With a disastrous 1957 Edsel variant and dismal 1962 UK Ford preceding it, it’s a wonder Ford chose "Corsair" as the name for its Telstar replacement in 1989.<br /><br />This one was the plain, numbingly mediocre twin to the equally ignominious and outdated U12 Pintara, the front-wheel drive mid-sized four-door sedan (and, from September ’90, a useful hatchback) Nissan developed locally under the Federal Government’s model sharing plan.<br /><br />Two gruff four-cylinder engines (an 83kW 2.0L in the basic GL and 96kW 2.4L in the well-equipped Ghia) were available. Both could be had with a four-speed auto or five-speed manual transmission.<br /><br />Cruelly, the curse of the Corsair moniker struck, forcing its builder Nissan to shut-up shop as an Australian manufacturer in late 1992.