The Nissan that seemed like a Pontiac.
That is an installment in a collection of posts trying again on present vehicles that we really feel deserved slightly extra consideration than they acquired. In case you have a suggestion for a Forgotten Idea matter, 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”
Particulars
First seen on the 1977 Tokyo Motor Present, the Nissan AD-2 was a luxury-car design examine, and potential template for what was to turn into the model’s Maxima premium sedan. The AD-2’s arduous, creased edges and wrap-around rear glass have been, certainly, harbingers of design traits to return, although not essentially at Nissan.
Other than 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 typical. 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 appropriate-hand-drive AD-2 Idea was not, to the most effective 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’d 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)