Meaning of "PMC.S" & "Racing Mate" ?

[Cuong Nguyen]

Hi All,

I would like to solve this puzzle of what the following stickers that I have been seeing on lots of Datsuns mean.

1) PMC.S (mostly on C10 Skylines)

2) Racing Mate (Green and white clover leaf symbol)

Thank you in advance for any information provided

[Alfadog]

Prince Motor Company ......... Skyline ? 'S' could perhaps stand fore the town where the company originated?

'Racing Mate'... not sure but the white and green clover leaf was seen a lot on old racing Alfa Romeos. Not quite sure what it meant exactly but on the later models the "Cloverleaf" spec was marginally hotter. The logo looked like this:

Did it look like that?

[HS30-H]

Hi Cuong and Alfadog,

PMC.S = "Prince Motor Club. Sports"

The Prince Motor Company, like many of the Japanese car manufacturers in the late Sixties, made their race teams like little supporters clubs. PMC.S was formed as the Prince in-house race team, and fans could join the club and get extra benefits at race meetings and regular newsletters etc.

When Prince were merged with Nissan, PMC.S became a focus point for sporting Skyline fans in particular. The Skyline factions inside the Nissan organisation kept up the traditions of the club and still used the famous white on red PMC.S stickers on their cars. Even to this day, the GT-R-supporting areas of Nissan Motor Co. are still somewhat autonomous.

That's why you still see cars with the PMC.S stickers on them ( especially on the rear quarters of C10 and C110 Skylines ).

Alan T.

[HS30-H]

RACING MATE was a driver's accessory company formed in the late 1960's by well-known race driver Mr Shikiba.

Shikiba san was famous for his part in Prince's giant-killing attempts in one of the support races of the 1964 Japan Grand Prix at Suzuka. He was driving a Porsche 904 and spent most of the race dicing with a Skyline 2000GT ( S54 ) driven by Tetsu Ikuzawa, which was giving him a fairly hard time. This was one of the drives that started the "sporty" Skyline legend. He still won the race, but Prince and then Nissan have been making mileage out of it ever since. The fact that the Skyline was able to keep up with an exotic German race-bred sports car - and even lead a lap of the race - was great publicity for Prince.

RACING MATE started out making stuff like driving gloves and gear shift knobs, then moved into exhausts and other tuning parts. However, their main area of specialisation was in driver's accessories ( race suits, helmets etc. ) - kind of like a Japanese Les Leston. They used to sponsor a lot of race cars, and that's why the four-leaf clover Racing Mate stickers became a popular add-on for sporty-minded drivers of Japanese cars.

Shikiba probably nicked the four-leaf clover mark from Alfa Romeo's 1930's racing efforts, but its always been seen as a Good-Luck charm for drivers.

Now that the company is defunct, the stickers are most often seen on old Japanese cars as a "period" accessory.

Mr Shikiba is alive and well, and sometimes works as a car tester for the Japanese magazine that I too work for - "ENGINE". He's one of those Japanese car-racing legends that are all but unknown outside Japan.

Alan T.

Edit: PS - Shikiba san got married to 1960's Hong Kong-born Japanese pop star Oyan Fifi, and they are still together I believe. He's also still an extremely cool and stylish bloke!

[Cuong Nguyen]

Hello Alfadog & Alan,

thank you for your prompt responses. I now have a much better understanding of what these two stickers represent.

Alan, your posts were very informative (as always) Thank you very much! I love the way you "teach" us new stuff everytime without fail, I LOVE it!!!

I owe you a drink or two when you make your way downunder.