches. Yes, there is a little bit of surface corrosion to deal with but at least you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing the job has been done properly if you do it yourself.

The Silvia’s MOT certificate, which is valid until March 2022, was gained without a single advisory point. It also has a couple of expired MOT certificates plus its original handbook, two keys and an old style V5 registration document.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing to see this paperwork.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

There is growing interest in modern classics like this, largely because they combine the sort of performance, reliability and safety we’ve all come to take for granted while still evoking the nostalgia that’s such an important part of our hobby.

Japanese cars in particular are gaining traction; whereas old Porsches and BMWs and Mercedes have long been a staple of the scene, folk are starting to appreciate the rock-solid engineering of cars like this.

And it’s not as if you’ve got the traditional Japanese rot and corrosion to worry about on this one either because it’s utterly solid and very original – and that’s not something that many Japanese cars of this era can boast.

All of which makes the guide price of somewhere between £8,500 and £15,000 seems like good value to us, especially when you consider what others are asking for similar, arguably inferior, contemporaries.

Viewing is always encouraged, within Govt. guidelines of course, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.