The Prince Motor Company ( Japanese : プリンス自動車工業株式会社 ) was an automobile marque from Japan which eventually merged into Nissan in 1966. It began as the Tachikawa Aircraft Company , a manufacturer of various airplanes for the Japanese Army in World War II, e.g., the Ki-36, Ki-55 and Ki-74. Tachikawa Aircraft Company was dissolved after the war and the company took the name Fuji Precision Industries. It diversified into automobiles , producing an electric car , the Tama , in 1946, named for the region the company originated in, Tama , using the Ohta series PC/PD platform. The company changed its name to Prince in 1952 to honor Akihito's formal investiture as Crown Prince of the nation. In 1954 they changed their name back to Fuji Precision Industries, and in 1961 changed the name back again to Prince Motor Company. In 1966, they became part of Nissan, while the Prince organization remained in existence inside Nissan, as Nissan Prince Store in Japan until Nissan consolidated the Prince dealership network into "Nissan Blue Stage" in 1999.
9-562: The Prince Homer was a small commercial vehicle manufactured by the now integrated Prince Motor Company . It was available as a van, called the Homy , a double cab, or regular cab truck. The first model was known as the T64, and was sold as the Prince Homer or PMC T64. The T640 was introduced in 1966 and was sold as a Nissan (without any modifications aside from badging) due to Prince merging with Nissan. It
18-657: A van version. The Homer was sold in Taiwan by Yue Loong , originally as the Yue Loong YLN-251 . The T20 Homer was introduced in 1972, replacing the T641. The T20 used the same grille as the previous model, but the front signal indicators were taller. T20 production ended in 1976. The final Homer, the F20, was produced from 1976 to 1982 and had all-new bodywork. In September 1979 the F21 was introduced,
27-702: The Nissan Caravan and the Nissan Laurel , a four-door sedan platform mate with the Skyline, on which Prince had begun development before the merger but was introduced after the merger in 1968. Prince had also begun development on a small car to compete with the Toyota Corolla and Nissan Sunny , but after the merger, the car was introduced as the Nissan Cherry using front wheel drive . The former Nissan Gloria and
36-657: The Nissan Skyline are known in the US as the Infiniti M (2003 - 2004), the Infiniti G (2003 - 2006), and the Infiniti Q50 (2013+). Up to 1961, Prince used a four-letter model code for its vehicles. The first letter stood for the engine code (A was 1500 cc, B was 1900 cc), the second letter stood for the chassis model, the third letter stood for the body type (S for sedan, T for cabover truck, V for van, P for pickup truck and so on) and
45-831: The new model could pass the 1979 emissions standards and had also received a light facelift. The F20 version was also sold as the Nissan Cabstar in Japan (Datsun Cabstar abroad). Production ended in February 1982, when the Homer line was subsumed into Nissan's own new light truck, the F22 Nissan Atlas . Use of the Homer nameplate continued in Taiwan by Yue Loong on the F22 Atlas and on the Nissan Caravan E23 minibus ("Homer 747"). The Homer T640
54-684: Was first fitted with the 1,484 cc OHV G1 engine found in the Prince Skyline 1500 . In 1967, after the Nissan-Prince merger, it was refitted with a single carburettor version of the Datsun Fairlady's 1,595 cc in-line four R16 engine. The "T20" model produced from 1973 to 1976 was powered by the J15 engine (1,483 cc) or the J16 engine (1,567 cc). The "PF20" model with a 1,982 cc H20 engine
63-657: Was introduced in 1968 and the slotted grille was replaced with a new 'cat-whiskers' grille. It was rebadged as the Nissan Homer for the Japanese domestic market, and was marketed in Europe and Australia as the Datsun Homer . There was also a Van version, codenamed V641. While the T641 was in production, a 1.25 ton version was built, called the T642. Unlike the T641, the T642 was not available in
72-560: Was produced from 1976 to 1981, and the final model, the PF21, was produced from 1980 to 1982. Prince Motor Company Prince had success building luxury automobiles. Among its most famous car lines were the Skyline and Gloria , both of which were absorbed into the Nissan range and continued after their 1966 merger ; however, Prince also built the 15-passenger Homy which was eventually shared with
81-539: Was shared with the Nissan Cabstar which was sold at Nissan Bluebird Store Japanese dealerships. Production of the T640 ended in 1968. The Homer was exclusive to Japanese Nissan dealerships called Nissan Prince Store , when Prince was merged with Nissan in 1966. The Homer name was discontinued in 1982, while the Cabstar name remained when Nissan refocused Nissan Prince Store vehicles as private purchase products. The T641 Homer
#123876