'83 Nissan Gazelle/Siliva with notes.

[JBarry]

Finished building the Gazelle. The kit was fun to build, a couple small items, like the world's worst decals. I had to pry them off the paper with pliers and a blowtorch. Also missing were holes to place the front windshield wipers. So I hacked off the male stub and glued them flat.





Researching the Gazelle I learned:

S12 was Introduced in 1983.

Two body styles (coupe, hatch). Called a "Gazelle" in some markets and "200SX" in USA. Japanese market cars had FJ20 or FJ20ET 2.0 16V engines, Australian Gazelles had CA20 2.0, 8V "twin plug", while European cars had CA20 or CA18ET engines. USA (not Canada) got the VG30E in the "200SX SE" (which given it had a 3.0 was interesting). This car had 165HP in 1987, and 170HP in 1988 (identified by two-tone paint).

The Gazelle and North-American 200SX did not have the bulge in the bonnet shown in this photo, as it was restricted to the four cylinder turbo versions.



The Gazelle is also known as the Silvia. Why "Silvia"?
According to the Chief Designer, Mr. Ootake, the name "Silvia" comes from Greek Mythology and was the name of a beautiful Nymph. According to Roman Mythology (which borrows from the Greek) Siliva was the mother of Romulus and Remus (By Mars) and was the daughter of King Numitor. Her uncle gave her to to the goddess Vesta.

Thanks for looking!

J. Barry

[Jay!]

Cool. Hoodscoop much? Can we get a rear shot?

The wheels are kinda "meh" to me, but I must admit they're very Nissan-83, so they do look the part...

[supermod04]

Looks nice, the wheels are IFFY, but the rest is nice. might consider getting lighter photos they look really dark

[ol' dude]

Looks cool, good stuff!!!!!!!

[Lownslow]

"common jackie we need to fight the komatsu" sorry that car reminds me of those cheesy jackie chan movies with the funky cars

[JBarry]

I will take some better shots of this tomorrow, or the next sunny day. Sorry they're crumby. Can't do to much about the wheels, they're the ones that came with the kit and it's a 1:20 scale. I think they suck too. But then again, I think Nissan sucks. I just built it for fun, because I've never seen one in my life.

And Jackie Chan rocks :-o

J. Barry

[slk320]

This is probably your best model to date!

You haven't seen these cars around before?? I see them on every corner here...My buddy had one of these...back in high school.

[JBarry]

Originally Posted by slk320

This is probably your best model to date!

You haven't seen these cars around before?? I see them on every corner here...My buddy had one of these...back in high school.

Thank you. Nope, I remember seeing the 200sx back in the day, but never the Gazelle with that vicious hoodscoop

Here are some outside, in the sun photos, with the rear. I'm going to call her "Li".





J. Barry

[XspudX]

Nice work. There is one of those down the street from me.