Attending the North American International Auto Show in Detroit for the first time in early 1987 was one event along my timeline that could be identified as lifechanging, without hyperbole. I had been to many local car shows in and around the Flint area as I was growing up, particularly the Sloan Auto Fair that was held on the grassy grounds of the Cultural Center, near the main branch of the public library, Whiting Auditorium, and Longway Planetarium. The local shows all featured classic cars, and while I loved those experiences, getting to go to the “big” auto show would be something altogether different. Mom would be driving my brother and me into Detroit, a big city just under an hour south of Flint, and the show would be held at Cobo Center which, as far as I knew, was just a big convention space.
In a time long before an internet search could answer myriad questions with several mouse clicks within the span of a few short seconds, I had no frame of reference in terms of what to expect before actually getting there. The fact that my mom had committed to driving her two younger sons there for a car-themed event and spending the day in Detroit, which was then still considered a somewhat scary place for your car to break down, was a huge deal at the time, and I stand by this sentiment today. My affinity for cars, along with my piano playing, was an area of my life that seemed like a completely safe space in which my interests were validated without judgement or asterisks. My love of cars was allowed to blossom. It was also something that was all mine amid my quest for individual identity within my family of origin. Going to Detroit in early ’87 for this show felt extraordinarily special, like my own personal holiday on which my mom and my brother were gladly and willingly accompanying me.
I giddily scooped up brochure after glossy brochure from almost each and every stand, plopping them into a giant, plastic tote bag with snaps at the top that was furnished by one of the major automakers. That tote was nearly bursting like a Hefty bag by the time we left Cobo. My face hurt from smiling all day. My brother and I were treated to a food court meal from Pizza Queen. Honeybee-like swarms of people buzzed about the stands, on which stood beautiful people introducing the new cars for ’87. The night ride home back to Flint along then-unfamiliar stretches of I-75 was suddenly, newly thrilling, as I kept my eyes peeled in the hope of identifying other vehicles on the road as some of the brand-new models I had just seen at Cobo. I carried some of those ’87 car brochures to school with me in my backpack for weeks afterward, as if trying to bring the good feelings forward into my otherwise unexciting weekdays. I still have them in storage.
1989 Nissan EXA print ad for the Australian market.
And then there were the cars themselves. Near the top of my list of the most fascinating, new models for ’87 was Nissan’s redesigned Pulsar NX coupe. To this very day, the sight of one excites me like few cars of that era, foreign or domestic. The all-new Pulsar had an exceptionally clean shape that combined the high-tech angularity of 1980s with just enough organic curvature so that from certain angles (and minus the pop-up headlamps), it still looks fairly modern in 2022. It was rife with little stylistic details that were tasteful and eye-pleasing that gave it almost a boutique feel. It was unfathomable to me that it was based on a lowly Sentra.
The flush door handles, frameless door glass, integrated rear spoiler and high center-mounted brake light, and clean body panel cut-lines, especially in the rear two-thirds of the car, were particularly graceful in execution. It had the utility of a hatchback with its (tiny) fold-down rear seat, but was styled to look like it had a proper trunk, giving it a slightly more premium feel than it might have had with a more horizontally sloped rear window. The diagonally-striped and body-colored taillamp overlays were an especially inspired touch. The previous, folded paper-styled NX did absolutely nothing for me, nor did the jellybean NX that followed it. This one was the standout. This generation of Pulsar NX, called the Pulsar EXA (or just EXA) in other markets outside of the U.S., was the first model designed in Nissan’s then-new design studio in San Diego, Nissan Design International, which is now known as Nissan Design America.
All cars had a t-bar roof with removable panels, as well as a rear hatch that came off for as close an approximation to a convertible with a removable hardtop as was available and affordable to most consumers. The rub for me on the early models was that in order for the hatch to be body colored, one had to spring for the upmarket SE model; All ’87 XE models made do with a hatchback in a contrasting, dark gray color that looked, well, terrible. A Sportbak model (see below), with its dedicated rear hatch styled to resemble a “shooting brake” sport wagon, was also available. I’ve seen only a handful of these in my life, and even if that look isn’t for me, I still thought it was cool and I like it for having existed. In the case of our featured car, given that it was parked near multiple-family residential buildings, I doubt that any of its panels come off during any time of year. I can’t imagine trying to fit that hatchback in a freight elevator or walking it up or down stairs with a help of a willing friend or neighbor.
