Around the time Datsun badges were being binned for shiny new Nissan ones, the N12 Pulsar popped up on our roads in October 1982.
Angular in design, it was a reliable, fuss-free, five door, front-wheel drive hatchback, like many others in the market and nothing to get the blood pumping.
Initially imported, Nissan Pulsars were offered with a 1.3-litre or 1.5-litre engine with adequate performance and a choice of a manual or auto transmission. Come May 1983 local production had commenced at Nissan’s Clayton (Vic) plant and to celebrate, some upgrades were in order.
There were new, more-supportive seats, minor trim changes and to make it more suitable for our roads, the steering and suspension was fettled. Later in the year a sedan variant saw the light of day.
Nobody could accuse the Pulsar of being exciting.
But that changed in April 1984, when then Nissan Product Planning boss, the late Howard Marsden, hatched a plan to grab the best traits of the well-regarded, pocket-rocket Nissan EXA coupe, including its four-cylinder, electronic fuel-injected, turbo engine and five-speed manual gearbox and shove them into a five door hatchback.
And so the Nissan ET Turbo was born: our very first Aussie-built, turbo hatchback, completely developed in our own backyard and the benchmark small performance car in its price class. It cost $12,500 and its name is derived from the engine code. As the engine was imported fully built from Japan, it limited the number of ETs that could be built without contravening local content laws.
Heat and turbos, like oil and water, are not good bedfellows. To combat the excessive heat from the Nissan/Garret T02 turbo, engineers fitted a heat exchanger, reducing oil temperature and added an electric radiator fan with direct cooling to the turbo and exhaust manifold.
The turbo had an internal wastegate, but no intercooler and its small design minimised lag. It had a peak boost pressure of 7 psi. The ET engine boasted electronic fuel injection, a computerised electronic engine control system and produced a maximum of 77kW at 5600rpm and a decent 157Nm of torque at 3200rpm.
But the ET was more than just a high-performance engine with a puffer hanging off it.
Marsden’s motorsport background also saw the ET equipped with PBR-developed four-wheel disc brakes – a first – Australian designed cast alloy 14-inch wheels wrapped in low profile tyres, revamped and sportier suspension, with linear rate front coils to reduce understeer, different spring and damper rates, a smaller-diameter front sway bar and twin tube gas-filled rear dampers.
Cosmetic additions included front and rear spoilers and pinstriping.
The ET was also luxuriously decked out with Nissan’s winged bucket seats nicked from the Bluebird TRX and trimmed in Aussie wool-blend fabric. It had a decent Clarion AM/FM radio cassette player with a digital fascia and speaker adjustment via a joystick.
The dash cemented the ET’s sporty mantra with the inclusion of a tacho and turbo boost gauge.
With the arrival of the new brew of unleaded go-go juice in 1986 the ET lost a couple of kilowatts. Visually it was given a mild makeover.
Australian automotive design guru Paul Beranger was at Nissan at the time and worked alongside Marsden creating and developing the Pulsar ET.
We caught up with him to talk about the Nissan hot-hatch.
UNIQUE CARS
At the time of the Nissan Pulsar ET launch Paul Beranger was the Design Manager, having left Holden for the Japanese brand in 1977.
“The N12 Pulsar came out it and was a practical, but pretty boring car, followed by a fairly bland four door sedan, says Beranger, “But the upside to increasing local content was we could do things we previously were unable to do. We had more flexibility and the Japanese were generally very supportive of our ideas.”
According to Beranger the Nissan EXA was the catalyst for the Pulsar ET. The two-door hardtop had a 1.5-lt turbo engine and crucially it sat on the same platform as the N12 Pulsar. It seemed a natural fit to put the turbo engine into the hatchback and as Beranger says, “It was too good an opportunity to pass up.”
The ET also gave the N12 Pulsar range a big kick along. “The cost of the imported 1.5 turbo engine was quite high, so that ultimately limited ET volume because if we built too many, we’d breach the local content rules of the day.
“Howard (Marsden) and I shared a view we wanted a proper balanced mechanical and design package and the ET was the opportunity to do that. it was the first small car in Australia with four-wheel disc brakes which PBR produced. It had the ‘winged seats’ as we called them out of the TRX Bluebird, which gave the front seat occupants and lot more comfort and support.
“A lot of detail went into the aero package. I designed the front spoiler shroud around the two different sized fans in the front of the car, to maximise airflow. It wasn’t just a decorative part. The hatchback itself had a very truncated rear, so I added a wing to give it more length and flow. The open style alloy wheels were designed so you can see the disc brakes, which were a major feature.
The small detail items look nothing in isolation but when brought together they create a ‘look at me’ factor and made the ET very appealing. It was a really good car.”
Beranger says the Pulsar ET did an enormous amount of good to Pulsar image and the brand in general and gave people the option of considering Nissan, when it came to looking at performance cars.
The Series 1 ET ran from 1984 to 1986 and in 1986 unleaded fuel came in so there was an engine update, that marks the start of Series 2 according to Beranger.
