First introduced in September 1958, the Prince Gloria was essentially an ALSID-1 Prince Skyline with a bigger engine and a more upmarket level of trim. The origin of the Gloria name appears to be lost in the annals of history, but it probably arose in the same way as the equally unfortunate Nissan Cedric, in an attempt to convey a high brow British sensibility by naming the car after what may have appeared at the time, to a 1950s Japanese person, to be a dignified and upper class name.
Like the Cedric, it was a naming disaster, though on a much greater scale. By combining the masculine "Prince" name with the feminine "Gloria" name it gave the car a sexually confused moniker that ensured there would be endless trans-gender and cross dressing comments made to the owners of what was in fact a very capable automobile.
The body of the BLSIP-1 Gloria was exactly the same as the ALSID-1 Skyline, only a few elements of it's trim distinguish from it's cheaper brother. The most obvious visual different is the design of the trim along the side of the car. On the base model ALSIS-1 Skyline there is a stainless steel trim that runs the full length of the car. It is fairly narrow, and it dips down to a V shape on the front door. A photo of this Skyline is at the bottom of this page. The Up-spec ALSID-1 Skyline has a white painted strip that runs along the side of the car from front to back, gradually increasing in width as it goes along. This painted strip is framed all the way aroung by a thin stainless steel strip. The BLSIP-1 Gloria has a very similar design, but on the Gloria the painted strip ends 2/3 of the way along the rear doors. From there back the section inside the stainless framed section is painted the same colour as the rest of the car. Inside this section there are badges that say "Prince Gloria". The Gloria uses the same grille as the ALSID-1, though is different to the ALSIS-1. The grille features 13 horizontal bars with PRINCE in individual gold letters at the bottom. The rear badges are located on the left side of the boot lid and say "Prince Gloria".
Inside the car it uses the same dash as the ALSID-1, but has a clock and radio as standard. The radio is connected to two speakers, which was quite novel for it's time. It has similar seats to the Skyline, but it is trimmed in a more plush cloth fabric. It has a fold down arm rest in the back.
The Skyline ran the 1484cc 4 cylinder FG4A-30 engine, which produced 60hp. The Gloria was fitted with the FG4B-30 engine, which was a 1862cc OHV 4 cylinder engine producing 80hp. Rather confusingly Prince had different designations for exactly the same engines, as a result the FG4B-30 was also refered to as the GB30 in some factory literature, though they are the same engine.
This early model was only in production from September 1958 until January 1960, when it was replaced by the updated BLSIP-2 Gloria. This first model Gloria has two headlights, it's replacement has a four headlight design.
An ALSID-1 Skyline on the left and a BLSIP-1 Gloria on the right.
The Skyline and Gloria were virtually identical cars with different trim and equipment levels.
There were no variants of the Gloria.
The Gloria used the same body as the ALSI-1 series Prince Skyline.
Length - 4360mm
Width - 1675mm
Height - 1535mm
Wheelbase - 2535mm
Weight - 1340kg
Top speed - 135kph
Transmission - 4 speed column change
OHV 4 Cylinder
Model - FG4B-30 (GB30)
Capacity - 1484cc
Bore & Stroke 84x84mm
Power - 80hp@4800rpm
Torque - 14.9kgm@3600rpm
Compression - 8.3 : 1
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