I had never heard of the 1973 Nissan ESV before, but I accidentally bumped into a couple of photos on the Nissan Newsroom website. In the early 1970s, the Japanese government forced automakers to invest money and time into vehicle safety and Nissan announced in 1971 it would create the ESV. Apparently not only Volvo was doing experimental safety vehicles, but the whole of Japan. The result of that push can be seen in the two ESVs Nissan created.
The E2 was aimed more towards absorbing impact energy:
1973 Nissan ESV cutaway drawing
This cutaway drawing gives me more questions than answers. What is the deal with that Pedestrian Safety Device? Is that a bull bar to ensure pedestrians are flipped into the air over the car to ensure they don’t hit the windshield?
What do a Honda Today police car, Nissan Skyline R30 and Nissan Homy have in common? They are all driven by the police in You’re Under Arrest! And what do they use them for? To catch yakuza and young thugs walking waving their (paintball) guns around like it’s a featherduster! In this video I’ll spot all the cars and some motorcycles in the fifth part of this Dark Horse publication.
You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima
You’re Under Arrest was one of the first manga the young Kosuke Fujishima started to draw. As he was obsessed with cars and motorcycles this became the cornerstone of this manga series. The manga mainly involves the fictional Bokuto Police Station in Sumida, Tokyo. Two female police officers, Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa, are the main characters and both are clearly petrolheads. Miyuki is the more intelligent of the two girls and, next to her police officer job, she’s also a vivid (amateur) mechanic. She loves tinkering with cars, engines and motorcycles. Natsuki on the other hand is the brute of the duo and favors motorcycles over cars.
In this manga you can spot five cars and various motorcycles. The Honda Today police car is their daily patrol car and also received some love and attention from Miyuki. Yes it can keep up easily with a Lancia Delta Integrale. Another police car can be spotted: a Nissan Skyline R30. As this is supposed to be a high speed patrol car its origins were probably with the highway patrol units and later on this car trickled down to the local police station. Another interesting car to be spotted is a Nissan Violet T11 (also knowns as the Stanza or Auster).
The Ah! My Goddess manga may have made Kosuke Fujishima (world) famous, but it’s origins lie within the You’re Under Arrest manga. In one episode Natsuki and Miyuki encounter a goddess and this story inspired Kosuke Fujishima to create the Ah! My Goddess manga where the goddess Belldandy meets the student Keiichi Morrisato. I have also created a Manga Car Spotting episode for this series some time ago.
You can find the video and the high resolution scans of the panels containing manga cars below:
This (nowadays) very rare second generation Datsun Violet is not for the faint hearted as its original color has been replaced by bubbly brown patina:
The Datsun Violet 160J SSS A10 was sold in Europe with the twin carbed L16T and was top of the line Violet back then. Given the state of this Violet now I reckon it should be currently at the bottom of the line. ;)
Can it really be that bad? Yes it can! Just take a look on the other side of the car: Continue reading
Get ready for the most gruesome carnage from Seibu Keisatsu! (Western Police) Disclaimer: the two videos are not suitable for fainthearted J-tin enthusiasts!
In part 2 even more oldskool Nissans will be killed. Be prepared for tens of Glorias/Cedrics to be killed in a useless five minute slowmotion fight against a dirt truck in a mine field! Continue reading
The Violet from last monday made me think about its rally heritage. The Violet A10 was Nissan’s most successful rally car and the later models were powered by the LZ20 DOHC engine we know from the Nissan Super Silhouette Formula cars. Back in 1982 Nissan still appreciated their rally achievements and showed it with this TV advertisement:
The video starts with a the normal Gazelle S110 RS commercial, but shortly after that it shows the Nissan Violet A10 splashing through a big muddy pools and going sideways on the fourth Safari Rally. As a bonus it gets followed by another Gazelle S110 RS commercial! Probably they couldn’t get enough of that 4 valve FJ20E engine of theirs! Now that is appreciation! :)
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
