The 1960
Nissan Cedric was the first Nissan-designed passenger car sold under this
brand, though before the war the Nissan Passenger Car (type 70) was built, a
1937 Graham Crusader 4-door sedan with or without trunk (length 475 or 439 cm
respectively), to which Nissan developed a phaeton. From 1939, 5 copies were built of the 1.5
litre Nissan type 50 with monocoque body, which looked like a copy of the
4-door Opel Kadett, but with a longer hood and
free-standing headlamps.
The Nissan
President arrived in October 1965 together with the Cedric 130 series, for
which this internal Nissan design was originally meant until the managers chose
to hire in Pininfarina. Soon, this Cedric became a Datsun in the
export, while limited exports of the President (incl. left-hand-drive models) started
only in the mid 1980s, after the Datsun brand was phased out.
Late 1960s
Nissan Gloria and Skyline (C10) were other early Nissan cars (developed by
Prince), with the first one to be succeeded by the above mentioned Cedric, and
the second one by the 4th generation Skyline (C110), to be exported as Datsun
160K/180K/240K.
Up to the
discontinuation of the 6-cylinder in April 1975 due to stronger emission
regulations, slightly more 6-cylinder 250 series were made than V8s.
Thanks to
its 4-liter V8 engine, the American-oriented President sold about two to one,
as compared with its 3-liter V8 Toyota Century key competitor with more British
flavor, that arrived two years later.
When the Toyota’s engine grew to 4 liter by 1983 (the President had
become a 4.4 ten years earlier), Century sales came closer to President, and
would exceed it after the adoption of electronically controlled shock absorbers
in its top model in August 1985. After
the Century received an electronically controlled 4-speed automatic
transmission as well two years later, it sold about two to one President of
this generation.
20 December, 2018