Since I moved to Japan 18 months ago, we’ve been through almost each of the Gloria generations of the ‘80s and ‘90s. In other words, the low-hanging fruit have been picked. It’s going to take a Nissanful of luck to bag the ‘60s and ‘70s Glorias, but I’m optimistic, because why not. Also, I ran into this beauty last December – so generation five, here we go!
Our dearly beloved and recently discreet CColleague, cookie connoisseur Prof. Don Andreina, wrote a couple of sublime oeuvres on the Nissan 330, which I wholeheartedly recommend (links at the end). Don was focusing on the Cedric variant of the breed, but there is not much of a difference: by this point in time, the Cedric and the Gloria were identical, save for badges, grille textures and other minor details.
The Cedric / Gloria 330 was launched in June 1975 in four body styles. The four-door saloons were of both pillared and hardtop variety, though they appeared almost identical save for that B-pillar.
The other two bodies were the two-door hardtop and the van / wagon; production lasted four years exactly, until June 1979. I’m not entirely clear on which cars got the big halogen headlamps and when. It seems that quads were reserved for lower-spec and earlier cars, though as always with Japanese manufacturers, baffling complexity is the cardinal rule.
As an example of said complexity, our feature car is an SGL-E – just under the top-level 2800 SGL, later supplanted by the Brougham. It seems the biggest option, a 2.8 litre 6-cyl., signaled its presence by a bunch of “2800” logos all over the car. Those are absent here, along with some of the other extras associated with this prestige engine (e.g. bumper guards), so our car probably has the 2-litre six. But a 2800 SGL-E also seems to have existed at some point.
The Cedric / Gloria was the Nissan equivalent of the Toyota Crown – or of the Ford Crown Vic in the US, or of the Mercedes W123 in Europe. Private owners were happy to shell out extra fistfuls of yen to add gingerbread on their pride and joy, while government agencies and taxi companies bought the miserly “Deluxe” or the ultra-barren “Standard” versions by the fleetload. Those would have had a 2-litre 4-cyl., just to make them more blue-collar, or a Diesel.
Clearly, that is not what we have here. Inside our green Gloria SGL-E is a beige and brown world of sub-Broughamized plushness – just a smidgen less gaudy than the fully-fledged version would have been. This car has the optional full console and bucket seats for added opulence, but I believe these came with column shifters and bench seats as standard.
The hardtop had its own specific dash, which I’m showing here in all its Gloria thanks to a factory photo, is quite a grand example of ‘70s Japanese luxury. It really is its own thing. Exterior styling was an unabashed caricature of Detroit, plain and simple. But inside, the American influence, though still quite perceptible, was more muted.
Rear passengers were not necessarily that well treated in those days. Legroom looks underwhelming and the massive beltline kink and fat C-pillar make for a slightly claustrophobic atmosphere. At least, compared to the designs of the previous decade. But compared to the double-glazed gunslits of the present day, this is not too bad (and the lack of B-pillar helps). Love the shag carpet, though – about as period-perfect as it comes. All this interior needs is a glitter ball on the ceiling, the Bee Gees on the 8-track and numb nasal passages to complete the time-warp effect.
I’m guessing that the gothic “B” on these wheels could mean Brougham, but these may have been an optional extra on the SGL-E. Not many carmakers made the wheels match the body colour. Mercedes-Benz famously did that, as did Rolls-Royce if memory serves, but I’m not sure who else – I’m sure the CCommentariat will have some names to add to the list. Well, aside from Nissan.
It’s a great pity that I was unable to photograph this exceptional Gloria hardtop in anything but a frontal view. The rear end, just as Detroitesque as the rest, is much less awkward that most mid-‘70s Nissan designs. The profile, windows down, is almost attractive.
The front end, especially in this quad-eyed version, has a strong whiff of early ‘70s Mercury, albeit with a less gigantic and intimidating feel.
Anything with such a wild and massive emblem on its hood is clearly not to be taken lightly. I read recently that the T-Bird-like Gloria logo is supposed to represent an origami crane.
