(Cropped) Snapshot From 1967: Quick; What’s The First Car That Comes To Mind? (Updated)

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I can’t resist these old automobile Annuals. Today, we’re back in that magical year of 1967, when so many brilliant new cars appeared: Camaro, the second Mustang, the all-new Eldorado, and this car. Quick, what is it? It’s so familiar. Isn’t it?

The all-new Nissan Gloria A30, looking ever so much like the all-new 1967 Valiant. Except those stacked headlights, which of course were also to be found on the Valiant’s big brother Fury.

And its not only their looks that are similar. Their size is almost identical, and both sport six cylinder engines; the Nissan a 2.0 L with 107 hp, the Valiant a 2.8 L with 115 hp. Top speed for both is listed at 160 kmh (97 mph). Obviously, their intended mission in life was very different.

Although given the Nissan name at the last minute, the A30 Gloria was intended to be the Prince Gloria, but the merger of Prince and Nissan in 1966 meant that both the Gloria and very similar-sized Nissan Cedric/Datsun 2000 (above) were sold side by side. No mistaking the Pininfarina-designed Cedric for a Valiant though.

The Cedric was hardly “original” too, being a Pininfarina design. That always meant sharing one’s nlines with others. In this case, there’s more than a hint of Peugeot 504 here. Since the 504 came along two years later than the Cedric, Pinifarina’s work was already evolving, and it shows.

And the front end is very apparent here in the Austin 3 Litre, another vintage Pininfarina job. Want original? Head to Citroen.