The Tale Of The Cursed Nissan Sentra
Pull up a chair kids, it's that time again 
Ever bought a car that you could swear has been cursed from the very beginning? A car that just seems to be falling apart all around you despite your best efforts to keep it running? Well that was the case for our 1988 Nissan Sentra sedan.
In 1997 an indian man who was still settling into this new welcoming land of "Kaneda" (Canada). He had been saving up for something special, a car of which he can use to get around and get to work easier. Something reasonably cheap which could get him from point A to point B without drinking a ton of gas. He went to the used car stealership and bought himself a light blue 1988 Nissan Sentra for about $3500, The car was a 3 speed automatic and had a 1.6 L 71 HP engine. It was a nice little car as long as you didnt mind high schoolers pointing and laughing at what they call the "social suicide mobile".
As he was driving home from the dealership, he noticed a sharp rise in the rpms and a total loss of power to the ground. He ended up being able to coast to his house. The 3 speed auto tranny had failed. He didn't have enough money to get it fixed, and the dealership would not honor their warranty. The next day he was just sitting on a chair infront of it, staring at it with regret. My parents lived next door at the time. My dad was outside and he noticed the guy looking at his car, After an explanation the man said he was going to send it to the scrapyard today. My dad said "since you're tossing it out anyways, give it to me, I'll spend some money and get it fixed and drive it for a couple years". The man agreed and gave him the ownership. $1200 later the Sentra was running again, the man who gave it to us was angry that it was working again and demanded a payment, my dad said "up yours" and drove off. This car was cursed, In the 4 years we had it, it failed to start for no apparent reason, the distributor went bad, the brake lights stopped working. The Hood latch broke on the highway and the hood flew open destroying the windshield and denting the hood. The front right tire blew out a week later. And Finally, My mom was driving it on the highway, and a lady driving a dodge caravan crashed into her while illegally changing lanes, The sentra was hit so hard, it jumped 3 lanes to the left before finally hitting the wall and coming to a stop, While this wasn't exactly the car's fault, it was apparent that the world had it out for the ol' sunny. My mom was okay thankfully, The sentra was still running, but battered to hell. It sat in the garage for another year, before being written off by insurance. Insurance paid $3500. More than we paid for the car and its repairs. I call this car cursed, my mom calls it blessed. It's tail light still hangs in the garage today as a memory.
Ever bought a car that you could swear has been cursed from the very beginning? A car that just seems to be falling apart all around you despite your best efforts to keep it running? Well that was the case for our 1988 Nissan Sentra sedan.
In 1997 an indian man who was still settling into this new welcoming land of "Kaneda" (Canada). He had been saving up for something special, a car of which he can use to get around and get to work easier. Something reasonably cheap which could get him from point A to point B without drinking a ton of gas. He went to the used car stealership and bought himself a light blue 1988 Nissan Sentra for about $3500, The car was a 3 speed automatic and had a 1.6 L 71 HP engine. It was a nice little car as long as you didnt mind high schoolers pointing and laughing at what they call the "social suicide mobile".
As he was driving home from the dealership, he noticed a sharp rise in the rpms and a total loss of power to the ground. He ended up being able to coast to his house. The 3 speed auto tranny had failed. He didn't have enough money to get it fixed, and the dealership would not honor their warranty. The next day he was just sitting on a chair infront of it, staring at it with regret. My parents lived next door at the time. My dad was outside and he noticed the guy looking at his car, After an explanation the man said he was going to send it to the scrapyard today. My dad said "since you're tossing it out anyways, give it to me, I'll spend some money and get it fixed and drive it for a couple years". The man agreed and gave him the ownership. $1200 later the Sentra was running again, the man who gave it to us was angry that it was working again and demanded a payment, my dad said "up yours" and drove off. This car was cursed, In the 4 years we had it, it failed to start for no apparent reason, the distributor went bad, the brake lights stopped working. The Hood latch broke on the highway and the hood flew open destroying the windshield and denting the hood. The front right tire blew out a week later. And Finally, My mom was driving it on the highway, and a lady driving a dodge caravan crashed into her while illegally changing lanes, The sentra was hit so hard, it jumped 3 lanes to the left before finally hitting the wall and coming to a stop, While this wasn't exactly the car's fault, it was apparent that the world had it out for the ol' sunny. My mom was okay thankfully, The sentra was still running, but battered to hell. It sat in the garage for another year, before being written off by insurance. Insurance paid $3500. More than we paid for the car and its repairs. I call this car cursed, my mom calls it blessed. It's tail light still hangs in the garage today as a memory.
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