This origami crane is no paper tiger. It’s the Gaynor of the Glorias. It has survived!
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: Nissan 330 Cedric Hardtop Sedan Brougham – Spirit of ’67, by Don Andreina
Automotive History: Nissan Cedric – When The Pupil Becomes A Master, by Don Andreina
The exterior is perfect to my eyes. The dashboard and steering wheel are just Ford Torino, and the rear seat would guarantee chronic back and neck pain. Just looking at it hurts. They should have shoved the seat cushion backward by 6 inches and made the backrest more vertical. Were they getting royalties from the Chiropractors Association?
It is glorious. Tatra87, thank you for continuing to provide such a treasure trove of information and pictures of vehicles from around the world from where I sit
The front of this Gloria is giving me 1967 Dodge Monaco fever.
+1. That’s what it reminded me of as well. Beautiful Dodge Monaco. I’d generally prefer a Newport but this one would do.
+2. That’s what instantly came to mind. A pretty blatant copy, actually.
+3 I get the impression that Nissan designers in this decade had a particular reverence for Dodge designs
As well as some bit of Ford, the photo of the white Gloria taxicab roofline and beltline had some remeniscences of the 1969-70/1971-72 Ford Galaxie/LTD.
I wonder if Nissan had asked to use Laura Brannigan’s song “Gloria” like the St. Louis Blues did when they won the Stanley Cup in 2019? 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFfwnHBTUzc
Imagine a tv ad featuring the Nissan Gloria with the song Gloria as part of the soundtrack.
The previous decade it was the Rambler Ambassador they channeled.
It started in 1968 with the second (technically a Prince design) Skyline redesign. Not subtle:
I think they got a little 1971 Plymouth Satellite sedan in there, too.
I was thinking more of a 1968-71 Monterey. The Mercury bears a similar face and body to the Nissan. The Dodge’s front end is even more similar to the Nissan’s, but the body’s razor edge styling is completely different.
Joseph’s comment was only about the front end, as were several of those in agreement. No, the rest of the boxy Dodge doesn’t remind us if the Nissan.
The Dodge’s front end is clearly the most similar to the Nissan’s.
+4 on the Dodge, guys… and I can see T-87’s Merc in there too, but that front end of the green subject car… I gotta agree with Joseph on this one.
Heck, that taxi cab even seems to be aping a ‘71 Coronet or Satellite or something… I’m not sure of my Mopars of the era, but Jason wrote up an avocado green one a while back that I think his Dad had. That’s the vibe I’m getting from the taxi.
Even that beautiful broughamy interior… that gauge cluster has full instruments… weren’t the Mopar products known for that? Even in a car with an automatic such as the one in that interior picture?
I agree. I see Dodge Monaco in the Nissan Gloria. Not in a bad way, either.
The I.P. picture caught my attention. While rather “busy” and definitely a conglomeration of “bricks”, the neatness of assembly and quality fit and finish of the various parts does show.
Compared to say a AMC I.P. of 70s-80s, just no comparison. My ’79 Nova had a basic dash, but the gaps between parts were very apparent; UNlike these Nissans! Quite impressive………DFO
I like the outside a lot in all of its ostentatiousness, especially the grille, but the dashboard and interior not as much. That backseat angle is just odd, it’d be handy for a dental procedure while in motion if there were individual dome-lights above each seat position (spit out the window), but for everyday riding around in not so much. The rear lights look outstanding in the brochure picture too. As you said, it surely will survive seeing as how it has this long, the hard part (first twenty years) is well over.
I’m quite sure it’s a reclining backrest, which have been a popular thin in Japan on executive/luxury sedans for a long time.
Look at the backrest in the picture of the Standard; it’s much more upright. .
I’m not sure about the backrest. Friends had a 330 Cedric Brougham in the early 80s which I travelled in as a child. Its rear seat was deep-buttoned velour, and despite looking extraordinarily cushy was anything but – too soft and too sloped. I don’t recall it being adjustable, but it may have been as some Nissan of that era (error!) did have a sliding rear seat cushion, which brought the base of the backrest forward.
