It would be interesting to hear a Japanese person say “Cedric Brougham”. It is even more interesting to hear their idea of what a Brougham is. This is (I think) the last Japanese-made Brougham – even when it came out in 1991, it must have looked a bit dated. But perhaps this was the intention.
The Japanese love to adopt new foreign fads, but in doing so, they make them very Japanese and transform them beyond recognition. For instance, when the Americans “opened up” Japan for trade in the 1860s, they introduced the Japanese to beef. Nobody was eating beef in Japan in those days – an ancient taboo in many parts of Asia. Now, we have wagyu and kobe varieties of that most un-oriental of meats. They took it, ran with it, made it theirs and created something new. The same thing happened with trains, whisky, pastry, Buddhism, animation, uniforms and industry, among other things.
So when faced with America’s infatuation with “Broughams” (a term that is impossible to translate into any known language), Japanese automakers studied what the Big Three were using to define the package and translated it into their car culture.
Gaudy chrome grille with stand-up hood ornament – check. Plush interior with full carpeting and soft seats – check. Fat upright C-pillar with model’s logo and (possibly) padded vinyl roof – check. Writing the word “Brougham” in mock-18th century longhand script on the rear of the car – check.
The vinyl roof never made it to this Nissan, but it did invade Japan in the ‘70s. Thankfully, doing “Broughams” was just a side-line for Japanese automakers. Their bread-and-butter (or rather rice-and-fish) were smaller cars and mini kei cars. By the late ‘80s, most big Japanese cars had lost the American-tinged style of the previous decade. Even Americans weren’t that keen on American cars any more by that point anyways. Nissan Cedrics of the period were kind of cool hardtop sedans with large engines.
But Toyota and Nissan, the Coke and Pepsi of the Japanese car industry, both realized that their bigger cars were getting too big and complicated for a key demographic: taxis. The taxi trade wanted a big car with a small engine, lots of room, a low retail price and simple mechanicals. Toyota would ultimately respond with the Crown Comfort. Nissan just decontented the Y31 Cedric and launched the Crew.
1988-91 Nissan Cedric Y31 hard-top sedan: our feature car’s direct ancestor.
The Cedric nameplate lived on in several forms, not unlike the Toyota Crown which begat a whole family of cars. The Nissan Cedric Y31 “hardtop” was discontinued in 1991 to be replaced by the new Y32 model. This Cedric line continued until 2005 (Y34).
The Y31 became a conservative alternative to the new Cedrics. It was a squared-up car with 2- or 3-litre V6 power, but also with several levels of trim – from “Cedric” plain and simple to Custom, Super Custom, Classic SV, Brougham and VIP Brougham. Our car is the Brougham, and therefore a high-level trim, but not the super-duper DeLuxe long wheelbase VIP.
It also seems that Nissan stopped making this car. I went to Japan a few months ago, and can report that it is still very much in taxi use, as it replaced the Nissan Crew (discontinued in 2009 and getting scarce in the streets of Tokyo now) as the only RWD alternative to the ubiquitous Toyota Crown.
I found this one in my township (read: district) of Rangoon. The streets are filled with JDM imports here, so a few of these roam the roads of Myanmar. This car was probably never a taxi. It was likely a fleet car for a big company or municipality. These cars are near worthless in Japan nowadays. The Japanese government has put a very aggressive cash-for-clunkers programme in place, which practically forces people to buy new cars every five years or so. The old cars are usually exported throughout the Asia-Pacific region at extremely competitive prices. This contributed to Samoa switching to left-hand traffic in 2009. Some Y31 Cedrics were exported in LHD to China and Russia in the ‘90s.
In Myanmar, people drive on the right. But because most cars are Japanese (either JDM or Thai-made models), about 90% of cars are RHD, as is the case here. A real boon for road safety. Seems you could also order these with a column shifter, which I did see a few times in taxis around Japan. Not much point to it though, as there is no bench seat, unlike the older Crowns I remember taking in Hong Kong.
The last Nippon-made Brougham seems to have been put to rest in late 2014. It was probably time for it to go. It will remain a fairly common sight in the streets and roads of Asia and Russia for some years, but it is already sorely missed.
That logo is awfully close to Lincoln. I love looking at Broughams, even if there’s something lost in translation.
