We’ve been here before. The Nissan 330, whether wearing a Cedric or a Gloria badge, has graced these pages before. Our sorely missed Professor Andreina was an avid fan, alerting us to this automobile’s extraordinary nature. Just think: a ‘70s Nissan that actually looks good? A Japanese car with a heavy helping of Detroit styling cues that doesn’t overplay its hand? Almost impossible.
Because we’ve read about these before, I will limit this piece to merely reinforcing the point that these are lovely-looking machines, and add some illustrations thereof. Previous CC posts featured even more desirable higher-trim hardtop sedans, but I have uncovered an absolute minter of a late-production near-base-model pillared saloon. Plain vanilla, if you will.
The Nissan 330 arrived on the scene in June 1975, clad in four different bodies: pillared saloon, hardtop sedan, hardtop coupé and wagon. Engine options included a 2-litre and a 2.8 litre L-series 6-cyl. and a 2.2 litre Diesel 4-cyl.; taxi grade cars were available with a 2-litre LPG 4-cyl. as well. In mid-1977, the model was given a facelift, which on the Gloria led to this somewhat simpler grille.
Our feature car has had a fair amount of work done, I assume. Nothing this old could look this clean. Speaking from experience…
Still, it looks like it’s had a good life, even if it is but a humble Deluxe with the standard issue single carb 115hp straight-6 – mated to a 3-speed “full” auto, according to the script on the bootlid.
The interior is not singing from the same hymn sheet, though. That questionably florid lever looks like a manual. So who knows what’s under the hood here… Lovely dash though, very different from the hardtop.
Strangely enough, this car seems to be upholstered in Nissan’s version of MB-Tex, i.e. some sort of leatherette. Quite taxi-like, really. But a cab would have doilies on the seats as well…
I’m sure some of these were also used as police cars, and I’m getting a strong fuzzy feeling from this one, for some reason. Maybe because that ‘70s American shape is one I associate with old cop shows I watched as a kid (e.g. Starsky & Hutch, CHIPs or Hawaii Five-O) more than anything else.
Actually, this might even be too straight-laced for police usage. There’s something very business-like and austere about this Gloria. Perhaps it ferried some local government bigwig or some high-flying functionary when it first hit the road.
Point is, by the late ‘70s, if you wanted a properly-styled and reasonably efficient American compact, the Nissan 330 had it all. Go on yonder Ford Grenada, get the F outta Dodge, Dart and move over Chevy Nova – apart from where the steering wheel is located, this Gloria fits the role better than any of you.
Plus it has an escutcheon-shaped blue T-Bird emblem on the C-pillar. Killer move, Gloria.
Related posts:
CC Capsule: 1976 Nissan Gloria 330 SGL-E Hardtop Sedan – I Will Survive, by T87
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
“Point is, by the late ‘70s, if you wanted a properly-styled and reasonably efficient American compact, the Nissan 330 had it all. Go on yonder Ford Grenada, get the F outta Dodge, Dart and move over Chevy Nova – apart from where the steering wheel is located, this Gloria fits the role better than any of you.”
This was an economy-focused compact in Japan? And these cost the equivalent of the same as a late 70s Fairmont or Nova? That’s about the only way that would make any sense. I know the point was to put down the Americans while praising the Japanese car, so I’m sure it’s fine either way.
Yeah. This is more on par with 1978 Lincoln Versailles than any of those cars mentioned in the post. But if he actually compared the Lincoln to the Nissan his argument would fall apart. If Infiniti existed in 1978 this would have been the G-Sedan and would have competed directly with the Cadillac Seville and Lincoln Versailles.
Yeah, the Versailles, that legendary Paragon of style and value, utterly sinks my contention that this Nissan is a better car. Riiiight.
Seriously though, this is the base model 330, one step above taxi grade. They had Versailles and Seville taxis in your part of the world?
A hardtop Nissan 330 with the 2.8 litre engine would be a more accurate comparison to a present-day Infiniti.
“They had Versailles and Seville taxis in your part of the world?”
That Seville Taxi was badged Nova, so sorta-kinda sure… 🙂
As I recall, the Seville was the most expensive Cadillac in the lineup (bar the Fleetwood Limo). The Infiniti G was always the cheapest in the Infiniti lineup so even if they existed at the same time they never would have actually “competed”. Or, better said, the Infiniti would have wiped the floor with the Seville from a value for money perspective.
