Nissan Cedric 1900 de Luxe - Beautiful baroque is not ugly
The modesty at its best, this Nissan Cedric from 1965. Because apart from the nameplate on the bulkhead, it is nowhere proud to carry its brand name. However, it is precisely this that ensures that he unintentionally gets all the attention. Because bystanders are hopelessly stuck in identifying the baroque sedan. A car that was shipped from Australia last year. The owners had to, since it is barely in the wild on our continent.
Text & photography: Aart van der Haagen
At the time of this Nissan Cedric, that is to say the period 1960-1965, Nissan had very few activities in Europe. Although it started to explore Scandinavia with more compact models. Even dared to release the baroque styled sedan on the Greek consumer. The copy of Iwan Vlaar and Patrick van Els can therefore be called a fairly unique item. They searched for it for years. Caught blunt twice and it wasn't until 2018 that the quarter rolled their way. This happened from accidental contact with an Australian. After convincing the other party that they would take good care of it, the men made a successful bid.
45 years in possession
It was one of the last Cedrics of the 31st Series, delivered on September 17th, 1965 to Mr. E. Morris of Richmond. This Mr. Morris owned the Nissan Cedric 1900 de Luxe for 45 years. Never even removed the plastic covering the trim. During the import process after a long and expensive boat trip, a remarkable fact surfaced according to Vlaar. “In Australia, cars were not registered by chassis number, but by engine number. So if the block has ever been changed, go to the RDW to prove that the papers actually belong to the car. Fortunately, that turned out to be all right for us. ”
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Wall outlet
Who dares to claim that Japanese cannot produce good designs? Certainly, designers of this Nissan Cedric 1900 de Luxe were inspired by American and European colleagues. But they also looked at the art together. There is a beautiful, balanced and richly decorated whole, with balanced chrome decorations. Tinted glass enhances the luxurious appearance. It is only one of the countless luxury or ingenious applications on board. Cover caps over the clasps to prevent freezing. Four vent panes. A pendulum hole for the engine behind a folding license plate. A lever to pump the gasoline to the carburetor after a long standstill. A radio with an electric antenna. An extensive stove ventilation system with even a recirculation position. Everything bears witness to attention to details. In the glovebox there is even a socket to connect accessories via a separate plug from Nissan.
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During a driving impression, the Nissan Cedric shows that the brand in chassis technology was not yet at the forefront. But the smooth 1900 engine with 95 SAE-hp is full of zest for life and does not panic about making many revolutions. By the way, there's nothing like the exotic idea that this Cedric was designed on the other side of the world. And that most people who now admire him have never seen him in real life.
Just a nice car, and how many European brands did have a good chassis at the time? Only the more expensive models. Of course the DS and a little later the Peugeot 504 (not the L with 404 chassis) in the more affordable segment.