Lovely looking Cedric. I’ve never understood why Nissan never sold the Cedric here in the USA, either as a Datsun, or, by this time, a Nissan. There are a lot of Japanese cars I’ve heard of that for some reason were never sold here in North America, not even the USA.
My guess is that a considerable number of JDM cars didn’t meet U.S. regulations, including those for safety and impact resistance.
I did not know that Japan produced true four door hardtops until perusing the pages of CC. I’m quite disappointed that they were never offered in the U.S., but my guess is that these designs, which dated to the ’70s and ’80s, could not meet U.S. side impact regulations, and it would have been difficult to modify a small and lightweight (by American standards) car with inherently weak design to meet the standards.
Yeah lots of them cant be exported Subaru for example their early Legacys dont have side impact beams NZ assembled Legacys did and have a promotional sticker in the back window saying so.
The other consideration for a lot of Japanese big cars, simply from a marketing standpoint, is that by American standards, they were still not that big and were quite narrow. An ’80s Cedric/Gloria or Crown wasn’t meaningfully wider than a Camry and was a bunch narrower than something like a FWD Buick Electra. A Ford Panther was something like 10 inches wider. So, American buyers would probably have perceived them as sort of a Japanese Cutlass Ciera or Skylark — a miniature brougham.
Agree with the safety reguations, but there are a lot of JDM cars that are also downright strange. What with the Japanese (mostly female) infatuation with “kawaii” (cute) things and mangas, there are some really bizarre cars being sold there. And then there are all the kei cars, which are way too small for Europe or the US.
Japanese automakers probably know their markets, and they have decided to limit their range of models for export. That’s a good strategy. And there are a lot of American cars that are never exported either, for similar reasons.
As to this particular model, the Y31 Cedric, much as our little crowd of CCers here may find it appealing (and it most certainly is), Nissan probably figured that it was a non-starter for US/EU consumption due to its super-conservative nature. It would have stuck out of Nissan’s line-up like a sore thumb.
The motoring press would have ridiculed it for its dated underpinnings, its name and its image. Average US buyers of the non-CC kind would have mocked it as a miniature Town Car. Average EU buyers would have laughed at it all the way to the dealership next door. That’s why they only exported these to China and Russia: customers there would have been receptive to the looks and the straightforward mechanicals, given the domestic competition.
Another comment further down said that this was the Japanese Crown Vic. To an extent, that is true, but I think this can also be seen as the Japanese GAZ Volga.
I appreciate a safe car. In fact, I’m all for safety. You’d have to be suicidal not to, or worse.
Maybe because it looks, to me anyhow, like a gen 1 Toyota Avalon with a fat lip.
I respectfully disagree with that assessment. I find it way more attractive than the 1st gen Toyota Avalon. I don’t know why it was never imported to the USA. I believe it would’ve made a good competitor for the 1st gen Lexus LS400.
How does a Japanese car get a very British name like “Cedric”?
Nissan had been a licensee of Austin Motors, and when they decided to launch their own line of upscale cars, they wanted it to have an upper-crust British-sounding name. Unfortunately, Cedric is not a very dynamic name, and was not exactly an inspired choice. Which probably explains why they dropped it in export markets pretty early on.
Because it is English and sounds English. Who would ever buy a car called ‘Joe’?
“Joe” would probably be an excellent name for a tough, stripped down, no nonsense, no bling, non-luxury and genuine off road utility vehicle, like the original concept of the Jeep.
You could also have an extended wheelbase version called the Big Joe, and make a camo version with no amenities whatsoever and a rubber floor called the G.I. Joe.
Joe’s your buddy, there for you in times good and bad. Everybody likes Joe. Joe’s the man.
And then eventually there’d be a fancy, more formal version with leather and available in darker color, perhaps with a pinstripe. The Joseph.
If the line is successful, there will be a smaller version, maybe a compact two seater called the Joey or Little Joe.
Or how about one catered to woman called “Josephine” or “Josie”?
Laughing my head out. What if it were German made? Josef, Johan, Sep and Johanna spring to mind.
… And if it were a poverty version assembled in Israel, Yossi.
There could even be a version for the Middle East with the little curtains for the back seat passengers – The Youssef.
But if the Joe really takes off it could become it’s own sub-brand eventually. There could even be another new model called the Tony, likely more athletic (sporty) and on a different platform than the Joe but a good companion for the garage. Kind of a like a 911 and a Cayenne. The possibilities are endless.
