5 hours ago
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Turn off Seinfeld and grab your Ace Of Base CD, as everyday 1996 has arrived in time-capsule form by way of a pristine Nissan Maxima sedan with less than 1000km on the odometer.
Could this be the most ordinary time-capsule car to ever hit the market?
A pristine 1996 Nissan Maxima sedan, with just 520 miles (837km) on the odometer, has been sold in the USA by online auction platform, Bring A Trailer, for about half of what its purchase price was some three decades ago.
The black Nissan was sold last week for US$15,250 ($A23,500), after originally selling in 1996 for $28,597 ($A44k). For context, we found a similar generation 1998 Nissan Maxima (with 125k on the clock) advertised in the US for just $2800.
The auction listing notes that the ultra-low milage example was purchased last year from its original owner and was kept in storage (in a heated garage) for most of its life. The car includes the original 1996 window sticker, all manuals and keys, and is pristine inside and out, with the exception of the tyres, which are still the original 1996 Michelins.
Finished in Super Black paint over beige leather, the car includes a Bose sound system with CD and cassette function, a powered radio antenna and 15-inch alloy wheels.
The Nissan Maxima was originally released in Japan in 1981 and was sold (and built) in Australia as the Nissan Blubebird. The Maxima name was introduced locally in the third-generation J30 model in 1990 to replace the Australian-built R31 Skyline, where the Bluebird switched to an import model (U12) and was sold as the Nissan Pintara, until it returned again as the U13-generation Bluebird in 1993.
The fourth-generation A32 Maxima was released in 1994 (as a 1995 model) and ran until 1999.
Powered by a 142kW/278Nm 3.0-litre petrol V6 the A32 Maxima was Nissan’s range-topping sedan and was priced from $40,330 in Australia, with a Nissan spokesperson noting that 1683 were sold locally in 1996 and 2655 in 1997, about eight per cent of the brand’s total sales volume for that year (32,984 total sales 1997).
Local values for a 30 year-old Maxima aren’t too dissimilar to the USA, with a high quality example valued around $2500-3000.
Whether this makes the museum-piece Maxima sold in the US worth almost ten-times remains to be seen, but it shows that even now, something once considered quite nice, but perhaps a bit ordinary, can appreciate to something just that little bit special.
With over 20 years of experience in digital publishing, James Ward has worked within the automotive landscape since 2007 and brings experience from the publishing, manufacturer and lifestyle side of the industry together to spearhead Drive's multi-media content direction.