1987 Nissan Pulsar NX print ad for the U.S. market.
As determined by a license plate search, our Silver Green Pearl metallic ’89 XE model is powered by the base 1.6L four-cylinder engine with 90 horsepower. Having snapped a bunch of photos of the car’s exterior, I didn’t want to try for interior shots and chance getting yelled at, but I’d assume it’s got the standard five-speed manual. The nicer SE came equipped with a 125-hp 1.8L four with almost 40% more power. Most accounts I’ve read stated that the cars with the base engine were slow, even for the times. Base curb weight ranged from 2,400 to 2,500 pounds, so I imagine that the performance of the SE was fun even if it wouldn’t pin you to the seatback. According to one source, the ’89 XE had a base price of $12,544 before options, which translates to just over $28,400 in 2022. The SE added $730 ($1,650) to the tab, and also included ground effects and 14″ alloys among other features. The added cost would have been worth it for the extra power, alone.
The only aspect of the car that I wasn’t crazy about then, and which hasn’t aged well, was the fairly generic front end with its hidden headlamps and blocky proportions. It didn’t seem nearly as characterful as the rest of the car’s exterior. Its front fascia wasn’t ugly, though, and even if its mug looked less than stellar, to me all other aspects looked great enough as to give its face a free pass. My main attraction to the Pulsar NX besides its looks were the fact that it could shapeshift and be transformed at will, as demonstrated at the Nissan camp at Cobo.
This quality spoke loudly and clearly to me as a child of two parents from completely different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, of which I resembled neither and both at the same time. In my own life, I would learn to hone my ability to play up or down various aspects of my identity with discretion, all while keeping true to myself along the process of becoming a more fully-formed person in adulthood. “Reading the room” has always seemed innate to me. Though I care far less about my filter or impressions these days, this philosophy has served me well, and it took a chance sighting of one of my favorite sporty coupes of the ’80s to remind me to be thankful for this positive attribute. A pulsar is a type of star, and to someone who was an impressionable, malleable adolescent at its introduction, this generation of Pulsar remains one of the brightest stars of the ’87 Detroit auto show.
Uptown, Chicago, Illinois.
Saturday, March 5, 2022.
To each their own. I thought the concept was neat when it came out, but I thought the proportions were awkward and off-putting at the time.
I will say that I think these have unusually long doors for their overall proportions, but to me that was part of their charm.
I always thought these were neat cars. I used to see one near my high school in the late 90’s that had the wagon back on it. I have never seen one in this color, I’ve only ever seen them in red or black. Great find.
The elusive Sportbak! They always kind of reminded me of those wagon concepts based on the GM F-Body twins from the ’70s.
Many of the examples I remember seeing were red. That seemed to be a popular color for these Pulsars. I don’t remember seeing that many of them in this minty green color.
My first North American International Auto Show was in 1988, and I remember being first in line, peering through the double doors that were barely cracked as we waited for the show to open. I have no idea why we were there so early, but I too came home with a bag of brochures that I still have. It seems like I came home with a bag of brochures no matter where we went. 🙂
I’ll tell you what – the “haul” from that first NA Auto Show felt better than getting a pillowcase full of Halloween candy. Those brochures I kept from the ’87 show are treasures, even if I haven’t looked at them for years.
Two chaps I know own these. Duly forwarded and thanks for the read.
Sweet. There don’t seem to be that many of them left, so I imagine that those who own them these days also (like me) see them as special.
Oh, how many bags I have filled with brochures over the decades.
This generation of Pulsar never really made an impression on me, for whatever reason. Whether it was aging out of the “cute coupe” demographic, my deepening Honda exposure or my still hanging tight to 60s American cars, this one never scratched my automotive itches. In retrospect, I do see some charm there.
It was definitely, as you put it, a “cute coupe”, but to me, it had enough of an edge and some uniqueness to it that set it apart. No disrespect to the Nissan 200 NX with which it shared showroom space, but I can’t imagine wanting that over this unless I was hung up on RWD.
Maybe you are referring to the 200SX?
If so, my 2 youngest sisters would disagree, having owned a total of 4 (2 each sister), mostly 240SX but my youngest sister had a ’86 200SX notchback coupe.
My middle sister still owns a ’97 240SX she bought new…it was a good car for someone in her 20’s but for someone now in her 50’s it is a bit “low to the ground”.
I guess we’re kind of a Nissan family as it worked out, my first car was a 1974 Datsun 710. I remember the original 1983 Pulsar, which didn’t have the modular body panels, instead being a conventional notchback…if one of them had been available, maybe my sisters would have gone for it instead. We now live in central Texas, so RWD isn’t the detriment it was when I owned my ’74 up in Vermont, but FWD was still pretty rare in the mid 70’s, you could get a Fiat, Honda, VW Rabbit, or Subaru (some 4WD but new then) but otherwise RWD was pretty standard.
