Nissan’s Modular Pulsar Sportbak Was A Coupe, Wagon, And Pickup In One

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In an ideal world, we’d all have more than 500 cars giving us access to the perfect vehicle for any possible situation, from surviving an apocalypse to a summer evening B-road thrash with Lewis Hamilton. But in the real world when many of us only have the cash and parking space for one car, we have to make sure we buy something that can cover at least most of our needs. It’s the reason so many people buy SUVs today, and it’s the reason you should buy this awesome Nissan Pulsar NX Sportbak instead.

The Pulsar NX, or EXA to those outside of North America, was based on the front-wheel drive Sentra and was Nissan’s answer to the Toyota Celica. But the Celica had no answer for the NX’s quirkiest option, a bolt-on rear canopy that converted the coupe’s conventional notch-shaped hatchback into a funky Kamm-back sports wagon. Or, you could dispense with the rear bodywork altogether and turn your two-door coupe into a strange low-slung sport truck of sorts.

Nissan advertised the optional Sportbak canopy by claiming it turned the Pulsar into ‘the world’s first multiple convertible,’ suggesting owners could slip off the stock hatch and slide on the square one for camping adventures and road trips. But by most accounts it wasn’t a popular option, though whether that was down to its price, the problem of where to store a second top, how exactly you were meant to get it back from the dealership, or just the fact that it looked plain weird, we don’t know.

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You might have seen Pulsar NXs with Sportbak tops color-coded to the body, but it seems that they all originally came in gray, which does a great job of drawing your eye to the craziness going on back there as if it needed any more help in that department. Throw in the removable T-tops and pop-up lights and you’ve got a package that looks incredibly cool from a 2023 vantage point, even if it wasn’t entirely appreciated when new.

If you have a hankering for one of these cheese-wedge coupes, you probably won’t find a better example than this ’88 car that’s currently up for grabs on the Cars & Bids auction site. True, it’s got a few small paint imperfections, and the combination of a 125 hp (127 PS) 1.8-liter twin-cam four and four-speed automatic probably isn’t the most exciting pairing, but it looks beautifully original, and with good reason. It’s covered just 9,300 miles (14,966 km) from new. The Radwood vibe is strong on this one, so it’s not going to go for beer money, but if you’re interested in finding out more you can check out the full listing here.