How the 'Lady got her name

[NVZEE]

Any Elizas out there? When I go in the garage, I'm reminded of the do-little part

http://petrolicious.com/articles/daily-fix/yes-nissan-named-a-car-after-the-musical-my-fair-lady

[Mark Maras]

 Thanks for that bit of Datsun trivia. Always was curious about the origin.

[26th-Z]

I don't believe the story is that simple.  The "story" is cute, quite memorable, and a reasonable sort of marketing response to the question about the Fairlady name.

 

In 1958, Katsuji Kawamata, the president of Nissan Motors, Ltd. attended the Broadway hit musical “My Fair Lady”.  It has been said that the performance influenced Kawamata san to name the Datsun brand sports car (SPL212) “Fairlady”.  Brian Long wrote in his book; Fairlady Roadster to 280ZX, “He thought people would relate to the beauty of the leading lady in the play to the car!”  Indeed.  I wonder if Kawamata san didn’t view Eliza Doolittle as a Moga; the icon of modern Japan, embracing Western culture, jazzy and sporting, stronger, showier, and independent.  I see too many parallels to ignore the inference.  Kawamata san would have been fully aware of the impact Art Deco had on the global sophistication of Japanese culture.  In the relationship between “fairlady” and “moga” would characterize the intention of Nissan at the time; to strengthen their exports with the introduction of a sports car and symbolize it with a name that promotes excitement.  The name “Fairlady” remains to this day and represents a succession of highly successful Nissan sports cars; faster, stronger, jazzy and very Western.

 

I can't think of a better place to post this: 

Deco-Japan_Release.pdf

[Mark Maras]

Thanks for "The rest of the story". More pieces to the puZZle. I love Z trivia but I fear turning into a Cliff Claven, unless it wins me a beer.

[26th-Z]

I saw the Japanese Art Deco exhibit and recognized the rabbit sculpture.  That's what got me started.  I bought a book on Japanese Art Deco and began to recognize a whole bunch about Datsun design and advertising.  Dan Banks has a wonderful collection of Datsun "art" and we discussed the correlation.  Thanks to Dan, I have reproductions of most of the posters.

 

As a student of design, Matsuo san would certainly be aware of the style.  I never got the chance to ask Katayama about his thoughts and some day I may go to a ZCON and ask Matsuo.  Makes you wonder what was influencing the lines of the S30, eh?

[djwarner]

Gee, does that mean the Datsun Swoosh predate the Nike Swoosh, call my Attorney.