It should be a requirement that an example of every economy car should be stored in a museum. After all, these are cars that are such a fundamental part of our vehicle landscape but they’re often the least cherished. Eventually, they all succumb to wear and tear and are sent to the scrapyard, leaving just a tiny handful cared for by diligent older drivers.
Those numbers are even smaller when it wasn’t a popular economy car to begin with. Case in point: the Datsun Pulsar.
You may also know this as the Cherry (Europe) or 310 (North America). In Japan, it was known as the Pulsar, which also became its name here in Australia upon its launch late in 1980. While that nameplate would go on to enjoy a decades-long history, often as one of Australia’s most popular small cars, this generation never seemed to click with local buyers and was hamstrung by local import quotas.
The last Datsun Pulsar I recall seeing would have been around 15 years ago and that was the much more practical five-door hatch. That body style, too, featured a clearer expression of Nissan’s turn away from its 1970s styling excesses and towards cleaner, boxier lines for the 1980s.
This coupe variant, however – a rarity in this segment in Australia – still nods to previous Cherry/F10 models. The huge rear window and the targa-style wraparound C-pillar treatment seem to clash with the anonymous front and rear-end detailing. Nevertheless, it’s distinctive.
While the next segment up in Australia remained trenchantly conservative and continued to embrace rear-wheel drive, the Pulsar’s segment was turning to front-wheel drive at a rapid clip. The imported Pulsar had shortly followed the rear-wheel drive Sunny (210) here in 1980, but just a year later the Sunny was gone and the Pulsar had this segment to itself in the local Datsun/Nissan range.
It was a different story in the US, where the 210 was sold all the way until the arrival of the front-wheel drive Sentra in 1982. Likewise, the 310 – introduced in 1979 to replace the F10 – was sold until model year 1983. Then, the Pulsar name made its US debut on a five-door hatchback… which promptly disappeared after a single model year. It was survived by the Pulsar NX, a wedgy coupe on the same platform.
US models had a carryover pushrod engine, while global models offered a choice of new, single overhead cam four-cylinder engines. Here, we had a choice of 1.3-litre (59 hp/70 ft-lbs) and 1.5-litre (68 hp/84 ft-lbs) engines, the latter of which was the only option for the coupe. There was also a new five-speed manual transmission. Contemporary reviews, however, weren’t exactly glowing about this distinctly middle-of-the-road offering.
While writing this, I realised just how rare this model was. The Pulsar range’s pricing overlapped with that of the larger, locally-built Stanza (510/A10/Violet). The coupe came in a single, highly-specified trim level (including a tachometer and rear wiper) that sat atop the local range, and only arrived as part of a “reboot” of the Pulsar in late 1981. That makes this an example from the car’s only model year here, 1982. Paul, I think I found something even rarer (relatively speaking) than your 1983 Pulsar hatch.
In markets like Australia and the US, the Pulsar/310 didn’t send out many radio waves though for entirely different reasons. It did help usher in front-wheel drive into the Australian Datsun range while in other markets it bid adieu to two generations of peculiarly-styled Cherry models. The coupe was perhaps the most intriguing model of all, with its transitory styling.
Even if it wasn’t a terribly memorable small car, seeing perhaps the rarest model in a rare range was a treat. To me, this example is a star.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1981 Datsun Pulsar (N10) TL – Not Exactly Star Material
Having said impolite things about the Datsun 1200 just a few days ago here, I have to credit this model as a stellar advance. Rack steering, independent suspension, FWD, a general attempt towards modernity and a modicum of sophistication.
But it wasn’t well-reviewed here. The Mazda 323 beat it to market, and rightly won the local Car of The Year, as it did all of things such a package should. It was a cheap Golf – a much-liked but expensive car here – with excellent handling, seats, steering, performance, gearchange, in all of which the poor Pulsar was average to not very good.
I think, William, that the original release here was just the 5-door hatch, with the ancient 1.4 all-iron pushrod A-series engine and a noisy wack-pattern 5 speed in the sump, ala Mini. After a year or so, it was updated with the OHC 1.5 and normal end-on box (which lasted for years and years thereafter). This also introduced the coupe seen here.
These seemed to sell quite well back then, when coupes were still a thing. But you’re not wrong that this one is a star – a full-registration, perhaps daily-use original of something I have not seen for a good 20 years. Rarer than a GTO, I reckon.
A bit cheaper, perhaps.
That’s how I remember them too, Justy, coming out with the old pushrod lump. From a high in the 120Y/180B/240K days when they looked to be outselling Toyota, Datsun seemed to have fallen to pieces by 1980. Having a FWD replacement for the ancient-tech Sunny was a great move, but it just wasn’t good enough as a car. And this body was strange.
I am amazed they even sold the 3 doors in OZ, given our colossal conservatism regarding anything with less than 4 doors on 4 wheels.
I haven’t seen one in years. And I think the cheaper 3 door hatch sold in even fewer numbers than the coupe.
Conservatism-i just thought dealers wanted that sweet extra cash than can charge for the ease of egress… ruins most Aussie cars imho -falcon and commodore especially
Great find and summary, William!
