Abandoned cars, by their very nature, lose their prime mission as a means of transport, but they do become an important fixture of any streetscape they inhabit. Take this Laurel hardtop, for instance: its days of ferrying passengers may be long gone, but if it were not frozen stuck to this rather nondescript alley in Western Tokyo, the neighborhood would be all the blander for it.
Of course, I bet nearly all the local inhabitants would describe this mummified Laurel as an eyesore. Well, they do have to look at it every day getting progressively worse and reminding them of the inexorable march of time. But for those of us who just come for a quick one-time visit, it sure adds a Medalist to the surroundings.
Nissan’s use of the English language is always surprising. Who else would have picked Cherry, Caball, Fairlady or Cedric as nameplates? “Laurel,” for its part, has the distinction of being utterly unpronounceable by almost all Japanese folks. But it’s in their sub-species appellations that Japanese automakers really waxed poetic: Toyota coined Super Lucent and Avante Lordly, Mazda offered a Bongo Friendee, Mitsubishi came up with the Flying Pug… Nissan decided that the term that best conveyed a sense of occasion and excitement was “Medalist.” And they stuck with it for quite a while, too.
Nothing shiny about this particular Medalist any longer, sadly. As decorated as it was back in its heyday, it’s now much more of a piece of street furniture than anything else. Even its colour seems to have changed to help it blend in with its surroundings. They should have called it Laurel Chameleon.
This is the special “20th Anniversary” limited edition of the Laurel, launched in the spring of 1988 to commemorate the start of the nameplate’s third decade in the range. These were all crammed with as many extras as possible, including leather seats (a rarity in JDM cars), and all sold in Pearl White with a special fluorescent resin clear coat. It appears said special coat does not age all that well. And the Pearl White is now more of a Diseased Oyster Beige.
Unfortunately, the interior was full of junk and not photo-ready. Here’s what a non-Medalist car’s dash would have looked like in its prime. The engine specified for limited edition Super Medalists was either the 2-litre twin cam turbo V6 or the 2-litre RB straight-6. Our feature car likely has the second option, otherwise it would have a different rear badge.
Still, with only 1200 units made, it’s a pretty rare version of the C32 hardtop. Nissan made over 250k of this 5th generation Laurel in total between 1984 and 1988 (this includes both hardtop and pillared saloons; a trickle of the latter carried on for taxi companies until 1993), but there are not many to be seen in the present day. This Laurel might be wilted and overtaken by fungi, but it’s not like I have a whole garden of them to pick from. Younger generations (especially the C33 and C35) are still pretty green, being sought-after by the boi-racer crowd for their Skyline-esque RWD layout and hot 6-cyl. engines.
But the C32, it seems, is a little too square and old to appeal to the youngsters. Skylines of this vintage are a dime a dozen around the country, it must be cool to fit in with a crowd.
The Laurel just doesn’t have the same appeal – at least, not this generation. Otherwise, someone would have snapped up this one a long time ago and I’d have photographed it as it cruised around Harajuku in gold-flaked paint and silly wheels. I’d rather see it wither away like this, adding character to the cityscape, than fart-canning its way to an undignified end around a light pole.
Related post:
Curbside Classic: 1987 Nissan Laurel (C32) Saloon Grand Extra – Worshipping The Ruler, by T87
I love it! It looks very similar to the same era Cressida.
That’s a nicer shape than the Y30 Cedric it follows. I’m not sure what the rat rod scene for 80’s Nissans is like over there, but that looks like a great candidate as is.
Looks like the engine has been yonked out judging by how high it sits in the front. Looks a lot like the USDM Maxima, the boxy FWD one, about 85 to 88.
Although Im sure this is RWD and was a lot more fun to hoon around in on a snowy or rain soaked road.
Good call on the word “Laurel” being all but unpronounceable. Those among you who were fans of “Drawn Together” will surely remember Ling-Ling and his shampoo debacle.
That is a fantastic design to my eyes. I love the look and would buy something like that. The grill, back end and lines from front to rear look great.
Im not sure of the various trim levels Laurels came in but this shape was on the roads here when I returned to NZ, not many about now though and most that do appear for sale seem to be in the same condition, worn out inspection failures, well past their prime.
Of course I had to look it up, and it seems the Japanese pronounce that unpronounceable name as Nissan Rōreru. Wonder whether that held back sales over its platform-mate Sukairain (Skyline)? Actually, Japanese car names are often strange in having difficult-to-pronounce names, like this or Celica, or Prelude, or Galant – all have that awkward letter ‘l’. And why wasn’t the Cherry called Sakura for the JDM, one has to wonder? Well, that’s if you overthink things like I do…
I see this era as being something of a Dark Age for Nissan design. Ultra-square to the point where the only curves seem to be on the wheels and wheel arches. I remember when I first saw a photo of the concurrent Skyline and thought “Oh no!”
A pretty good gauge to the popularity of old cars among the young Japanese is whether they’re available in kit form. Although the equivalent Skyline (R31) is available in scale, and preceding and subsequent Laurels are, this one is skipped over. I didn’t even know it existed until you found this.
And a limited-edition top-line model too!
And “Roreru Medarisuto” sounds like someone burping and excusing – doubt many would’ve wanted a Nissan Belch-Pardon.
Given it’s now 36 years old, and someone’s nicked the motor, its decrepitry isn’t terminal, proving it to be a fairly hardy Laurel.
I do like your last line, btw, Dr T.
Always great to see a Laurel on CC, even in decrepit condition. Surprisingly Nissan NZ sold the C32 new here in pillared and pillarless form, with the L24 or VG30 engines. A lot more used examples arrived over the years, although as Bryce says, not many left now. The pillared sedan does nothing for me, especially the narrow-track live-rear-axle models, but the hardtop can look quite decent on in dark colours – especially the fabulous chocolate brown Nissan offered at the time. BBS wheels help too.