The Nissan that appeared like a Pontiac.
That is an installment in a sequence of posts trying again on present vehicles that we really feel deserved a bit of extra consideration than they bought. When you’ve got a suggestion for a Forgotten Idea subject, please shoot us a line or depart a remark beneath.
Nissan AD-2 Idea
First Proven
1977 Tokyo Motor Present
Description
Luxurious sedan design idea
Gross sales Pitch
“Final luxurious sedan”
Extra Forgotten Ideas
Particulars
First seen on the 1977 Tokyo Motor Present, the Nissan AD-2 was a luxury-car design examine, and attainable template for what was to grow to be the model’s Maxima premium sedan. The AD-2’s onerous, creased edges and wrap-around rear glass have been, certainly, harbingers of design tendencies to come back, although not essentially at Nissan.
Aside from the tech-forward cabin parts, revealed solely by the use of drawings—the automotive’s inside was not on show—the AD-2 was pretty standard. The rear-drive sedan’s energy got here from the maker’s L28 6-cylinder engine displacing 2.8-liters and producing an estimated 160 horsepower. The fitting-hand-drive AD-2 Idea was not, to one of the best of our data, seen at any U.S. auto exhibits. Word that in 1977, the Nissan model was nonetheless often known as Datsun right here in The States.
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CG Says
To those eyes, the AD-2 seems to be two separate idea vehicles joined within the center—the entrance and the rear, particularly in profile, appear utterly unrelated. That’s okay although, because the design itself is daring, and on the time was breathtakingly fashionable.
What impresses us is how a lot later Pontiac fashions would look as if influenced by the AD-2, particularly the entrance clips. And, it’s price remembering that the Pontiacs in query, the J2000 and the 6000, have been very fashionable trying when launched.
Had we been consulted, we would have tried to squeeze an AD-2 cameo right into a interval science-fiction movie, maybe the James Bond thriller, Moonraker.
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Nissan AD-2 Footage
(Click on beneath for enlarged photographs)