stevesmax

My 1962 Prince Skyline Deluxe 1900, which ive finally got the fuel issue sorted, ended up being a blocked pipe. Decided to video the test drive. Turned out way better than expected. Will take it to the garage next week to get a wof check done to see if anything needs doing before I take it to VTNZ for re-rego with new plates.

Its always a laugh watching other people open the bonnet. Only had the boot lid lock attack me a couple of times in 20+years of owning it. Believe it or not, the factory 1900cc engine drags the 1300kg body along quite nicely. You would think 1900cc + 1300kg = gutless, but not really the case. It will certainly keep up with modern day town traffic. The only downside is they are extremely noisy and revvy at 60mph, but not so much you cant hold a conversation. I dont get the centre armrest at all, only the access reducing armrests on the wheel arch, although i do get step lamps on the side of the seat base which light up with the back doors open and cloth inserts on the door cards. The crimson coloured carpet is original, while up front I have the same vinyl mats as yours, which are now all hard and brittle. The standard '63 Skyline S21S-4 had the side armrests too, except the seats were trimmed in vinyl instead of cloth. we got both the Skyline Super and standard sedan and Skyway wagon here in 1963, and only the Deluxe sedans in 1962. When I got mine back on the road in 1992, I took it to show the original owners, who were over the moon to see it again. The man said he had something that I could have and went fossicking in the garage and bought out the factory Prince radio and toolbox, which he had kept for all those years. He said he then knew the reason why he could never throw them away. The BLSID-3 Skylines had the radio as standard where the S21D-4 didnt. Not sure of the reason for this as the Deluxe and Super were the same spec. The parts book only lists it as optional for all the S21 Skylines and Skyway wagons. I was also very lucky in that the Prince glovebox manual and a couple brochures were still in the car. And contary to popular belief, the dipswitch looking thing on the trans tunnel is actually for the foot operated windscreen washer pump. That gets a few people as well. To switch between high/low beam headligths, the column mounted light switch flicks back and forward like a modern car. The other thing ive been told to watch our for, is that the steering wheel is easily broken if used to drag yourself out of the car. I used to know an elderly man that had a Skyline Super, and he had broken about 3 steering wheels doing this.

Not sure if this is going to help, but these pics are from a brochure I have which shows the frame, although its not all that good. I scanned them for the guy in the US with the 1960 Skyline, for him to have a look at.

Sadly my Skyline isnt legal at the moment. Rego lapsed when I was in OZ 2yrs ago, the reminder came after I left and only had 12 days to get it done, so was over when i got back. Didnt think about it when I left. Tried begging the Motor Vehicle registery place, but their attitude was not our problem, you should have known. Anyway, my own stupid fault in the end I guess. In the meantime its had fuel issues, and still does. Had to have the fuel tank cut open, cleaned out and then resurfaced as it was full of what looked like paint flakes. Fuel pump has packed up, and now that ive hooked up a new electric one, it doesnt seem to supply enough fuel to the carb to go over 30miles per hour, which is ok for round town i suppose, but I live 26km from a major town. So either a bigger pump is required, which I bought over the weekend, or I have a blocked line from the back of the car to the engine bay. Hopefully its not the blocked pipe option. If it requires the bigger pump, at least ill be able to use the smaller pump for when I convert my C32 Laurel back to petrol from LPG as its the right litre/m, so it wasnt money down the drain. Colza...the top of the rear guards by the back window is a common rust place. My '62 has rust there, but not through yet. Also the seat cloth seems to be pretty resilient on these too. Mine has the same pattern and is still in good nick also, just the vinyl have a few holes from the previous owners grandkids stabbing it with a screwdriver. Being a '62 model, mine had the earlier front with the headlights as part of the guards. Watch the bonnet too, it will smack you under the chin if you are not careful as they seem to be heavily sprung, and after 30 times of banging your head on the catch on the underside of the bonnet when its open, you will still keep doing it. One of the joys of Skyline ownership. You mention on your vid about the lounge style rear seat, the front is the same. Ive always said that driving a 1st generation Skyline is like driving a lounge suite. Pleased to see its gone to a good home. My parents still have a road legal '66 Prince B200. And yes...we did have a '66 B200 Estate many years ago. Steve

The S54 6cylinder Prince Skyline GT's had front discs as standard. The Grand Gloria in Japan had them standard also. In NZ the later A30 series Nissan Gloria (1967-69) had front discs. Not sure how easy they would be to find nowdays, or if they would be an easy fit, but the A30 Gloria's were a Prince, but badged as a Nissan as they were released after the merger date.

1st owners swear they have never had an accident in it, and the 2nd owner didnt do much with it and put it in a shed. Im the 3rd owner. Is a bit rough round the edges, but still in good original condition. Even the paint still shines nicely when its not covered in dust like in the pic. The 1st owners lived on a shingle road, which is the reason the base of the bootlid and bumper valance dont have much paint left on them. The chrome on the rear bumper is pitted for the same reason. Interior is in good nick too. The top of the front seat has a couple of holes in the vinyl where the 2nd owners grandkids stuck a screwdriver through it. Being a Deluxe, it has cloth seat facings which are still perfectly intact, although a little grubby. The factory crimson carpet in the rear has seen better days. Has vinyl matting in the front which has gone a bit brittle with age.