I like this targa-roof treatment much better than the roofline of the standard 310 / Pulsar / Cherry of the same vintage. I guess the upscale “GX” (the trim level of the 310 that used this roofline in the US) was supposed to be the sportster of the bunch. I think the redesigned rear is effective in transforming this car into something much less appliance-like.
These were a vast visual improvement over the F10, but I also like the F10 just because its looks were just so out-there.
Finally, a 310GX!!!
Paul, congratulations – after a dozen years of pouring your heart into this Very Fine Blog, today officially marks the occasion that you (with props to Mr. Stopford) can very proudly say that every car ever made in the last 50+ years has been featured here! The 310 was that final piece in the puzzle, the holy grail, the missing link.
BTW, this was a first car for a relative of mine when he turned 16, gold with gold velour. For a while I thought it was pretty cool because a) it was a car, b) it had a sunroof, and c) I was a dumb little kid.
Where have you been, Stainsey? I found one years ago, and posted it. The link is right at the bottom of Will’s post.
You’re right. Credit to my lack of any long term memory left, I suppose.
I chuckled to read, in a comment dated 9/18/2015 on that article, you wrote:
“YEAAAAHHHHH!!! Thank you Paul for making this a most special day. The 310GX has finally graced the pages of Curbside Classic.”
Me too…
I laughed when I saw this, it is a virtual twin to a car that belonged to a girl in our group of friends in law school. I remember considering the car as oddly styled, but it was a reliable appliance for her.
Alas, once she graduated and landed a good first job, it was traded on a new 1985 Mazda 626 – which the owner considered a real upgrade.
Great find! And in good nick.
I was friends with a girl at university who had one of these, gold inside and out, though it was the other 2 door hatchback body style which was a bit roomier inside in the rear seat, though still not great for a FWD car its size. These made their debut only in the two 2 door bodies only, with the 4 door hatch arriving a year or two later.
Also, the Pulsar didn’t debut in the US as a four door hatchback, but rather as the stubby NX coupe in 1983. The two and four door hatchbacks arrived midyear 1983, around January if I recall correctly. They didn’t make it into 1984, making both Pulsar hatchbacks quite rare. Another mid-year 1983 addition was a Pulsar NX coupe with a turbocharged 1.5L engine rather than the NA 1.6L.
Also, does anyone think the Nissan IDx concept from a few years ago borrows quite a bit from the 310/Pulsar coupe?
I was going to mention that if no one else had already!
It’s strange Nissan would take so many design cues from a rather unpopular model, but the end result of the IDx’s design looked great. So what do I know? I just wish the concept car had made it to production (purely selfishly, as it would have been a sales flop for a troubled company).
I havent seen one of these in a long time yes they were sold in NZ but they have all vanished old Datsuns are quite rare in a land of two inspections per year for pre 21st century cars very few people bother getting failure faults fixed they just buy something else with kosher paperwork its easier and often a lot cheaper our anal rust regs tend to put older cars off the road too so survivors are usually hiding in a shed waiting to be revived but these werent very nice cars so isanyone bothering time will tell I guess.
My first job out of school I lived in an apartment complex next to a co-worker and eventually her soon to be husband…she had one of these. She was a year older than I and got it upon starting her job at the same company I worked for at the time…her husband to be and I started carpooling so I rode in this car many times…it was blue, and she named it “Florence” (not sure why)…I liked it, to me it seemed modern (I still had my ’74 Datsun 710 which was RWD…and we lived in snow country, so FWD was considered an improvement in terms of traction). It had a radio (standard, which wasn’t always the case back then), rear wiper, and best of all, velour upholstery…my 710 still had the vinyl and her husband-to-be’s Fiesta likewise had vinyl. I can’t get behind the trend for cars abandoning cloth seats in favor of vinyl, to me it seems to be a step back, even though cloth seats can wear out quickly, especially in southern climates they seem much more comfortable than vinyl…but getting hard to find new cars still offering cloth seating.
Interestingly I remember looking at the F10 with my Father in 1976 when he eventually bought a Subaru GL. I had a Datsun, and we were leaning that way, but besides the crazy styling, we didn’t like the fan/vent on the hood, my Father said it looked like a last minute engineering change for problem (maybe carburator icing?)…anyhow the 310 Coupe didn’t have it, though I think it was still carburated, so they must have figured out the issue in the 3 intervening years.
Years later, shopped around for my sister’s car, we test drove a Pulsar (maybe an ’83) not sure why she didn’t get it, but ended up with another (well, Nissan), the first of qty-4 200/240 SX models that between my 2 youngest sisters they were to own (middle sister still has her ’97 240SX…everyone seems to want to buy it off her, despite it being an automatic (sisters never learned to drive stick).
I bought one in 1982 when I turned 21. I was white also (might be the same car?). I once saw the featured car parked on Rode Rd and should have stopped to have a look as I might have recognised some scratches on the centre console.
My hatchback here in Adelaide is still going strong. 189,000kms. Bought new in 1982. A pleasure to drive.