HMC- Return of the Cheeky 500

[Pat Earrings]

Absolutely stunning. My dad had the saloon when I was in year 7, hated it then but my god do I love it now. Superb purchase

[High Jetter]

I did wonder when I saw that dash with the 2 odometers. Mine had separate warning lamps for each brake bulb too. E reg 2.0 dizzle, superb car. Well bought.

[Zelandeth]

Lovely, well bought.

Probably one of the most competent motors of the 80s at being "an car" despite not being exactly exciting.  Looks bloody clean too that one.

[HMC]

It was marketed as the “premium”…

But there’s still gentle reminders that the spec is not all that generous….

[500tops]

Was this one parked outside Drakewalls garage this week?

Regardless, it's a great looking British car 

[HMC]

 

1 minute ago, 500tops said:

Was this one parked outside Drakewalls garage this week?

Regardless, it's a great looking British car 

Yes, had its mot last week there apparnetly, well spotted !

[Shirley Knott]

My mates mother used to have one of these and regularly drove us to cub scouts in it, at the time I thought it looked incredibly futuristic which probably shows how old I am!

Looks great, and can't remember the last time I saw one of these. There genuinely can't be many left?

[Stanky]

Can we stop at a cashpoint on the way, mate?

[HMC]

Came with a few original books 

And also a (dealer fit?) sunroof which thankfully doesn’t seem to leak 

[RoadworkUK]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

It was marketed as the “premium”…

But there’s still gentle reminders that the spec is not all that generous….

Wow. Email and bacon in 1990.

[BorniteIdentity]

4 hours ago, HMC said:

Great to see a return to proper Shitin' (NO G).  These are firm favourites with me but, as always, preferred in Saloon shape.  Nonetheless this looks absolutely fantastic.  Well done on a solid purchase there good man. 

[wesacosa]

love it

[Bren]

My cousin had a red one - it was 1.6. It was bought to replace a brand new ford escort " bonus 90" - his verdict was it was "shite". His previous car was a sunny- he liked Nissan.

My mate's dad bought a 1.8 saloon on a G plate in '93 - it replaced a B reg 1.3 mk 2 cavalier ( brilliant car). He sold it to my mate years later - the red paint was a bit dull.

[Zelandeth]

Closest we had was a Cherry 1.3SGL Maxima on a C plate.  It felt incredibly plush and well kitted out after clapped out Metros, Fiestas (end of like Mk I ones) and much as we liked it, a Nova.  

Sadly it had a persistent overheating problem we never really got to the bottom of.  

I remember as a kid finding it fascinating that the text on everything in the cabin, even the legends printed on the warning lights on the dash, was orange.

[HMC]

I’ve got a bluebird premium brochure on the way from e bay. I’m interested to see how they pitch it. It’s got power steering and and a sunroof-  i can’t wait to read about how you are buying into a “premium” jet setting  lifestyle or whatever.

[ProgRocker]

Ah, Nissan's "Etch-a-sketch" years. My sister had a black 1989 1.6 LS saloon in the late 1990s. You got electric windows and central locking and I think a rev counter over the Premium. 

Can you still tilt the rear seats back in a Premium hatchback?

 

[montytom]

Corrr that's lovely. I'm sure the premium is bottom of the range funnily enough. May be wrong but I'm sure I was told somewhere. 

[cort16]

I bought one of these years ago that had been massively clocked and turned out to be an ex taxi. It still drove great. I think was either a 1.8 GS or SLX as it had 4x electy windows and various other posh bits. Burned oil like a bastard.

[High Jetter]

44 minutes ago, cort16 said:

I bought one of these years ago that had been massively clocked and turned out to be an ex taxi. It still drove great. I think was either a 1.8 GS or SLX as it had 4x electy windows and various other posh bits. Burned oil like a bastard.

Sounds like my old one! Tho 2.0 Exec

[Spottedlaurel]

Nice one! Even now, if I needed straightforward, day-to-day transport they'd be high on my list, second only to a '90s Toyota. Never had a 1.6, but the 2.0 manual 4-door and 1.8 auto 5-door I had 10-odd years ago were both excellent daily drivers. I like them a lot, with gruff-but-honest torquey engines and decent spec, even if they're not as smooth as an Accord or the like.

Got to love the 15 digits for the various meters whirling around on the dashboard.

As is often the case with 'special' editions, I think the Premium was fairly near the bottom of the range, but when I looked at the local one it still looked reasonably plush inside with decent quality fabrics. My old Parker's Guide says there was also a Premium Plus, and for a year near the end of its life there was a plain 'S' which appears to have been a super-budget model.

Don't know how much you paid for it, but a similar 1.6 Premium is/was for sale at local meets at just under £3k.

I've got a few days off so I'll have a ferret around and see if I can find anything beyond the brochure you have on the way.

Would be interested to know if/when you need to move it on. If the LS400 needs more work than is feasible then it might be of use to me....

[dollywobbler]

Yes, Premium was bottom of the range. Odd it had PAS as the 1.6LS didn't. My dad had one. It did have four electric windows, central locking and an electric sunroof though!

[tooSavvy]

Very nice, M9

Bit of Wearside Action going on here, too..

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/218726/1986-t12-bluebird

[DVee8]

I love a Bluebird.I had a G reg 4door ZX Turbo in red. A great car, pxed for a Primera 2.0d  LX chalk and cheese.

[Lacquer Peel]

25 minutes ago, DVee8 said:

I love a Bluebird.I had a G reg 4door ZX Turbo in red. A great car, pxed for a Primera 2.0d  LX chalk and cheese.

Primera 2.0 D isn't the slowest vehicle I've had but that's such a dour plodding engine. 

[cort16]

1 hour ago, DVee8 said:

I love a Bluebird.I had a G reg 4door ZX Turbo in red. A great car, pxed for a Primera 2.0d  LX chalk and cheese.

I would love a ZX Turbo too. I had a Silvia with the same engine and for all the big Turbo badges I think they're only about 135bhp.

 

[jmsguzzi]

Shirley this needs to come home, do you mind driving it up for me this time? 😉

[wuvvum]

9 hours ago, cort16 said:

I would love a ZX Turbo too. I had a Silvia with the same engine and for all the big Turbo badges I think they're only about 135bhp.

 

Yep, but lots of torque and they don't weigh much so they don't hang about.

[cort16]

43 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Yep, but lots of torque and they don't weigh much so they don't hang about.

Aye my Silvia was pretty rapid even though it was a totally clapped out heap.

[Noel Tidybeard]

a sunnay premium has

• NO electric windows
• NO central locking
• NO rear wiper
• NO split fold rear seat
• NO rev-o-meter
• possibly NO clock

BUT IT HAS GOT 12 VALVES

[MantaGTE85]

17 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

a sunnay premium has

• NO electric windows
• NO central locking
• NO rear wiper
• NO split fold rear seat
• NO rev-o-meter
• possibly NO clock

BUT IT HAS GOT 12 VALVES

Very likely a 4-speed with no passenger door mirror either. Back in about 1993, my next-door-but-one neighbour's missus treated herself to a white Sunny LS 4dr saloon (H650LTX) which had all the mega-decadence of central locking, pop-up 'roof, 4 'lectric windaz and digital clock, but it came without a nearside door mirror, nor did it have a rev-counter, and it was also a 4-speed 1.3, which I thought was very strange at the time. To be fair, it replaced an already-totally-rusted-to-bits 1984 tissue-box-dashboard Metro City (B612YUH), so I couldn't blame her for thinking the Sunny was a solid, well-engineered piece of kit.