This Strange Nissan Concept Had An Innovative Feature We’d Love To See On A New Truck – SlashGear

Originally Datson (with an ‘o’), Datsun became the name used by Nissan for all vehicles exported from Japan between 1958 and 1986. Before we had Nissans in the US, UK, and Europe, they were known instead as Datsuns. The brand was temporarily retired in 1986 when Nissan instead opted to use its own name across all markets.

Meanwhile, the Datsun Truck was born in 1934 and revived after World War II in 1946. The truck was continually upgraded through the next two decades, including Nissan’s overseas expansion with the Datsun brand. The Japanese company switched from Datsun to Nissan in the US for the 1985 model year, but it combined the names into Nissan Datsun for its trucks.

By now, Nissan was selling the D21 truck (known as the Hardbody in the US), and it is this vehicle on which the Flex Cab was based. An interesting option in the US market was the King Cab, which was priced at $15,792 (undercutting Ford by $1,000) and included a pair of fold-down seats facing each other in the back of the cab.

Nissan had a truck with a regular single cab and the larger King Cab, but what about something that could offer both layouts? This is where the Flex Cab comes in, based on the D21 and revealed as a concept in 1991.