Nissan had a thing for this sort of name – there was also the Bluebird and Fairlady, probably also some I am forgetting.
I remember seeing those on the road. IIRC there was a nice metallic navy blue.
Can’t forget the Gloria, the sometimes-platform-mate of the Cedric. The original Infiniti M45 was a Gloria with Infiniti badges in place of the Nissan ones.
The Japanese brochures always puzzle me. English, Japanese, logos, translations, etc. etc. etc.
Cool car, too. Strange that it never was offered in the U.S. where Broughams have always been so popular. I love seeing the right hand drive models – I’ve always wanted to drive one but never had the chance to do so. I bet Cedrics looked somewhat dated even when they were new. Now they have a somewhat nostalgic look to them.
I’ve always interpreted Brougham as being a higher or highest model, luxurious in its undertones and usually very plush. Some other names and models I’ve always associated with Broughams have been Limited, Regency, GLE, LS, Park Avenue, Fleetwood, Biarritz…..to name a few.
For those who may not be aware, this week it was announced in Japan that Renault-Nissan had taken a majority stake/controlling interest in Mitsubishi Motors.
When I was in Japan in the 80s, I was surprised to see that the “Tier 1” Japanese car manufacturers had several different sales outlets and each had their own line of cars. Conversely, the smaller car companies had several “non showrooms”, that is they operated out of small buildings that looked about the size of gas stations.
This proliferation of models on numerous different platforms is what almost sank Nissan 20 years ago. There were (apparently) no economies of scale.
Could almost see myself owning a Y31 Cedric, almost.
The many sub-lines and showrooms have always confused me greatly. I know Honda was notorious for this, and I imagine Toyota and Nissan were just as bad.
I like it. Nice proportions, and those heavy chrome pieces add satisfying mass to what would otherwise be an ordinary-looking sedan. Sort of like the difference between a ’51 Olds 88 and 98.
I have never seen a Cedric in person, and probably never will, but despite that, I love them. However, like you said, since most of the information about them is in Japanese, they’ve always been very mysterious to me. This was a terrific piece to read.
This Cedric seems like an early-’80s era Maxima, that was updated to be more Americanized rather than more sports-sedan-ish… and then frozen in time for the next two decades. What’s not to love about that??
When I saw this article’s title, though, I didn’t REALLY think the car was actually labelled as a “Brougham.” I never knew that the term Brougham ever made it out of North America, but come to think of it, I wonder if any other Japanese cars were so named?
Thanks for the great piece, here.
Not Maxima they are based on the Laurel which uses a lot of Skyline parts.
Uncanny timing. Yesterday I saw a photo of a boxy Japanese car in the book “Idea Searching” by David Bramston. I had no idea what it was but I loved its square look and formal roofline. Today CC does an article on the very car! Superb!
As usual, good work, CC. Thanks.
So this was basically Japans Crown Victoria no?
Could be argued, yes, See my rant above.
Can I asked you for a post summarizing a little what the car scene looks like in Burma? Are the little Mazda trucks used as taxis anywhere to be found, or have they all been replaced by second hand Japanese cars and Chinese imports?
I am preparing a series on the Burmese car / transport scene. Just collecting interesting pictures at the moment, this needs to be done right…. Occasionally, if I find something too interesting to ignore AND I have some way to take pics (such as this Cedric), I will do a standalone CC.
The featured car looks like a copy of a Mercedes W201 or W124 in the grille/headlamps/turn signals/hood area.
That’s what I thought it was when I glanced at the picture. I was thinking that the wrong picture was placed in the article!
These Cedrics are a trim level of the Nissan Laurel range they’ve been in production for decades, The Cedric badge appeared in the early to mid 60s on cars Nissan inherited when they merged with Prince, These cars are quite well known in NZ they arrive exJDM by the boat load or did before the new import safety regulations kicked in now ex JDM cars leave for Samoa with people returning home, the best engine availeable in these was the LD28 the smoothest running diesel six your likely to trip over Nissan cars get turned into drift cars fitted with turbo gas engines and the diesels are harvested to repower almost anything, heres one fitted to a 86 Ford Falcon ute along with Nissan five speed transmission the guy who owns it has the same powertrain fitted to a 48 F1 Bonus pickup both are turboed and produce similar hp and torque as my 1905 PSA diesel and excellent fuel economy.
