Nissan Laurel – Driven To Write

With You I’d Like To Sail Down The Sambre One Sunny Day

The matter of peak car ownership raises its head again but I will also find time to discuss the sort-of/kind-of successor to the 1979 Datsun 2.4 Laurel Six featured earlier this week.

We seem to have done more than our fair share of coverage of the Datsun Laurel, I find. There’s this and this and … not really this. Okay, so it’s two items but it feels like more, it really does.

The idea with this improvised Sunday sermon is to take the opportunity presented by this Nissan QX, seen yesterday, to further underline the unsuccessful conclusion of Datsun/Nissan’s efforts to Continue reading “With You I’d Like To Sail Down The Sambre One Sunny Day”

What Would You Do To Turn Jealousy’s Grin?

We are back to Jutland’s E-Z Biler for this one. This is a very rare beast indeed, a 2.8 litre diesel Nissan Laurel. Did I just see a unicorn among those parked cars?

Can you believe I actually got to open the doors of this car and sit inside? I sat in the driver’s seat and I plomped myself down in the back too, noticing that there wasn’t a whole lot of legroom for a car so big. I also noticed the remarkably clean condition of the remarkable expanse of remarkable tufted beige velour upholstery. Was I happy about this?

A bit less than I´d hoped. It might seem perverse to say this but the fact all these rare and unusual cars are gathered under one roof diminishes the pleasure of seeing them. The most normal thing is to Continue reading “What Would You Do To Turn Jealousy’s Grin?”

Vintage Motoring: Archie Vicar’s Motoring Week

This may very well be a transcript of an article from 1977 concerning the motoring week of renowned motoring journalist, Archie Vicar.

(The original text is from the Oldham Evening Chronicle, Nov. 30, 1977. The original photos were by Douglas Land-Windermere. Due to a copyright dispute, stock images have been used)

Just back from Frankfurt where the annual car show takes place. Was delayed en route midway down la Belle France (around Burgundy, of course) so I missed the show by some margin. But – I did speak to some of the exhibitors afterwards, allowing me to take an interesting jaunt around Germany and France in Ford’s excellent new 2.3 litre Cortina V6 Ghia which, to quote the advertisement, offers “smooth performance and refinement in a car that’s built to last“.

Rust is often a problem for cars but Ford’s 17 stage body protection means Cortina owners have one less thing to worry about! The gearbox was a delight, one which “so often sets the standards others are judged by“. After several days at the wheel in all kinds of foul weather, the Cortina looked as rust free as when I collected it at Ford’s HQ in Cologne (fine beers!). So, on Monday it was Stuttgart to Continue reading “Vintage Motoring: Archie Vicar’s Motoring Week”

DTW Trifecta: 1982 Nissan Laurel, Givenchy Edition

At Curbside Classics I found an article about this remarkable rarity. It combines three themes that we have been considering in recent months: engines, Japanese design and special editions.

1982 Nissan Laurel Givenchy edition: source

Precious little visual information exists regarding this car so please excuse the slightly rough images. What is fascinating is that it reminds me of Patrick Kavanagh’s line that “through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder”. The photo suggests enough to let your imagination to just Continue reading “DTW Trifecta: 1982 Nissan Laurel, Givenchy Edition”