In April 1968 Nissan presented its new Laurel in four-door deLuxe and Super deLuxe versions, both equipped with a 1.8 L inline-four engine and independent rear suspension. In June 1970 a two-door hardtop coupé joined the lineup, as a junior version of the all-new Nissan Cedric/Gloria coupe, and one year later a 2000 cc engine became available in the four-door sedan as well. Its competitors at introduction were the Toyota Corona Mark II sedan, the Isuzu Bellel, and the Mazda Luce which was introduced in 1966. The Laurel did not sell as well as expected, largely because the design was too similar to that of the smaller, cheaper Bluebird (C30) which was developed as a competitor before Nissan bought Prince. This car was developed by the Nissan Tsurumi vehicle development team, but the C30 Laurel was fitted with the Prince four-cylinder SOHC engine, the G18 of 1,815 cc capacity. Conversely, the GC10 Skyline 2000GT was developed by the former Prince Ogikubo vehicle development team but was fitted with Nissan’s L20 six-cylinder SOHC engine. The suspension is the same four-wheel independent system that was fitted on the C10 Skyline. The Laurel Hardtop model was equipped with the SOHC 1,990 cc 110 … Continue reading Datsun Laurel 1968-1972 (C30)