Junkyard Gem: 1994 Nissan Maxima with 364,238 miles

After documenting shut to three,000 autos in automotive graveyards during the last 16 years, I’ve realized to maintain my eyes open for these with very excessive last numbers displaying on their odometers. As of this writing, the most-traveled discarded Volvo I’ve discovered traversed 631,999 miles throughout its life, Honda is shut behind with 626,476 miles, Mercedes-Benz is subsequent with 601,173 miles, and Toyota remains to be within the Junkyard Odometer Prime Ten with 413,344 miles. I’ve had a harder time discovering junkyard Nissans with galactically excessive complete miles; previous to immediately’s Junkyard Gem, the highest Yokohama machine was a 1987 Maxima with 341,176 miles on the odometer.

I discovered this automotive not too long ago in a Northern California boneyard, and its last odometer studying may be very spectacular. In actual fact, that is simply the third junked Nissan product I’ve discovered with higher than 300k miles on the clock (after that ’87 Maxima and a 1986 200SX that reached 309,222 miles throughout its life). It is doable {that a} 1989 Pathfinder I photographed in Colorado may need had higher than 400,000 miles on its odometer, however the mechanism was so closely broken that I did not belief its studying (the identical goes for the 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit convertible with a seemingly unattainable 930,013 miles on its notoriously unreliable odometer).

The Maxima title has an attention-grabbing historical past, starting its profession as a trim stage designation for the rear-wheel-drive Datsun 810 within the 1981 mannequin 12 months. This automotive grew to become the Datsun Maxima by Nissan within the following 12 months, then simply the Nissan Maxima for 1984 (after the complicated “The Identify Is Nissan” name-change marketing campaign in North American lastly wrapped up the method of terminating the Datsun title right here).

The 810 (referred to as the Bluebird 910 in its homeland) was an in depth relative of the Z-Vehicles of the identical period, however the Maxima moved over to a brand-new front-wheel-drive platform quickly after its Bluebird siblings did so in Japan.

The primary era of the boxy front-drive Maxima was bought right here for the 1985 via 1988 mannequin years, when it competed for gross sales towards the Toyota Cressida. The Maxima obtained larger and curvier for 1989, and that era stayed on sale right here via 1994.

The final 12 months for the Cressida right here was 1992, and its Lexus LS400 alternative was too large and costly to be a Maxima rival. Maybe the Mazda 929 must be thought of the primary competitors for this era of Maxima in the USA.

This automotive seems to be a Maxima GXE geared up with the Luxurious Package deal choice group, giving it an MSRP of $24,794. That is about $51,188 in 2023 {dollars}. The 1994 Mazda 929 listed at $30,500 ($62,969 immediately). The extra sensible competitors for this automotive (given the paltry gross sales of the 929) would have been Detroit machines such because the Buick LeSabre and Chrysler New Yorker.

The engine is a SOHC 3.0-liter V6 rated at 160 horsepower and 182 pound-feet. The recent-rod Maxima SE obtained 190 horsepower, whereas a DOHC model of this engine made 222 horses within the 1994 300ZX.

A five-speed handbook transmission was obtainable within the Maxima SE for 1994, however a four-speed automated was obligatory for the GXE that 12 months. The latest Maxima I’ve ever seen in a junkyard with three pedals was a 1996 mannequin, although such automobiles had been obtainable (in idea) all through the 2006 mannequin 12 months.

Whereas the digital gadgetry for the Maxima of the Nineties wasn’t as wild because the stuff present in its predecessors, this automotive nonetheless has some futuristic touches.

We are actually residing within the last 12 months for the Maxima, Nissan having introduced late final 12 months that 2023 could be the top of the highway for the mannequin (whereas leaving the choice open that the title is perhaps revived in a while).

I often have an historical movie digicam with me after I go to automotive graveyards (on this case, a late-Nineteen Thirties AGFA Cadet B-2 loaded with Rollei Infrared movie and geared up with a 760nm filter), and so I captured this shot of a fellow junkyarder with the Maxima.

With customary V6 and keyless entry!

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