For over 20 years, as many of you know, I hunted for another Stanza. The fruit of this long search was my fantastic 1984 34k mile five door hatch, a car that sat for 32 years in the original owners garage in Darlington from 1987 to 2019. Here's that thread...
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/209142/1984-nissan-stanza-1-6gl
Throughout that search, it became apparent that there seemed to be no 3 door hatchback Stanzas left. A few had popped up spotted on Flikr etc, but those ones were no longer around, and the general concensus among the retro Nissan nuts was that there were none left. So, imagine me me dropping my hobnob in my cuppa (it survived intact) when a mate messaged me a link to an advert on FB Marketplace for a 'garage-find' 3 door Stanza. It had sat in a garage in Essex for 21 years from 1999. Yes, just the 21 years this one!
I got in touch straight away, and agreed a price with the fella. Turns out the fella was just someone who worked for the real seller, and the real seller rang me up. He said he had had so much interest in the car, that the other fella shouldn't have agreed the initial sell price, and that I'd have to pay the asking price. Although slightly disappointed, I wasn't going to lose the car over an extra £195, so it was mine. Transport was arranged for a few days later, and up it came!
I hate this time of year. Daylight is so limited, but here's my first glimpse of it. ..
It was cold, it was dark, and home was calling!
My first port of call the next morning was the unit where my parts donor Stanza is. I needed to snaffle a window winder from it, as I'd noticed on arrival that the nearside front window was all the way down...
pop it on..
and jobs a good'un...
Here the first looks of it in the daylight before a wash. Very dusty...
Definately owned previously by a smoker, as it reeked of nicotine, and was rather stained a bit yellow on the door grabs etc...
Quite a few miles for a 1982 car I guess...
..and all obviously done between 1982 and 1999, so about 6,000 miles a year average, which isn't too bad at all I guess.
Aftermarket head unit in, and some fitted speakers front and rear...
A pound off the purchase price in change...
One thing that became apparent was that it had originally been blue, and had had a respray in white at some point. It's not the best respray obviously, but had been better than brushed on...
The DVLA had been notified of this change at the time though, as it's registered with them as being white.
Before a wash, I thought I'd see if it started and ran. The battery is goosed, but with a helping hand from my 9000 I did actually start and run for about five or six seconds before dying. Every time. Old fuel? Fuel lines? Spark plugs? Could be a combination of lots of things, but it's a good thing that it turns, cranks, starts and runs, even if only briefly.
I've certainly seen worse undersides...
A bit of chipping has occurred...
The bumper is in good nick and nice and black...
Arches are also in decent nick...
And I love the wheels. They are original Nissan options from Pardat. I'd love some centre caps though...
And you've got to love the opening hinged rear windows...
Time for a quick first wash...
Looks quite good under all the dust!
Lovely original sticker and rear number plate...
Can't quite believe I have a Holy Grail 3 door Stanza. Chuffed.
Plans and things to sort....
It has a non-rolling wheel, maybe two
Get it running
Full service obviously
Respray
Could this be the only known 3 door in the UK? Tell me if you know different.
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/209142/1984-nissan-stanza-1-6gl
Throughout that search, it became apparent that there seemed to be no 3 door hatchback Stanzas left. A few had popped up spotted on Flikr etc, but those ones were no longer around, and the general concensus among the retro Nissan nuts was that there were none left. So, imagine me me dropping my hobnob in my cuppa (it survived intact) when a mate messaged me a link to an advert on FB Marketplace for a 'garage-find' 3 door Stanza. It had sat in a garage in Essex for 21 years from 1999. Yes, just the 21 years this one!
I got in touch straight away, and agreed a price with the fella. Turns out the fella was just someone who worked for the real seller, and the real seller rang me up. He said he had had so much interest in the car, that the other fella shouldn't have agreed the initial sell price, and that I'd have to pay the asking price. Although slightly disappointed, I wasn't going to lose the car over an extra £195, so it was mine. Transport was arranged for a few days later, and up it came!
I hate this time of year. Daylight is so limited, but here's my first glimpse of it. ..
It was cold, it was dark, and home was calling!
My first port of call the next morning was the unit where my parts donor Stanza is. I needed to snaffle a window winder from it, as I'd noticed on arrival that the nearside front window was all the way down...
pop it on..
and jobs a good'un...
Here the first looks of it in the daylight before a wash. Very dusty...
Definately owned previously by a smoker, as it reeked of nicotine, and was rather stained a bit yellow on the door grabs etc...
Quite a few miles for a 1982 car I guess...
..and all obviously done between 1982 and 1999, so about 6,000 miles a year average, which isn't too bad at all I guess.
Aftermarket head unit in, and some fitted speakers front and rear...
A pound off the purchase price in change...
One thing that became apparent was that it had originally been blue, and had had a respray in white at some point. It's not the best respray obviously, but had been better than brushed on...
The DVLA had been notified of this change at the time though, as it's registered with them as being white.
Before a wash, I thought I'd see if it started and ran. The battery is goosed, but with a helping hand from my 9000 I did actually start and run for about five or six seconds before dying. Every time. Old fuel? Fuel lines? Spark plugs? Could be a combination of lots of things, but it's a good thing that it turns, cranks, starts and runs, even if only briefly.
I've certainly seen worse undersides...
A bit of chipping has occurred...
The bumper is in good nick and nice and black...
Arches are also in decent nick...
And I love the wheels. They are original Nissan options from Pardat. I'd love some centre caps though...
And you've got to love the opening hinged rear windows...
Time for a quick first wash...
Looks quite good under all the dust!
Lovely original sticker and rear number plate...
Can't quite believe I have a Holy Grail 3 door Stanza. Chuffed.
Plans and things to sort....
It has a non-rolling wheel, maybe two
Get it running
Full service obviously
Respray
Could this be the only known 3 door in the UK? Tell me if you know different.