The Gloria was the Prince model, not the Cedric, and the two lines were originally competitors, completely mechanically unrelated. Nissan didn’t merge with Prince until 1967 and those two lines didn’t merge until 1972. The early Cedric also predated the Laurel by something like six years. The Laurel was created in the late ’60s to fill the space between the Cedric and the 510 Bluebird.
The Cedric/Gloria twins use a bigger platform than the Laurel/Skyline/Silvia. The CedGLo’s platform-mates were the Y33 Leopard, Y32/Y33 Cima and FY33 Infiniti Q45.
It looks like a Japanese Reliant/Aries to my eyes.
Are you kidding me? I think it looks way better than the Aries/Reliant, and I’m reckoning way better quality.
It’s also RWD, which of course the K-cars were not.
I know. Which is all the more reason I like it. There are some FWD cars that I like, and there are some FWD cars I don’t like. While I liked the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon, I never liked the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant.
I love it! Old-school boxy styling and a luxurious, comfy looking interior. Sure is a nice change from the overwrought SUVs of today.
I like it. I find it more attractive than what was offered here in the U.S. at the time.
Cerdic was import into US in 1960s, just like Toyota Crown. But both quickly realized these cars were for American. I think these cars were designed with mid-level mercedes in mind. I always want to drive the Cerdic and Toyota Crown Comfort to see how they behave. I guess they are better than the full size front wheel drive of GM i. 2000s. One thing i am zure they are better built and much more reliable. I was once told the 1990s Crown diesle taxi in Hong Kong could run up to 1 million km.
That’s unfortunate. I believe it would’ve showed the American car buying public that they can build larger cars than Z cars.
I think Toyota and Nissan probably made the right choice not pushing the bigger cars too hard at that point. (Even when they were exported to the U.S., that wasn’t where either American organization spent their marketing dollars.) Smaller models were an easier sell with less direct domestic competition.
That may be. But I believe had Nissan and Toyota offered the Crown and Cedric in North America, it would’ve shown American buyers more options. Not everyone needs a Datsun PL510 or even a 610. Sometimes a buyer needs, or wants something larger than that.
Toyota did offer the Crown here for a while — the last was the weird-looking S80 series of the early ’70s — for exactly that reason, but decided that interest didn’t merit the extra U.S. certification costs. Of course, the S80 was sort of a duck-billed platypus of a car, style-wise, so it wasn’t necessarily a natural step up for a Corona or Mark II buyer.
The S80? I thought it was the S60 series. I think it was the MS80 that replaced the MS60. While its size was similar, it was better looking overall than the MS60.
I’ve been in a Cedric taxi in Osaka – very roomy, smooth and very quiet.
I do admit to liking the upholstery of the Cedric. However, if you are going to do a brougham, hire Lee Iacocca to do it right.
Great article. I’m currently working on a Nissan Gloria post which as you know is the sister model to the Cedric since 1971. Both great cars. There are still quite a few Cedric Broughams in taxi and corporate fleet use here in Tokyo. The Y31 Gloria with the VG20DET engine is the Impala SS of JDM models and is still very sought after.
These were made in Nissan’s large Musashimurayama assembly plant which is now closed but is only about 30 minutes from our home.
Great read, Tatra87. I would love to read that article on the Burmese (or should that be Myanmarese?) car scene.
If someone has already addressed this, I apologize. Why are most Japanese market car badges in English?
They often look as great and stylish as American 50’s and 60’s badges but the best looking ones are on cars that never left Japan – old Skylines, Galant GTOs, Crowns, Corolla Sprinters (in pic), etc. Some really rare ones that made it here, like Cosmos and Coronas, were as popular in Japan but still had the 60’s American-like font.
The Joe – it already exists except it is called…Landcruiser.
I’d say you’ll find most of the Cedrics in Russia are likewise RHD variants, imported via Far Eastern Ports (Vladivostok). Out there, you will likewise find a car landscape that is 90%+ RHD due to these imports, although some wealthier Russians who had acquired a taste for Land Cruisers by way of JDM imports now buy them in LHD guise.
In Australia the early sixties one was called Cedric, and got laughed at for that reason. Then for a while it was the 2300 Super Six or Personal Six, then got the alphanumeric 240C label in the early seventies, bringing it into line with the hot-selling 120Y, 180B and later 240K. The last one sold in Australia was the ’79-83 430-series 300C, not a great seller.