This is an installment in a series of posts looking back on show cars that we feel deserved a little more attention than they got. If you have a suggestion for a Forgotten Concept topic, please shoot us a line or leave a comment below.
Nissan AD-2 Concept
First Shown
1977 Tokyo Motor Show
Description
Luxury sedan design concept
Sales Pitch
“Ultimate luxury sedan”
Details
First seen at the 1977 Tokyo Motor Show, the Nissan AD-2 was a luxury-car design study, and possible template for what was to become the brand’s Maxima premium sedan. The AD-2’s hard, creased edges and wrap-around rear glass were, indeed, harbingers of design trends to come, though not necessarily at Nissan.
Apart from the tech-forward cabin elements, revealed only by way of drawings—the car’s interior was not on display—the AD-2 was fairly conventional. The rear-drive sedan’s power came from the maker’s L28 6-cylinder engine displacing 2.8-liters and producing an estimated 160 horsepower. The right-hand-drive AD-2 Concept was not, to the best of our knowledge, seen at any U.S. auto shows. Note that in 1977, the Nissan brand was still known as Datsun here in The States.
Forgotten Concept: Ford Probe III
CG Says
To these eyes, the AD-2 appears to be two separate concept cars joined in the middle—the front and the rear, especially in profile, seem completely unrelated. That’s okay though, as the design itself is bold, and at the time was breathtakingly modern.
What impresses us is how much later Pontiac models would look as if influenced by the AD-2, especially the front clips. And, it’s worth remembering that the Pontiacs in question, the J2000 and the 6000, were very modern looking when introduced.
Had we been consulted, we might have tried to squeeze an AD-2 cameo into a period science-fiction film, perhaps the James Bond thriller, Moonraker.
Nissan AD-2 Pictures
(Click below for enlarged images)
