When Nissan introduced its Frontier truck in 1997 with this ad, it tried to tug at our heartstrings for its new, bigger truck by having a dog lead its owner to buy one. But it didn’t work. The least of the reasons was the actor at the end who popped up out of the manhole saying, “Dogs love trucks!” Car geeks like us might have known that this was supposed to be Nissan automotive auteur Yutaka Katayama. To everyone else, it was just a bad, even borderline offensive parody of an older Japanese man.
No, the ad’s real problem was this: everybody knows that dogs love big, traditional American trucks, even a shorty like this one. Nissan, and Toyota for that matter, have made serious truck inroads since 1997, but still haven’t overcome our brand loyalty to Chevy and Ford.
I shot this in South San Francisco, California, while there on business earlier this month. It’s another film shot, taken with my Olympus Stylus Epic Zoom 80 camera.
I own a ‘classic’ 1995 Chevy 2500 4×4 extended cab long box, equipped with a 350 & 4L80E in Cheyenne trim with 170,000 miles on the clock and it still goes like a champ… and it’ll be hard to get me into something different.
Just a great utility vehicle all around… hauls anything, goes anywhere, fixed with ease and inexpensively to boot. Solid truck!
I just can’t see myself ever owning anything but a Chevy truck… and while the occasional Ford or Dodge might peak a little interest every now and then… I can’t say that about a Toyota or Nissan.
Our Bichon Frise likes my dad’s Tacoma
My dogs love riding in the truck with me, because they get to ride in the cab next to me. Since they sit up nice and tall, I get a lot of looks, as their heads are right up there next to mine. I need Stephanie to get a shot of the three of us, especially from behind.
This one is from before Nikki joined the pack.
Great dog. I’m dogless at the moment, so no riding in the cab is happening where I am. I’m also truckless at the moment, so it all works out.
I spent a lot of time riding with my dogs in my trucks, mostly with this guy in my ’88 Blazer. I miss him the most of all my dogs..
Matte paint, toy wheels…kids these days…
The rubberband tires on the toy wheels especially, the wheel gap is massive. I kinda like the matte paint, I never liked shiny paint on trucks. Throw on a set of 15″ slot mags and some RWL Radial T/As and that truck would be right up my alley 🙂
Well, I admit I do kinda like the look of matte paint, but I’ll never own a vehicle with it again. Can’t protect it and can’t bring it back when it starts to go bad.
I don’t like it on most cars (I absolutely despise it on recent BMWs and the like) but when I like it is when it’s ratty like this, I like primer grey too on some cars even. On an old truck from the 70s it’s very fitting
Matt Im glad to see SOME others have taste! Slot mags and RWLs can give pretty much anything the right stance and attitude.
Yep ;
A Man , His Dog & his Truck ~
It’s a beautiful thing .
My old 1976 GMC 2500 is still out there bouncing around , they sent me a lien sale notice , maybe I’ll go buy it back .
-Nate
I don’t have a pooch at the moment, but my two boys love riding in my ’67 GMC short stepside. I even installed shoulder seatbelts so they could ride with me when they were smaller, but only one at a time. It actually has threaded anchor points up high on the pillars from the factory!
Did the same (installed shoulder belts) with my 70 C10. Boomer rode in the back with his leash secured. When I replaced that truck with my ’04 Titan, he didn’t jump high enough the first time on to the higher tailgate. Got it right the second time. For the last year of his life I did have to lift him into the truck, but he still loved riding back there. Was a great companion for 14 years.
It’s odd, when I had my Xterra my boy Lloyd was always apprehensive about hopping in.
I get an F-150 and he’s practically begging to get in.
I had two mutts that loved my 79 Datsun. The dog I have now rides inside because I think he just might run off with the right temptation. Stolen tools, getting stuck, and dog slobbers were the big reasons I went from a regular cab S10 to the Toyota 4Runner that has turned me into such a Toyota fanboi. Using trailers makes me not miss the truck that badly.
Someday I may be without a truck but doubt if I can make myself go without a dog for long. You can love your truck but there is something about being loved back.
Love, the old Nissan ads with Mr. K… Don’t know why you find this parody offensive. Why would anyone take offense on a fun commercial?
I think Mr. K had a hand in developing the original Datsun Z car(240z), if I’m not mistaken.
Although I never heard of Mr. Katayama at the time of those ads, I inferred he must’ve been some famous (among fans, at least) Nissan guy. You don’t always have to be an insider to catch onto inside jokes.
There seems to be a difference of opinion in Japan, for Honda implies dogs love ●cars●:
http://www.honda.co.jp/dog/honda-car
“for happy drive, dog & you”
If you click through some of these links, they have the specs for both the car AND the dog!!
That cracked me up. Someone is taking this pretty seriously. Maybe the Japanese are much more space-conscious, what with smaller cars, apartments, etc. Some people don’t even have baths in their apartments, they have to use a sento (public bathhouse).
Well, I happen to have one of those ’98 Frontiers (a very basic regular cab with the 4-cylinder, 5-speed manual, crank windows and manual locks). It does have a/c (still works great), power steering, and a 2-speaker AM/FM radio/cassette deck. I remember those ads, but we have 4 cats and no dogs!
I like the truck itself (shorties rule) but man oh man are those wheela/tires craptacular. On a classic vehicle these chromed blobs with few defined shapes and wimpy offset really stick out like a sore thumb. The tall and skinny wheels all pulled under the truck make it look like a rail car to my eyes.
Matt nailed it above: 15″ mags with RWL tires would make it look mean.
I’m with you there – I had a red on red 76 Cheyenne short wide pickup that looked fine with factory rally wheels and white letter tires.
Even though I’m decades younger than when this was possible, I miss when aftermarket wheels meant Cragar SS style, Keystone style, Torque thrust style and Slot style. You literally couldn’t make a wrong choice if you desired something non-stock back in the day.
At least now theres a resurgence of old school flavor. You can get coke bottle mags in all different sizes. When i was in HS in the early ’90s the big ‘clown shoe’ rims were 10 years away, but it was all about 5 stars and goofy sawblade styles. The billet ninja star wheels werent much better than todays ‘dubs’. The proportions, yes. But the style, no.
pfsm–one thing Ill say for GM is they have had some of the best looking factory wheels. From the mid ’60s up thru the early ’90s it was WAY more win than lose. The new Camaro has some nice rallyes on low end models.