IndiaAIFounders — Junkyard Find: 1985 Nissan Sentra Deluxe Wagon

Sometimes a person buys one of the cheapest vehicles available from a manufacturer, loads it up with options, and then drives it for decades while keeping it in near-perfect condition. That's what we've got for today's Junkyard Find, spotted at a yard just south of Denver.

This is a Sentra Deluxe, the least expensive wagon offered by Nissan for the 1985 model year (and one of the cheapest wagons available in the USA that year, period).

The driver's seat and door panel are a little bit dirty, but otherwise it looks like a new car inside.

I thought this would be a 50,000-mile car, but the odometer tells a different story. That's close to 5,500 miles traveled during each of this Sentra's 41 years, not a long-distance commuter but also not a "driven only to church on Sundays" car.

25 years ago, it had 143k miles on the clock.

Eight years earlier, it had reached 88k miles.

Unfortunately, someone lifted it up with a forklift before it got here, with one tine going right under the driver's sun visor and the other punching through the rear door glass. I know the employees at CAP and they wouldn't have done this, so I think it happened at a tow yard before it got here.

Before the forklift assault, the body was in nice shape (despite some very thick body filler repair that probably took place during Reagan's presidency.

This is a first-generation Sentra, built in Kanagawa Prefecture. U.S. production of the Sentra in Tennessee began a few months after this car was built.

The Sentra was the U.S.-market replacement for the Datsun 310, which was a Cherry-based Pulsar. It was a member of the Sunny bloodline, which makes it a descendant of the old Datsun B210 that sold so well during the 1970s.

The Sentra was Nissan's cheapest U.S.-market vehicle during the 1982-1986 first generation. In 1985, the base Sentra two-door sedan started at just $5,499, or $17,405 in 2026 dollars.

The wagon was the second-most expensive Sentra that year, after the sporty XE hatchback coupe. This is a base Deluxe with manual transmission, so its MSRP would have been $7,349 ($23,260 after inflation). The final model year for the U.S.-market Sentra wagon was 1990.

But the final price would have been much higher, thanks to the options. First of all, there's air conditioning.

Not many buyers of base 1985 Sentras would have taken the A/C, but the original purchaser of this car spent $645 ($2,041 today) on refrigerated air. And that's just for starters.

Amazingly, the AM/FM radio was standard equipment in the Deluxe wagon for 1985. Take note, Civic and Tercel shoppers!

However, this separate cassette deck was an extra-cost option, but apparently one so rare that its cost isn't listed in any of my 1985 price guides. Back when I was putting junkyard cassette decks in my hoopties in the late 1980s, these standalone units were like gold to me (Subarus had them, too).

As far a I can tell, this car has just about every major available option except for the automatic transmission. The only 1985 Sentra that still had a four-speed manual as the base transmission in the U.S. market was the diesel sedan, which nobody bought.

The engine is an SOHC 1.6-liter four-cylinder rated at 69 horsepower and 93 lb-ft of torque.

There were a few Japanese wagons available in the USA for the 1985 model year with lower MSRPs. Subaru offered its DL wagon for $7,334, the Toyota Tercel wagon started at $6,918 (those are both the front-wheel-drive versions, not the better-known four-wheel-drive types), and the Honda Civic Wagovan was $7,195. In hindsight, I think the Wagovan was the best deal.

Did this car have any chance of getting rescued before it got bent up by a forklift driver and then set out for parts sales? Probably not. Enthusiasts don't care about first-gen Sentras and a high-mile 41-year-old non-truck with too many pedals isn't sought-after transportation these days.

Farewell, well-cared-for econo-wagon.

1985 Nissan Sentra station wagon in Colorado wrecking yard.

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