That’s why I said only the Versailles and not the Seville because the price of the Seville was outrageous. But from a size perspective the only Cadillac the Nissan could be fairly compared to is the Seville. I don’t know if there were any Versailles taxis, but there probably were a few 1978 Mercury Cougar Sedan Taxis. So you can substitute the Cougar sedan in place of the Versailles. In either case, the Nissan is clearly not comparable to the Nova or the Granada.
The Versailles was priced just as ludicrously as the Seville, i.e. it was the most expensive Lincoln while being a Granada with even more tacky bits tacked on. Sorry, I’m still not following your argument here, never mind, already sorry I commented…
The Versailles ($12,000) was $2,500 less expensive than the Seville MSRP ($14,500) and that was before haggling. I can all but guarantee you that the majority of Versailles were sold far below MSRP (around $10,000) or less. Were some Versailles sold at or above MSRP? Probably. But not nearly as many Versailles were sold at MSRP as Sevilles were.
These were sold in Australia and came in more expensive than the local big Three ‘compacts’ – but you were getting Japanese quality, a higher trim level, in a slightly shorter, noticeably narrower package. If you could afford the extra, that is. Altering exchange rates eventually priced these out of our market.
This was an economy-focused compact in Japan? And these cost the equivalent of the same as a late 70s Fairmont or Nova? That’s about the only way that would make any sense. I know the point was to put down the Americans while praising the Japanese car, so I’m sure it’s fine either way.
Undoubtedly this would have cost significantly more than a Fairmont or Nova, if it were sold here (what imported American cars cost in Japan back then is irrelevant, as they were very rare and expensive for a number of reasons). The smaller Nissan Datsun 810 (Bluebird) cost a fair bit more than a basic Fairmont or Nova in the USA, and this Gloria was a whole class bigger and more expensive (not sold in the US, as it would have been unsellable, due to its high price).
In any case, this low end Gloria was not “an economy-focused compact car”. Far from it.You can’t apply American car size classes to Japanese and European cars in their domestic markets. A Corolla would have been closer to that description, if not even a smaller car. Cars were very expensive for Japanese back then, and the taxes and related fees and such for larger cars like the Gloria would have been exorbitant for a typical Japanese at the time.
These cars like this Gloria were overwhelmingly sold to government agencies for the semi-big shots or as chauffeured cars for hotels, corporations or agencies, or other fleet uses. Yes, there were some private buyers too, but they would have been very affluent at the time to afford a Gloria as a personal car.
The best comparison would be a big but very low trim Buick or Cadillac from the 1940s or ’50s, at a time when their low trim cars were quite basic but large comfortable sedans, used widely in various commercial settings similar as I described above, and of course for some private buyers that could afford such a car but didn’t care to spend for the higher trim version.
Basic (low trim) large (in relative terms, as per the local market) sedans were once widely used by such users (hotels, resorts, corporations, agencies, etc.) because their (relative) size made them relatively comfortable without being ostentatious or pretentious, which high end luxury cars were. Those were commonly frowned upon by these types of users at the time. Times have changed since then…
By the late 70s, there really weren’t any directly comparable cars made in the US anymore, as it was already deep in the Brougham Epoch, when the (cheap) trappings of luxury where readily available across the board, including cars like the Valiant Brougham. That’s why Bel Airs and Biscaynes were gone, and they had not been used in the US for these purposes for a long time, although they were still used that way in Europe and other countries well into the early 70s. A bel Air in Japan in 1975 would have exuded a degree of exclusivity and prestige that was utterly unlike it had in the US.
It’s a fool’s errand to directly compare cars across continents until much more recent decades, when cars have become more globalized. Every car can only be compared to to others that it competes with in any given market. Size is utterly relative, and pricing depends on local purchasing power. A stripper Nova could be a king’s car in Africa.
But I agree, his comparison with American compacts was a put down. As a matter of fact, a 1975 Nova was very arguably a much better car in every respect than one of these. It handled vastly better, looked ten years more modern, had much better performance available, depending on engine, and was not really less efficient if equipped with a six. I’d certainly take one over this Gloria any day.
The reality is that this Gloria is nothing but a badly tarted up version of essentially the same car that came out in 1962, and was rather obsolete in almost every respect by the late 70s.
Regardless of what the great Professor Andreina said, the styling on these is an embarrassing pastiche of out of date recycled American styling cues from ten years earlier. The front end is a total rip off, and the rest of it looks like a high school art class was given some picture books of American cars from the late 60s and told to “style” a car with them.