Take a close look at these two seat backs, from the featured car and from the standard version from the brochure. There’s a big difference in how much of the area between the rear of the door and the seatback is showing.
Also, no normal sedans had their seatbacks so far back, so close to the rear window. I’m quite convinced it’s a reclining rear seat back, unless someone can prove me otherwise.
Here’s a shot of another Gloria of this vintage. A close look will show that the seat back is not as far reclined as the one in this article.
That might make sense, some of the upper trim levels of the current RAM pickups have a reclining rear seat which is accomplished by moving the base seat cushion forward (reducing legroom a bit but it has enough to spare) which then also pulls the seatback into a more reclined position.
T87’s observation about the lack of rear legroom in this one could well be due to the same type of mechanism that you (Scott) mention. Of course, reclining the seatback and then to have more limited legroom doesn’t sound particularly appealing either.
Curious cars, these. That rear-door hip line was just so old-fashioned for 1975. It looks more like an alternative design study for the 1971 model. But if you look at them as a piece of automotive art without trying to put them in the context of their build year they’re not bad looking. A bit fussy, true, but not bad. Not what I would have chosen in 1975 though.
This model is quite popular with Japanese guys on modelling forums too. The only bodystyle available is of the four door SGL-E hardtop (Cedric below), but it comes in about half a dozen wheel/tyre/suspension variations, and Japanese guys are doing their own two-door conversions accurate to the millimetre. Amazing.
In the UK these Japanese top of the range vehicles were very rare and seen as odd, extravagantly and somewhat orientally styled cars in the 1970’s compared with the indigenous Ford Granada, Vauxhall’s (ageing) Cresta and Rovers, Triumph and Jaguar. Like many people at that time l had difficulty accepting the styling of these vehicles but now, I am surprised to say, I see an interesting synthesis of Americana and Japan that has an unresolved attractiveness. Exemplary standard equipment and great reliability led to success and the ultimate failure of other brands.
Mmmm, I love these 330 Cedglos; last four-door hardtop I saw was about 4 years ago. They’re unusual in person – the styling offers hints of menace and hints of grandma. Overall I think they look great though – one of my favourite 1970s JDM sedans. Nice find!
Were these what was to become the Datsun 810 in the US a few years later?
I think even in 1975, the Datsun 610 still had the 4 cylinder engine. At this time I had a 1974 Datsun 710; it had a 1.8 litre 4 cylinder and automatic (last car I had with an automatic). It was a slow car, but it suited me well for the time; it was my undergraduate college car as I was a commuter student, and it got me through 4 years of study pretty uneventfully. I kept her outside, which was tough up in Vermont, and it only failed to start the week of the blizzard of ’78 when I bummed a ride into town with my Father. I kept her running pretty well, did a tune up on her regularly (perhaps 2x/year) where I learned to change points, plugs and condenser (very simple on this car). I had only a couple mechanical problems, once the alternator went, and that was the only time I recall the engine feeling pretty peppy, as there was no load on it due to charging. The other time happened while I was on a rare trip out of town to interview (day before the interview) when I was in Massachusetts, a heater hose ruptured, which
I was able to patch enough to nurse home till I could replace it with a proper hose. Worked out well for me as it was interview for the first professional job I got when I graduated. Car had white vinyl seats and brown carpeting, with electric blue exterior (strange combination). The automatic shift lever and quadrant looked just like these on the Gloria. Later on sprung for a (mono) AM/FM radio. Forty years ago this month (could have been this evening 40 years ago) I was driving up after work from my job in Massachusetts to visit my parents, and hit some black ice on I89 just past the NH/VT border, and bit the guard rail. It took out a headlight, but fortunately not the battery, so I nursed it the rest of the way up I89 to my parents. Got it fixed but wanted a FWD car for better traction