The 200SX was a pretty nice car. I actually test drove one before my youngest sister bought hers and passed on it but grew to see the attraction when I rode in it or borrowed it to do service work (something I guess big brothers are apt to do). They were originally poor college students when they bought their initial ones, but even after graduating didn’t feel the need to change the type of car they drove, just bought newer ones. Theirs were all notchbacks, no hatchbacks (which is kind of opposite of me, I’m a big hatchback fan).
Lets talk about this car!
It arrived at a time when the US market was not in a fever over small cars. It was a terrific update on the oddly disproportioned first generation. Nissan, like many manufacturers during this decade, based a “sporty” coupe off of their subcompacts. This resulted in a high cowl – chopped off look for the first Pulsar, Ford EXP, Mercury LN7, and others. Nissan decided to update the Pulsar far enough removed from the Sentra, to give this generation a better appearance. Nissan saw opportunities that other manufacturers didn’t see in the US.
The front end is a generic Nissan front end of this era. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t
distinctive either. The catch was the rear end design. The ability to remove the hatch, and the diagonal Nintendo style rear lamps made the Pulsar look modern. It was a nice looking ride.
However, this size car was not hot in the States. They were created at a time when gasoline was supposed to force drivers into European and Asian sized cars and for a few years, it looked like it would happen. As the US returned to lower energy costs, the demand and future of these nice little cars shriveled up. Sad. They were good cars.
My problem with Nissan cars of this era was that they were not as good as the competition. I wished Nissan was as mechanically modern as its car stylings. There was a lot of excellent competition and Nissan needed to exceed expectations. Mitsubishi was sinking billions into the US, Mazda had a lot of credibility and a new Miata to steal away small car owner’s hearts, Honda was showing a depth of excellence with their entire line up, and Toyota was king of the Asian imports. So, a good car like the Pulsar wasn’t enough for Nissan, but it was definitely a good little car.
These are some great observations. About Nissans of this era not quite stacking up, I’m trying to remember what was out there. Drawing a connecting line between the Corolla and Sentra, Celica and 200SX, Cressida and Maxima, Supra and 300ZX (and without knowing any of their technical details), I thought they were generally comparable most of the time. Honda seemed like it’s own animal – a much higher caliber of import from Japan.
I also thought of the Mazda Miata when drafting this piece. If one was in the market for an inexpensive, open-air car with two (adult) seats, the Miata was newer, timelessly styled, RWD, and a classic formula. The three model-year difference between the first Pulsar of this generation and the Miata seems much greater when you look at both cars side by side.
I have ridden in quite a few small, sporty cars of this era, but never a Pulsar. Maybe that ended up adding to their mystique in my mind.
I really liked the concept of this car, with swappable hatches, but I’m guessing you’re right that virtually no one swapped them on a regular basis, nor drove around without one.
The Sportbak hatch was awesome and part of a mini Renaissance of Shooting Brakes in this period. There was a Geo Storm in the Shooting Brake style,and a corresponding Isuzu Impulse. I will contend to my dying day that the Honda EF and EG Civic hatchbacks were Shooting Brakes as well.
When you mentioned swappable hatches, I guess I hadn’t thought of that before. Absolutely. The Pulsar was like the Swatch watch of sporty cars of its day.
Much of the car has a ‘show car come to life’ feel, and I love it, however those diagonal tail lights make my toes curl.. As a young adult in the eighties I had this ‘different, fresh’ detail coming at me from every direction, especially in architecture. I live in a suburb which was largely built in the eighties and I still see diagonally barred security doors, burglar proofing, fencing, wooden laid floors and more. Clearly all these years later many still love this but it’s simply not for me, like growing up with too much ABBA is for some people.. The T-roof looks a blast!
“Growing up with too much ABBA” – LOL!! Part of the soundtrack to my childhood year spent abroad. Not necessarily because I / we loved ABBA, but because it was one of the few cassettes we had access to that year!
Come to think of it, the whole diagonal thing was very much of the ’80s. Just a little off-kilter, but still geometric. For me, though, if this Pulsar didn’t have that detail out back, it wouldn’t have been as special.
I also attended my first car show in 1987 — I remember that because I still have the brochures. Attending Philadelphia’s car show because a January ritual for me and my dad for about a decade afterwards.
I always longed to attend a “bigger” car show, and finally got my chance in 2001, when I happened to be in Chicago (for business) when the Chicago Auto Show opened that year. Not nearly as big as Detroit or New York, but it still fulfilled my goal.
