Sitting in a hut in Shiga in 1957, Shinichiro Sakurai looked out and was impressed with the beauty of the ridge in the distance where the earth met the sky. He was so moved by this "skyline" on the horizon that it inspired him to name the new car he was working on the Skyline. This fateful day gave rise to a name that has been in continuous production for well over half a century.
The ALSI-1 series Skyline went into production in April 1957, replacing the Prince AISH-VI, which had was sold with the rather unimaginative and unevocative name of the Prince Sedan. Designed by Takuya Himura and Shinichiro Sakurai, the ALSI-1 has styling that is clearly an evolution of the AISH Sedans, though while the previous model owed more to Peugeot for it's styling cues than anything else, the new Skyline added some very 1950s American design traits to the car to totally alter it's appearance.
The front of the car is very '57 Chevrolet looking, with it's broad curved grille and big bumpers, even it's badge placement on the bonnet is very reminiscent. Along the side of the car, the big chrome moulding and factory two tone paint jobs again accentuated the American look. The back of the car even had a pair of fins co complete the faux American look.
At it's introduction the Skyline was available in two models, the ALSID-1 Deluxe and the ALSIS-1 standard sedan. The standard had a grille that was dominated by one very large wide curved horizontal metal piece in the centre, with 6 vertical stays above it. It's side strips ran straight from the back of the car to the front doors, where they dipped down into a V shape where they widened and kicked upwards, curving until they hit the front of the car. The badge on the side of the car says "Skyline".
The Deluxe model has a different grille. It does not have the big chrome bit in the middle, instead it has a pair of fog lights mounted either side just inboard from the indicators. These are framed by large chrome surrounds. The grille consists of a series of fine horizontal chrome bars. Between the fog lights "PRINCE" is spelled out in individual gold letters. Along the side of the car there is a painted strip that travels the full length of the car, gradually getting wider as it moves towards the back. This painted section is framed by a thin chrome strip surround. On the painted strip at the back the badges say "Skyline Deluxe".
Mechanically it was easily the most advanced Japanese car of it's day. It featured a double wishbone independent front suspension and a De Dion rear with the differential mounted to the chassis and a pair of half shafts going to the rear wheels. It carried over it's engine from the AISH-VI, which was the 1484cc FG4A-30 engine, producing 60hp. This gave it exactly the same power as it's only direct competitor, the Toyopet Crown, though vastly more than any other Japanese 4 cylinder engine of it's day.
In February 1959 two commercial vehicle variants of the Skyline were also introduced, these included a 3 door van called the ALVG-1 Skyway van, and a truly bizarre looking double cab pickup called the ALPE-1 Skyway Pickup. More information about these vehicles can be found in the Prince Commercial Vehicles section of this website.
The standard had a grille that was dominated by one very large wide curved horizontal metal piece in the centre, with 6 vertical stays above it. It's side strips ran straight from the back of the car to the front doors, where they dipped down into a V shape where they widened and kicked upwards, curving until they hit the front of the car. The badge on the side of the car says "Skyline".
The Deluxe model does not have the big chrome bit in the middle of it's grille, instead it has a pair of fog lights mounted either side just inboard from the indicators. These are framed by large chrome surrounds. The grille consists of a series of fine horizontal chrome bars. Between the fog lights "PRINCE" is spelled out in individual gold letters. Along the side of the car there is a painted strip that travels the full lenght of the car, gradually getting wider as it moves towards the back. This painted section is framed by a thin chrome strip surround. On the painted strip at the back the badges say "Skyline Deluxe".
The BLSIP-1 Gloria was an ALSID-1 Skyline with a bigger 1900 engine and a slightly higher level of trim and equipment. More information about this car can be found on the BLSIP-1 page.
The ALPE-1 was a decidedly odd looking double can pickup based on the ALSI-1 Skyline. More information about this can be found on the ALPE-1 page.
The ALVG-1 was a van based on the ALSI-1 Skyline. It was a 3 door van with a fold-down rear seat to give a large flat cargo area. More information about this vehicle can be found on the ALVG-1 page.
Length - 4280mm
Width - 1675mm
Height - 1535mm
Wheelbase - 2535mm
Weight - 1310kg
Top speed - 125kph
Transmission - 4 speed column change
OHV 4 Cylinder
Model - GA30 (FG4A-30)
Capacity - 1484cc
Bore & Stroke 75x84mm
Power - 60hp@4400rpm
Torque - 10.75kgm@3200rpm
Compression - 7.5 : 1
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