Nissan never were never really into show cars or concept
cars throughout their classic era. Since the first motor show was held
in the outdoor venue of Hibiya Park in Tokyo in 1954 Nissan had a habit
of displaying either production cars, pre-production cars or race cars,
but never a fully fledged show car. The show cars that they did display
were things like the CSP311 Nissan Silvia prototype or the SP310 Datsun
Fairlady prototype, but while these cars drew huge crowds of spectators
they differed from being a regular show car in the they were cars that
were about to go into production rather than just a flight of fantasy by
a designer that never had a hope of reaching production.
What they did display quite proudly was their race cars. Towards the end
of the 1960s cars such as the R380 series of Japanese Grand Prix winners,
and speed record breakers, occupied pride of place in Nissan's display
area. These cars were special enough that they replaced the need for a
show car, plus true to Nissan's philosophy the performance of the cars
were more impressive that the racer's sleek lines.
By the time of the 1969 show Nissan had become the only Japanese
car maker that didn't have a modernistic show car on display. Honda, Isuzu,
Mazda, even Daihatsu all had concept cars on display that year, but worst
of all Nissan's arch rival Toyota fielded a pair of stunning concept cars
in 1969 in the form of the Toyota EX-III and the Toyota EX-I that literally
stole the show. They had no choice, Nissan had to respond the next year
with their own car of the future concept.
What they came up with for the 1970 show was a real stunner, which went
by the name of the Nissan 126X. The 126X had some of the most extreme wedge
styling ever seen in a show car, with a straight line from the front of
the car to the top of the windscreen, and then from the windscreen to the
back of the car was close to being completely flat. Instead of having a
conventional door arangement the car had a lift-up canopy arrangement where
the windscreen, roof and the panels right down to the sills were all in
one piece which lifted up, being hinged at the front just under the windscreen.
The car's other odd feature was the wide strip that ran from
the windscreen down to the front of the car. This section contained ten
coloured lights, with three red, two yellow and five green lights. These
lights lit up to indicate what the car was doing at the time. If the car
was accellerating then the green lights lit up, if the car was slowing
down then the red lights lit up, and if the car was cruising at a stable
speed the yellow lights would light up. This feature alledgedly existed
for the benefit of pedestrians, to let them know what the approaching 126X
was doing.
Mechanically the car had a three litre version of the Nissan
L series six cylinder engine, which was mounted transversely at the back.
The engine was cantered at an angle to get it to fit under the low engine
cover. Whilst it may have had an engine in the back there was no evidence
that the cars was actually capable of moving under it's own power, this
was purely a show pony.
I can remember having a Matchbox Toys model of this car when
I was very young, which gives you an idea of the impact this car had at
the time. A British toy maker building a model of a Japanese show car would
have been unimaginable only a few years earlier. |
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1970
Nissan 126X Specifications
Length - unknown
Width - unknown
Height - unknown
Wheelbase - unknown
Weight - unknown
Top speed - unknown
Transmission - unknown |
Engine
Specifications
Model - L series
OHC 6 cylinder
Capacity - 3 litre
Bore & Stroke - unknown
Power - unknown
Torque - unknown
Compression - unknown
Fuel system - unknown
Final Drive - unknown |
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