The Pulsar NX just didn’t push the right buttons for me, but I can see its appeal. To me, this car exudes optimism. It’s 100% trendy, but in a fun way, not an obnoxious way. It’s almost impossible to envision a dour or angry-minded person buying one of these. And I think that seafoam green was its best color.
“Trendy” and “optimistic” are also words I think of when I look at this car. And “cheerful”. All of these things being good.
The Chicago show at McCormick Place is nothing to sneeze at. I love that show, as well. I was a little sorry I missed it this year because, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder and I haven’t fone for a long time.
There is a nice example in white around town here, complete with the optional rear hatch. On sunny days I’ve seen it with the tops off. Very cool.
They were cool cars. Inside , felt like a real “Nissan”. No tiny versions of shifters/window winders/ etc.As I recall, the motor was a bit noisy-buzzy ;not out of line with many sub compacts of the era.
I also remember reading that the NVH gremlins were a sour spot with the powerplants (both of them), but to your point, probably no worse than many cars of the day.
I have a bunch of brochures I’ve collected from the New England International Auto Show in the 90s and early 2000s. This Pulsar is sitting at a place near me that has a bunch of old cars that I believe the owner sells from time to time, a lot of them have been sitting here for years.
*This red* is the color I remember most of them being, in the back of my mind. (I wonder what kind of shape what looks like a mid-’70s Buick Electra, on the far left, is in…)
I remember when those came out, the car mags raved about them and they seemed like a good idea. Not a looker, but not bad either. But even here in California I very rarely saw one, they just didn’t seem to be out there.
In retrospect, I doubt many sprung for many of the optional roofs so they were more a concept that reality. And I’m under the impression they had less than stellar reliability, as well as the modest power as noted in the writeup. So they were a better idea perhaps than anything else, but I’ll give them a few points for effort at least. They were built for a price and reflected it.
Nice write up on a clearly important day for the younger Joseph – I remember my first Motor Show experience in London in 1977 and the brochure haul was pretty substantial.
Highlight was probably actually seeing new Ferraris, albeit fenced off from us urchins.
Thanks, Roger. Thinking back to that Detroit Auto Show, I seem to remember the exotics and expensive cars (like Ferrari, Rolls Royce, etc.) being in a very small section of this big event, and probably roped off.
This was part of what made standing in line to sit in a new Corvette, or other cars like that, so exciting. Being a kid and behind the wheel of some super-cool car was part of the draw. It surely whetted the appetites of many for later in life!
CC effect: I was parked next to a green Sportbak at the supermarket a couple of hours ago… It’s a local car, elderly owner, a few minor bumps but otherwise in good original condition. It makes my day to see it!
I could totally see the Sportbak being the ride of choice for a mature owner / driver. Don’t need more than two seats? No problem! With the Sportbak top, it can probably haul a lot of stuff – or at least enough stuff.
My aunt bought one of these new in 87 or 88. Bright red mid trim alloy wheels etc. 5Speed. She drove it for around 10 years then a bearing in the transmission started howling so she sold it to my father. He bought a junkyard trans and had a local shop throw it in. When he first go it he was taking the bus to work (no parking near his office) so I (a teenager at the time) drive it around quite a bit. Fun little car, awesome with the T tops off (they store in a bag in the truck). Only took the rear hatch off once (more trouble then it’s worth).
It was a bit under powered but if you drove it hard it did OK, I would say they would have been a riot with around 135 hp. It got excellent gas mileage. My father switched to a very long commute about a year after getting the car and started putting over 100 miles a day on it. It got right around 35 mpg. It was also very reliable to well over 200k miles when my brother got in an accident and totaled it. I have fond memories of these, and would happily own one as a weekend car.
This was so great to read – thank you. These always seemed like really fun cars, even if the base models were underpowered. Glad to know I’m not the only fan, friend!
I have a 1989 Nissan Pulsar NX with about 50,000 miles on it and a new transmission with less than 3000 miles on it, just needs a little paint work on the bumpers and new brakes. The Interior is basically perfect. Looking to sell if anyone is interested. ill post a picture if anyone is interested.
I had a 1990 white Nissan Pulsar NX. I regret selling it 20 years ago. If I could find one!
My 1st car was an 87′ Pulsar Nxe Se. Bought it for $300 in 1997 and with the help of my stepfather had it ready for my 16th bday. One of my 1st and fondest car guy moments. Thanks for the article, never thought I’d see one about a Pulsar.
I have 2 of these sitting in my yard. 1 automatic and 1 5 speed
Are they for sale?
I remember when I showed a friend of mine one of these, a silver 87 NX for sale here in Mason City, IA. She went and bought it behind my back the very next day before I could. Needless to say, later on in life I learned she is a narcissist. What a rum! Geesh