“Around this time we did the Astra for Holden and put the Japanese domestic front and rear on it. But we didn’t do it to the ET. Probably as the N12 had entered the second half of its model life and it was a low volume car and resources were scarce.”
Beranger says he and Howard Marsden were happy with what they achieved with the ET. Prior to the ET Nissan built bread-and-butter cars with no jam and Beranger reckons the ET added the jam. “It was a very bold decision and Nissan got a lot of credit for that and the ET also got excellent press.”
“Additionally the Pulsar ET can take credit as an ingredient in the decision to establish the Special Vehicles Division in the late 1980s, as it gave the company confidence it could sell those types of cars” Beranger said. But that is a story for another day.
IT IS MINE
Gianni (aka John) was lucky enough to buy this immaculate Pulsar ET from a friend, the second owner, he’d known for about 20 years.
“Peter never drove it much and it spent a lot of time in his garage with the cover over it,” says Gianni. “He rarely spent money on it and the reason it’s so original is because, being an older fella, he didn’t tamper with it. I‘ve known the car for 19 years.”
“I used to tell him when you decide to get rid of it I want to buy it and he’d say ‘mate it’s not for sale’. I was letting him know I want first dibs and finally he sold it to me.
“I’ve had it for about six months, it’s totally original and done at 270,000 kilometres, not that you can tell by looking at it. Basically the whole time my mate owned it the turbo wasn’t working so he just drove it as a non-turbo car and the rear shocks needed fixing and he didn’t bother doing them either.
“So when I bought the car I had the turbo refreshed and I found this guy in Melbourne who builds original struts for gas shocks for Pulsars and other 1980s cars and he rebuilt them.
“The radio, the dashboard, the upholstery, wheels and paint are all original. It hasn’t been repainted and it has the original turbo timer on it. It doesn’t have the original service book but at a swap meet I found anET service book from another car and bought it, so I have one.”
Gianni lived in Europe for seven years from 1990 and was bought up in a culture of hot hatches, which is why he went for the ET when he saw it.
“If I’d been in Australia it would’ve been V8s, he says, “but being in Europe it was all hot hatches and my dream was to have a hot hatch. When I saw the ET 20 years ago I thought this is the one, there’s nothing out there in the market like it. I know Mazda had the 323 but they weren’t popular. Ford had the Laser then with the TX3 Turbo, but it was a more rounded in shape whereas the Pulsar is very square and angular.
Although he didn‘t know a lot about the ET as it never sold in Europe, it didn’t really knock his socks off. Peter is the one who educated Gianni who originally saw the ET as another little car with stripes on it and alloy wheels. “
“I didn’t really think much of it to be honest and to me it was more the reminiscing of the 80s and the fact that he has kept it original with all of the original stickers on it and I thought I might buy it if I can get it at a good price,” Gianni said. “But now the more I drive it the more I appreciate it.”
Gianni claims externally the car hasn’t been touched. “There were a few little rust spots here and there, and the alloy wheels and spoilers are original. I’ve changed the timing belt because it was old, flushed out the oils and fluids replaced them with fresh stuff that’s pretty much all I’ve done to it.
“The gearbox is still original from new and has never been pulled apart. It still has the original radio and Clarion speakers on the parcel shelf and it has the Nissan headlight protectors. Most people would’ve chucked a set of Simmons wheels on it, stuck a new stereo in it and bolted on a massive turbo and would’ve ruined it. Finding a genuine original unmolested car like this is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack.
“I get a lot of satisfaction driving the car and when I park it I often get comments ‘like geez, I remember these cars, I haven’t seen one of them in years,’ or ‘something like my brother had one’ or ‘my cousin had one’ or something like that. That gives me a bit of a kick because I think I have something unique here, which gives me even more love for the car. It brings the nostalgia back to everyone.
“A funny thing happened to me on the Tullamarine Freeway recently. I saw a service truck that collects broken down cars. It was behind me and suddenly I hear, ‘hey mate I love your car it’s a beauty.’ He was doing it through the loudspeakers on his truck and it scared the hell out of me and then I had a huge smile. It was a bit of a laugh and a buzz.
“People come up to me and ask what is it? I tell them it’s a Pulsar and that kills it a bit as some people don’t understand. I tell them it’s a lot more than a standard Pulsar. Some people really appreciate it. Strangely a lot of teenagers like it. Maybe they’ve been watching 80s movies or something, and a lot of them say it is cool.
“It drives amazing. Although the five speed manual gearbox is 40 years old it’s really tight. It rolls a bit through the corners but it’s very smooth and I’ve been caught out doing 120 and I didn’t realise, because it is so smooth. In top gear at 100km/h it’s doing 2000rpm so it doesn’t sound fast. The brakes are very good and there’s no turbo lag just put your foot down and it goes.
“I am very happy with it. It was first registered in 1985 and the compliance plate is dated 1984, so it is a series one ET.
“I don’t think that car gets the recognition it deserves because it is fabulous and was ahead of the game when it came out. And it has a special place in Aussie motoring history.”