RAISING THE PULSE(AR) RATE
I BOUGHT MY very own Pulsar ET when the car was being run-out in 1987. As I recall the price had been dropped by close to $3000 and was back to something like what was being asked three years earlier, which made it a bargain because inflation was big in those days.
Mine was actually the third variant. The original ET ran on leaded fuel. Then came the unleaded car. The third version had colour-keyed alloy wheels and the colour choice was white, silver or blue.
I quite liked it – rather than loved it – and would have hung onto the little blue rocket except that I was focused on racing and the Suzuki Swift GTI had just hit the market. I figured it would be a better bet for that year’s Winton 300 race for production cars. Soon after buying it, I learnt that Nissan Australia offered a bodykit complete with striping. Naturally I ordered one. I also got a new exhaust, which liberated a little extra power, a much nicer sound but caused the ET to consume quite a lot more unleaded. In dry weather it was great but I discovered the Pulsar’s propensity to swap ends one greasy morning after hooking into a down hill left-hander a few kays quicker than I should have. I’ll admit it now, my girlfriend of the time had departed my house a few minutes before me and I entertained thoughts of catching her on the road. Instead, I caught myself facing the way I was originally pointed, on the correct side of the road and feeling very embarrassed despite the lack of any witnesses.
The Pulsar ET was indescribably superior to the first EXA but it came at a difficult time in the history of performance cars. In its first few months it stood alone but the Cordia Turbo soon raised the bar. Judged purely as a car, I reckon the Nissan was better than the Suzuki but racing is different.