Spotted: 1993 Nissan Presea (R10) In Thailand

Have you ever had an affection for a car just for one weird reason? How about concave headlights? There’s a bizarre appreciation for this particular design up till today. Even more strange when there were only a handful of mentions online about the headlight’s peculiarity. Most were fascinated about the absence of a B pillar that made it essentially like a hardtop that can’t retract. While that admittedly deserves some brownie points from an engineering standpoint, the only thing that caught our eye was still the front end, which in our books, remains one of the most quirky styling cue in automotive history.

The Presea was a car best left forgotten at the turn of the millennium, even when Nissan made a last ditch attempt to prolong its lifespan. The R11 shared the same underpinnings as its predecessor but swapped the front and rear for more conventional-looking lights - a move that suggests cost cutting more than a drive to innovate. We can’t fault Nissan though - the world was reeling from the effects of the financial crisis, and any strive to establish a new-ish concept translated to catastrophic financial consequences. Nissan braved the storm well by focusing on the Sunny and Cefiro.

Earlier I mentioned that I was drawn to it only by its looks - only the front headlights! Fast forward three decades and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. If I’d chanced upon this unit earlier, any skip-deep interest would have dissipated. Like a poor hunted animal with innards brought to the blender, instead of prepping it for post-mortality wall art as a stuffed animal, does this Presea warrant a full restoration?

With automatic wipers and lumbar support amongst other luxury fittings on the Presea, getting it back in shape will require serious work. Perhaps even a project that costs five times the THB79,000 (S$3,000) asking price. With its compact dimensions - 50mm shorter and narrower than the E46 BMW 3 Series - it could prove tricky to strip and patch up loose bits, too. But if you’re the sort who appreciates Nissan’s resolute stance of adding luxury to a compact sedan (its chassis is shared with the B13 Sunny / Sentra) to avoid the taxman (hence the popularity of kei cars), you’re probably not too bothered by how others watch you swallow the restoration cost.

We had hoped some units came with the punchier, 2.0-litre NA SR20DE motor that found homes in less glorified Silvias. Imagine how it’ll drive with only 1 tonne to lug around. Most examples destined for Thailand came with the 1.6-litre unit (averaging 9km/l), which might still make decent progress even when mated to a 4-speed automatic. 5-speed manual options are available too, but they do look destined for the scrapyard…

Preseas are known to have faulty gearboxes, shocks that wear off sooner than expected and even defined by engine failures. Concessions will be made given their age, which leaves us with more reasons to fall back on its aesthetics. We will always fantasise how one that’s properly restored will sit alongside modern, taller cars twice its size and weight. For one that has no visible sharp edges, it somehow manages to look sleek and futureproof in 2022. We can dwell more on how good it looks - frameless windows, slim A pillars giving 300 degrees of vision for the driver and a swiveling Nissan logo revealing the key hole for the rear boot. But these pale in comparison to that weird headlight affection, right?