Yahoo Autos Junkyard Gem: Nissan Tsuru
Did you like the 1992 Nissan Sentra? If so, you will be very happy to know that Nissan built '92 Sentras, with very few changes, all the way through 2017 in Mexico. This was the Tsuru, which underwent some cosmetic and powertrain changes over the years but essentially remained a stripped-down '92 Sentra for its entire production run (which made it cheap but also means it was a very bad idea to crash one). The Tsuru wasn't sold outside of Mexico in the New World (though there was a version for Africa and the Middle East), but it's a mere 10-hour drive from the Mexican border to Colorado Springs, Colorado … which is where I found today's Junkyard Gem.
All identifying badges and build tags were scraped off this car long before it got here, and it's apparent that it was assembled using components from many different cars. The self-service wrecking yard where it now resides has it listed as a 1998 Nissan Sentra, which is close enough.
I'm always looking for high-mile cars during my junkyard travels (so far, the biggest odometer figure I've seen was on a 1990 Volvo 244) and I thought at first glance that I had found a 442,689-mile Sentra. Then I noticed the way-too-high top speed and the USAR GASOLINA SIN PLOMO (use unleaded gasoline only) warning and I knew that I'd found a Mexican-market car.
Tsurus are everywhere in Mexico, having replaced the air-cooled Volkswagen Beetle as the country's everyman car (and taxi) of choice after the 1930s-technology Vocho went out of production in 2003.
What year is this car? That's a good question! I found a VIN tag on the dash that showed a 1998 model year, so that's a starting point. However, the grille comes from a much later Tsuru, maybe middle 2010s.
