Datsun 14

Datsun
	Datsun 14 Roadster
Datsun 14
Sales designation:	Datsun 14
Production period:	1935-1936
Class :	Small car
Body versions :	Touring cars , roadsters , limousines , panel vans
Engines:	Otto engine : ; 0.72 liters (11 kW)
Length:	2800 mm
Width:	1200 mm
Height:	1600 mm
Wheelbase :	1980 mm
Empty weight :
Previous model	Datsun 13
successor	Datsun 15

Datsun models had the letters DAT in the emblem . The original company was named DAT in honor of the original investors Den , Aoyama and Takeuchi . DAT happened to be the Japanese word for bunny , rabbit or "to be quick". In 1935, Nissan decided to incorporate a rabbit into the design of the hood ornament of the new Datsun 14. The Datsun designer Ryuichi Tomiya then designed a hood ornament for the Datsun 14 with a jumping rabbit, similar to the Lincoln Grayhound mascot and the later jaguar cat. However, this feature was only used in the Datsun 14.

Hood ornament in detail

The radiator grille was the only notable difference in the body compared to the predecessor Datsun 13 . Technically, however , new times began with the new Datsun Type 7 engine , a four-cylinder engine with a displacement of 722 cm³. This engine was a bit smaller, but with 15 hp it was more powerful.

Nissan had received a new president in Auykama . He was friends with the American engineer William Gorham, who had lived in Japan since 1920. Gorham was a car fanatic and had even made their own cars called Gorham in Japan . Auykama knew that Nissan still had a lot to learn about car manufacturing and offered Gorham to return to the United States and try to recruit more American engineers for Nissan. When Gorham was in the USA , he visited a recently closed plant of the American car manufacturer Graham-Paige . Graham Paige had a fairly modern factory and equipment that was now idle. Auykama acquired the manufacturing facilities and the rights to the Graham Paige Crusader model at the suggestion of Gorham.

Nissan built a new factory in Yokohama in 1934 to install the Graham Paige equipment. With this major investment , Nissan had the largest and most modern plant in Japan. The plant was completed in time for the start of production of the Datsun 14 in 1935. For the first time, a model could now be completely manufactured in a factory.

The Datsun 14 marked the high point of Datsun's pre-war era. It was made using high quality materials . The cars that followed were no longer of the quality of the 14. By the end of 1935 Japan was at war with China and many materials were therefore increasingly difficult to obtain. In the production period of the Datsun 14 from April 1935 to April 1936 a total of 3800 copies were built, 53 of which were exported. The successor model was the Datsun 15 .

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Commons : Datsun Model 14 - collection of images, videos and audio files