Due to its narrow body and 1962 architecture, its interior space efficiency was mediocre at best; even a RWD Fairmont would feel significantly roomier. I’ve ridden in these when I was in Japan in 1980, and was surprise at how unroomy these so-called “large” “comfort” sedans were.
They were the counterpart to big American sedans from the early 60s, with all their attendant shortcomings: poor space utilization, primitive suspensions, dull, slow steering, mediocre brakes, and affected styling, except in this case, it would be like a 1962 Impala still being sold in 1972.
Yes, they were generally very well built, simple and rugged. That made them great for fleet use and that’s undoubtedly why they stayed around so long.
Japanese car buyers were suckers for prestige, and “large” sedans conferred that, even if in reality a Honda Accord was just as roomy inside. But then so were a lot of American buyers, until they wised up.
Leaving aside their premature birth issues, the GM FWD X-Cars made these seem antediluvian in terms of all objective parameters. Even after Toyota brought out their FWD Camry with superb space efficiency, Japanese buyers still bought these because of the traditional prestige. Japanese society is very conservative and took very slowly to the more modern FWD sedans except for some very small/kei cars.
I need to stop, but all this talk of comparing Japanese “large/comfort” sedans with American compacts is utterly futile, especially since the cheaper Americans were largely better in many objective (and stylistic) parameters.
The Japanese made great small cars that took the world by storm. But their larger cars were mostly middling, modest, ugly, mediocre and simply uncompetitive in other markets. That’s why the Toyota Crown never sold well here and was eventually withdrawn, and why the the 810 and Cressida had slow starts and never sold in really large numbers. It wasn’t until the FWD Accord and Camry came along that the Japanese finally had truly competitive and attractive family-sized sedans, with which they took the US market by storm, even if they were only also-rans at home.
These old-school Japanese RWD sedans are the analogue to the GM B/C Bodies and the Ford Panther cars: they were somewhat competitive initially, but with time they became rolling fossils, which conservative/traditional older men still gravitated to, other than fleet use.
Am with you 100% on the styling and performance but the original _Prince_ Gloria was a rather advanced car for its time (though you probably would not like its sort of “updated” 59 Buick/Corvair styling), what with a 2.5 L OHC engine, 4 on the floor box and De-Dion rear. Once Nissan took over Prince, a dilution started to take place unfortunately culminating in the better-known, long line of boring Cedrics/Glorias.
The smaller S54 Skyline GT-B was even better; I’d have one yesterday but they are out of reach now. At least that did not get degraded by Nissan…
A well-penned bio on this fascinating car – thanks!
Slightly over done aside, it’s got a fair bit of Opel Kapitan and Vauxhall Victor FD about it too
“Slightly”, you say? And “a fair bit” of Opel or Vauxhall?
One’s mileage may of course vary, but I say it’s hard to avoid a panel here NOT festooned with the imitation in shape or twinkles of another maker, as if the eventual whole was re-assembled from scrapyard all-comers by Arthur Daley’s dimwitted panelbeater.
Coming seven years after the FD though, 1975 against 1967.
Oh, again with one of these? Secret commission from the Folds and Badges lobby, have we, Doctor T? Really, you should disclose such, you know.
I still can’t see it with these 330’s. The earlier ones had restraint, and lots of niceness as the good Prof Andreina so adroitly once described, but when the ’70’s Gaud-Help-Us struck Nissan, I’m afraid this old dear let emotion win over sense, and she decided to take up naked dancing.
All the over-coating of decency and the otherwise-decent was hurled into the blue yonder, leaving us all to stare aghast at the naked truth hitherto concealed: lines, bumps, curly bits (of badges), badgers (probably), unrelated angles in inappropriate public congress, inappropriate congress in public, and general mayhem in the mind of the beholder. Some things are better left unsaid, and as it turns out, unstyled.
Still, good T, a helluva 45 y.o. find, and hidden below ground, as good taste suggests it still should be.
And despite your stills, still not sold, not to this buyer at any rate, but a nice try.
Ah, another 330! I like these more than I used to.
At the time they came across as an over-reaction to Toyota’s Kujira (S60 Crown), one model cycle too late. All fussy and rear-door-humpy at a time when even America was going simpler and straighter.
It may be a lower trim level, but you wouldn’t really know to look at it. I do like the twinklies on the grille and wheel covers, details that could only be Japanese. Seventies kitsch, or a different aesthetic sense? Both? 🙂
CC-in-scale has a 330 hardtop sedan: I don’t think the pillared style is available in kit form (though the later 430 is). But then, neither is the hardtop coupe. How different from America, where the coupe would be the popular choice.
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