Just to add to your post... Prince Motors and Nissan merged in August 1966. The reason for the merger was a Government initiative to make companies bigger so that they couldnt be taken over by foreign companies. The same reason Mitsubishi and Hino merged, as well as Toyota/Daihatsu. The original company changed their name to Prince in honour of the then reigning Crown Prince of Japan. The Prince name pretty much disappeared off new cars in NZ during 1967. The new shape A30 series Gloria was released here in May 1967, and badged solely as a Nissan, even though it was designed by Prince. Skylines were assembled in Japan (Glorias were assembled in Christchurch) so any badging followed the Japanese market cars, with the last of them badged as Nissans but did still retain the P symbol on the grille and rear end. The Gloria was also known here by its export name of B200. The export name for Skyline was A200. Prince cars and trucks were exported to a lot of countries round the world. The earlier Skyline wagons were called Skyway, and were sold here in 1963. My BLSID-3 Skyline Deluxe was registered new in 1962, and was 1 of 49 sitting on the wharf at Lyttelton when the first owners test drove it, still covered in protective grease. It was one of the first Skylines sold out of the first batch imported. From what ive read, Croydon Motors in Christchurch had a licence to be able to import 300 Skylines sedans and wagons, which i believe includes the S21-4 series (Kytelers model) sold during 1963. A search of Wikipedia shows the BLSID-3 Skyline at Southwards Museum in one of the pics, even though its labelled as an ALSID-2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Skyline Pic of my Skyline. Kytelers is an updated version of mine, with the different front guards, grille, bonnet and headlight position. The rest of the car is virtually the same.

CLEANING FUEL TANK FOR DUMMIES Drain Fueltank and remove tank from S21 Drop 3 or 4 handfulls of coarse chip and 2 litres of petrol into tank (only the coarse chip not the fine sand that comes with it) Shake vigorously upside down, right side up, left, right, north, south, east, west, south east, nor nor west, etc. Empty tank onto your neighbours lawn, taking care to spell "Cunt" with a capital "C" Pour 2 more litres of petrol into tank, shake vigorously, smoke cigarette, empty pertrol into toilet cistern (or behind garden shed, into your little sisters diesel Daewoo, in your ex girlfriends shampoo etc) smoke more cigarettes (repeat 3 times) Pour 2 litres of methylated spirits into tank - swish around firmly (not shake) drain meths ensuring to filter through a loaf of bread and keep the remanants for Friday night drinkees!! You now have a nice clean tank.. I recommend adding a quantity of fuel tank sealer and turn tank regularly while sealer is drying/follow instrructions on bottle of sealer. DONE!! Not quite so easy on a Prince Skyline. The drain bunghole is little bigger than a 10cent piece and actually has a small lip on the inside. Also the filler neck on top of the tank has a lip protruding into the tank also. Even the sender unit hole has a reinforcing ring on the inside that creates a lip. Would be easy to get the coarse chip in but not so easy to get it out. The guy that cut mine open said it was still full of flaky paint. I had tried for hours shaking, swishing, swearing, and only got a fraction of the stuff out.

Talking about Skyline petrol tanks......mine was full of flakey stuff that blocked the end of the pick up tube. Basically you will have to get someone to get into the tank and clean it out. Way back in the day Prince Motors decided that it would be good to paint the inside of the tank, sadly this has come back to haunt current owners (if they have been sitting for any period) and has flaked off and is lying in the bottom of the tank waiting for some movement to stir it all up. No amount of filling it with liquid and shaking it and turning it upside down will get rid of the flakey stuff......believe me....I tried...lol. I got a tank place to cut mine open either end and the bottom as it has two baffles at 1/3 the way along the tank. Have got brass patches on it now which wont be seen when its back in the car, although mine still as the funny black painted board which screws onto the tank holding straps, which hides the tank when its installed. My carb has a glass cover over the float chamber so you can see the level of petrol in the bowl. The cover is the same as the Gloria if i remember rightly. It has a line with "level" written under it and then it has "Nikki" on the glass as well. As my original GB4 engine has been replace with a G2, they must have swapped the original carb onto it.

Gloria rims are 13", Skyline rims are 14". If it helps in any way, our Skyline rims are the same size and 6stud stud pattern as the early/mid 70's Mazda B1600 utes. The only minor difference between them was the clips that hold on the hubcaps were in a slightly different place.

Hey, have been signed up here for a long time and thought it was time to share some pics. Prince was a Japanese make taken over by Nissan in August 1966, who continued with the Gloria and Skyline name. 1962 Prince Skyline Deluxe 1900cc 4cyl. Model code = BLSID-3. This was the third facelift of the 1st generation Skyline. 50 Skyline Deluxe sedans were sold new during 1962 and are said to the first Japanese cars sold in NZ. Being a Deluxe model it has cloth seats, interior lights everywhere, foglamps in front bumper etc. Still has original Prince AM radio, glovebox manual and toolbox. 1965 Prince Gloria 6. 2000cc OHC straight 6. Model code S41E-1. Is a 2nd Generation Gloria. (1st generation Glorias were just better appointed 1st generation shape Skylines) These were bought in fully assembled during 1964, and assembled in Christchurch during 1965 and 1966, and considered a bit of a luxury car when they were new.