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newVideoPlayer("/82_Nissan_Sentra_494.flv", 506, 423,""); Of course we realize that the books were cooked on that 58 MPG figure; the old EPA test had about as much to do with real-world driving as the image of Sea Monkeys has to do with real brine shrimp. Still, though, the '82 Sentra sipped gas through a cocktail straw, and entry-level econoboxes 26 years later are guzzling the stuff by comparison. Would present-day car buyers find this Datsun intolerably loud, cramped, and bouncy, pissing themselves in terror every time an Expedition loomed in their field of vision… and what's with the hand-cranked windows and lack of air conditioning? Yeah, a car like this would have no chance today, but let's see what happens when gas hits 10 bucks per!
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newVideoPlayer("/84_Skyline_PaulNewman_476.flv", 506, 423,""); Paul Newman did a lot of ads for Nissan in addition to racing their cars, and the association went far beyond the usual "big in Japan" deal in which foreigners make major yen for appearing in car ads, then flee back home. Nissan even came out with a Paul Newman Version R30 Skyline, which is featured in one of the trio of '84 ads here.
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newVideoPlayer("85_Nissan_Sentra_476.flv", 506, 423,""); Overhead camshaft! Front-wheel drive! Computer-controlled carburetor! Life was good back in '85, because the cheapest Nissan was also the most technologically advanced (though we're pretty sure you couldn't get the futuristic "Door Is Ajar" talking alerts in the Sentra that year). And why don't car ads have voiceovers like the Nissan Guy any more?
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newVideoPlayer("84_200SX_Turbo_476.flv", 463, 387,""); Was there any word that summed up the 1980s better than TURBO? Turbocharging was a magical thing back then, with electronic fuel injection finally making the technology work pretty well for street-driven vehicles. Turbocharged cars such as the Mitsubishi Starion and Buick Grand National let everyone know that the Malaise Era was finally over, and Nissan's 200SX Turbo was packed with all manner of 80s-tech gizmos in addition to forced induction. As the man says: "Give me a turbo and I come alive!"
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newVideoPlayer("85_Nissan_Trucks_Rodeo_476.flv", 463, 387,""); After a decade of their vehicles getting vandalized by enraged Rust Belt residents whose local economies were failing faster than the mechanical components in a Ford EXP, Japanese automakers figured they'd better start working on the whole image thing; you know, associate their products with wholesome values from the American heartland, that sort of thing. Toyota went with the happy American farmers schtick in '85, and Nissan decided to break out a rodeo theme for their trucks the same year. The "Major Motion" slogan seems to have been a short-lived one for Nissan- anyone remember it?
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newVideoPlayer("80_Datsun_210_476.flv", 463, 387,""); Red-blooded Americans normally don't give a rat's ass about fuel economy in their vehicles , but certain events in Iran made gas sippers such as the Datsun 210 look quite appealing. Every time you pass a gas station, you'll want to kiss your 210 (unless you're angry at it because there's no place to set your Big Gulp and the lack of 400 pounds of sound deadener means you're forced to hear road noise).
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newVideoPlayer("280ZX_T-Tops_476.flv", 463, 387,""); It's not possible to feel Malaise when you hear lines like "The pulsing power of a fuel-injected soul nestled in the lap of genuine leather... and, for the first time, an open cockpit to the sky!" Well, that was the hope of Datsun's ad agency when they added this ad to the "Awesome" series. But wouldn't you rather have the Black Gold Edition?
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newVideoPlayer("82_Nissan_Truck_476.flv", 475, 376,""); With Late Malaise-style 9.9% financing being hawked as a great deal (where's my WIN button ?), the furrin-soundin' name "Nissan" replacing the old familiar Datsun, and an absurdly optimistic claim of 43 highway MPG (hmm... didn't crack cocaine first start getting popular about this time?), the '82 Nissan pickup presented a bewildering mix of pluses and minuses for prospective truck buyers... most of whom went out and bought Toyotas. Still, put a 20mm cannon in the bed and the simple, reliable Nissan pickup would fit right in any warlord's motor pool!
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newVideoPlayer("73_Datsun_610_476.flv", 475, 376,""); We've seen a '73 610 Down On The Street , and it didn't seem particularly luxurious. Quirky Japanese styling, yes, but luxury? You did get a lot of stuff not available on Detroit's econo-cars of the era (independent rear suspension, for example), but Nissan was claiming only 25MPG for this thing?
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newVideoPlayer("81_Datsun_10s_476.flv", 475, 376); We were going to make this an all-Toyota, all-Late Malaise Classic Ad Watch week, but if we have to hear the "Oh, What a Feeling" song just one more time we won't be held responsible for our actions. So howzabout we check out a Late Malaise Datsun ad today? This one features some actors with frighteningly blue eyes, a mackin' ladies' man who- for reasons best known to himself- takes his harem out car shopping and buys a fleet of Datsuns instead of, say, a Rolls, and references to the then-two-year-old film 10 .
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Remember those crazy "beehive" hubcaps on the old B210 ? And that moldy-mustard yellow color they all seemed to have? Well, this 1976 ad reminds us of one reason the homely little Datsuns sold so well.
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