This is the first of many old car commercials we’ll be posting over the upcoming weeks. For whatever reason these old ads are memorizing.

Maybe its a sign of the times or a look back into what life once was. Sometimes just thinking about how grainy the TV looked is interesting. Today’s old car ad is for the 1982 Nissan Sentra. This was right in the middle of the name transition from Datsun to Nissan where people would shop the Datsun dealer for the newest Nissan models. 

The Sentra was released in 1982 as a replacement for the Datsun 210 model. The US base price for a base model 1982 Sentra was just $4949 with an EPA mileage rating of 43 mpg! In 1982 this little econo-box got 43 mpg and and estimated 58 mpg on the highway. What gives Nissan? Where are these fuel mileage numbers now? The assumption can be made that increased safety and emissions regulations have made it more difficult to hit these numbers but still. They’ve had 34+ years to figure it out!

While the 1982 Sentra had excellent mileage on paper I don’t think many would spend 58 miles in one of these cars today. There’s no bluetooth, wifi, navigation, bose audio, panoramic sunroof, butt heaters and all the other do-dads people expect in their cars today. Still this early 80’s Nissan Sentra represents a time in Automotive history when one of the great Japanese car brands was reborn. Almost 35 years later and Nissan remains a top brand in the US and even outliving some of the classic American brands. That in itself is something special.