Nissan Gloria: The Forgotten JDM Car That Was Actually Fantastic
Before Nissan got here to prominence withinside the Nineteen Nineties with the Skyline GT-R, the automaker constructed the Datsun Type 11, a car particularly stimulated via way of means of the Austin Motor Company’s Austin 7, earlier than making its first industrially produced vehicle, the Datsun Type 14, in 1935. The automaker merged with the Prince Motor Company in 1966 and taken the Skyline and Gloria marquees to Nissan’s developing stable.
We all understand the Nissan Skyline from the Fast & Furious film franchise or as a Ferrari-baiting sports activities vehicle with a wailing turbocharged V6 engine. It’s a good deal much less in all likelihood that we are pretty so acquainted with the Nissan Gloria (or Prince Gloria), a luxurious sedan made from 1959 to 2004. It by no means made it stateside, and it did not get the equal form of slice of Hollywood given to its sportier Skyline stablemate. Still, that does not suggest it is any much less desirable – or much less worth of the JDM exotica badge.
A car in shape for a prince
Before the Nissan Merger, the Prince Motor Company commenced the improvement of a posher, luxurious-orientated model of the Prince Skyline. It changed into to be referred to as the Gloria, and Prince wasted no time offering its trendy advent on the 1958 All Japan Automobile Show. Prince placed the Gloria on sale in 1959, and it featured an 80-horsepower 1.9-liter 4-banger beneathneath the hood.
The Prince Motor Company gave its first-ever manufacturing Gloria to Japan’s Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko to commemorate their first wedding ceremony anniversary. Shortly after that, Prince have become the reliable car provider to the Imperial Household Agency of Japan.
The 2d-era Gloria debuted in 1962 and received the Super 6 moniker in 1963, commemorating its new G7 2.0-liter inline-six-cylinder engine producing one zero five horsepower. The G7 changed into the primary engine in Japan to interrupt the 100ps barrier and enabled Gloria to dabble in motorsports. It received first and 2d location on the 2d Japan Grand Prix in 1964. In addition, the 2d-gen Gloria escorted the Olympic Torch on the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
JDM Royalty
The maximum one of a kind Nissan Gloria is the Nissan Prince Royal. Based at the third-era A30 Gloria with styling stimulated via way of means of conventional Cadillac and Lincoln vehicles, Nissan best made 5 examples of Prince Royal among 1966 and 1967. All served the Japanese royal own circle of relatives from 1967 to 2004 earlier than a fleet of Toyota Century Royals took over in 2006. If now no longer for the Carlos Ghosn controversy, Nissan should have constructed the Japanese royal own circle of relatives’s new parade vehicle in 2018, however destiny had different plans.
Nissan merged the Gloria and Cedric nameplates withinside the 1970s, and it right now have become a top-promoting preference withinside the Japanese luxurious sedan market. The seventh-era Gloria/Cedric Y30 debuted in 1983 and changed into the primary Japanese vehicle to function a V6 engine. It additionally got here loaded with superior functions just like the global’s first automated windshield wiper system, a fully-automated computer-ruled weather manipulate system, and an illuminated hood mascot.
The Gloria/Cedric Brougham VIP debuted in 1984 and got here with power-adjustable seats for the the front and back. The Turbo Brougham joined the lineup quickly with a 230-horsepower VG30ET rapid V6 engine from the Fairlady Z. Meanwhile, the eighth-era Cedric/Gran Turismo regarded in 1991, a time while Nissan V6 engines had been pumping out 226 horsepower via a 4 or 5-pace automated gearbox. Production for the Cedric/Gloria persevered till 2004 earlier than its Fuga successor entered the fray, a vehicle we understand because the Infiniti M or Q70.
But above all, the 2d-era Gloria’s racing achievement paved the manner for the Nissan Skyline GT-R sedan that debuted in 1969, the progenitor of Godzilla. According to Hagerty, the Skyline GT-R received fifty two races (forty nine in succession) all through its first 3 years of manufacturing, paving the manner for the marquee’s prominence withinside the racing global and to the hearts of fans worldwide.