I'm just fnishing off my reserach on the history of the Skyline - right back to the Tachikawa Aircraft Company who made the Zero fighter airrcaft.

 

....... which is where the "Z" came from for the later production cars

 

That explains some of the kamikaze driving I've seen from you lot. :tongue: :tongue: ;)

 

- right. Time for my cocoa and medication, and I'm off to bed. :D

Shame that Prince (the company which manufactured Skylines) was nothing to do with Datsun at the time :nelson:

Prince and Datsun were completely separate companies.

 

On December 26 1933 Jidosha Seizo Co Ltd, Nihon Sangyo Co and Tobata Imono Co, merged. On June 1 1934, Nihon Sangyo (Nissan) became the Company's sole owner and changed the Company's name to Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and in 1966, the Prince Motor Company Ltd. was merged into Nissan Motors Ltd.

 

The first 240Z was released in 1970.

does anyone know what the Prince Motor Company actually did as my 300 has a Prince badge in the back?

In 1952 the Tachikawa Aircraft Company made its first production car after demand for it’s Zero fighter all but dried up and it was de-merged from the Fuji Sangyo conglomerate. The Tama electric car hardly set the world alight at the time but, fortunately for us all today, they later decided to branch out into petrol-engine cars. Today there exists the New Tachikawa Aircraft Company – making aircraft parts for the modern industry, including seats for the new Airbus.

 

The Tachikawa Aircraft Company launched a car called the Prince in honour of Crown Prince Akihito’s birthday and, in 1955 changed the company name to Prince Motor Company. Fortunately for us they also stopped producing electric cars at about the same time.

 

Many years later with post-war rebuilding still under way in Japan, many outside investors saw Japan as a good opportunity and the number of hostile take-overs was beginning to cause concern for the government of the day. As Toyota merged with Hino and Daihatsu, so in 1966 the Prince Motor Company Ltd. was merged into Nissan Motors Ltd.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

There is a Prince museum in Japan. If you're interested the GTROC are organising a trip in late 2005.

 

Some links for you:

Timeline of cars

Prince and Skyline virtual museum

Who where Prince..

 

Err they made sewing machines and electrical motors. I know this as my parents sold them in the 50's

ahh there was me thinking the Z stood for zonking as in the jap ZZR motorbike...the zonky zonky racer

:)

I thought that Z symbol (Japanese Z which has the - going through it) was very simalar to our infinate sign.

However where our infinate sign just mean never ending, in Japanese the Z sign means the very last or ultimate as in nothing can be better.

And theres me coming along to confuse the Z - infinity thing even more

 

:D a lot of Nissans are branded as Infinity in the US too