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Nissan S12
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Nissan began a historic line of cars in 1964 with the "Silvia" CSP311, which was produced until 1968, and sold until 1974. When 1975 came around, a completely new design arrived along with a completely new naming convention for quick reference to model designs and to specify model changes. A short letter and number combination was assigned to each generation of Silvia. They began with Silvia One Revision Zero, giving us the original designation S10. The Silvia was upgraded in 1979 and became the S110, but was still hindered by 70's technology and emissions problems. In late 1983, Nissan released a complete redesign of the Silvia platform, finally going with a strong and lightweight chassis matched with some powerful and fuel-efficient engines. To signify this new series of Silvia, they were dubbed the Nissan S12 models (Silvia one, revision 2).
The S12 (known as the 200SX in America) was produced from 1984 - 1988, and went through a LOT of changes along the way. The chassis became a test bench for all sorts of Nissan technology, ranging from digital voice commands, rain sensing wipers, Heads Up Display on the windshield, exterior mounted intercoolers and accomplishing all this with eight different engine configurations and three separate drivetrain setups. Not only that, but they were all called different names depending on which country they were being exported to.
Sadly, in 1988 Nissan cancelled the S12 platform to make way for the new Silvia S13 (known as the 240SX in America). With the brilliance of engineering put into the S13 chassis, the general population all but forgot about the lowly S12. The sales numbers of the S12 series were three times that of the S13, and prices of them are at a much more affordable price versus the S13, making them a powerful and cost-effective choice for buyers looking for a car for drifting, drag racing, autocross, or just as a daily driver.
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