Nissan Patrol celebrates its 70th anniversary

The iconic Nissan Patrol celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, with 2021 marking 70 years since the arrival of the 4W-Series.

Sold exclusively in Japan from 1951, the first-gen 4W60 ─ which adopted the Patrol nameplate in 1958 in 4W65 guise ─ utilised a 3.7-litre in-line six that produced just 56kW. It ran a part-time 4WD transmission and a four-speed manual transmission.

Australia had to wait 10 years before the first Patrol landed locally in 1961, with the second-gen G60 ─ known widely as the Datsun Patrol ─ offered in soft-top, wagon and cab-chassis body styles.

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A crowning achievement of the G60 occurred in September 1962, when the Sprigg family ─ Reg, Griselda and children Marg and Doug ─ became the first to cross the Simpson Desert in a motor vehicle. The 12-day, dune-bashing journey followed a route from Andado Station in the NT to Birdsville in Queensland ─ now known as the well-trodden French Line.

The Datsun G60 Patrol featured a 92kW 4.0-litre in-line six and remained largely unchanged for the next 19 years, before the arrival of the famous MQ Patrol in 1980.

At launch, the MQ was available with either a 2.8-litre petrol or 3.3-litre diesel six-cylinder engine, and it was the first Patrol to utilise an automatic transmission ─ a three-speed unit available in the top-spec Deluxe Wagon. Four years later the MQ adopted a turbo-diesel option, an SD33T six-cylinder good for 81kW and 255Nm.

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Nissan pulled the wraps off its coil-sprung GQ Patrol in 1987, which was offered with all-new 4.2-litre petrol or diesel six-cylinder engines mated to either five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmissions. A 3.0-litre petrol six was added in 1990, followed by a 2.8-litre turbo diesel in 1995.

The fifth-gen GU Patrol arrived in 1997, sporting radical updates to suspension, chassis and driveline components. Originally available with a refined 2.8-litre turbo-diesel six or a 4.2-litre naturally-aspirated six, a turbo-charged six arrived in 1999, a ZD30 3.0-litre turbo four in 2000, and a 185Kw-420Nm 4.8-litre petrol six in 2001.

The GU was hugely popular with Australian buyers, with Nissan selling more than 10,000 units per year between 1998 and 2000, making Australia the largest market in the world for the Patrol.

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Nissan changed gears in 2014 with the arrival of the tech-savvy Y62, available exclusively with a 5.6-litre petrol V8. Unlike previous iterations of the Patrol, a heavy emphasis was placed on the Y62’s on-road performance ─ highlighted of course, by its fully-independent suspension set-up with Hydraulic Body Motion Control. The Y62 was updated in 2020 with a fresh look and the addition of vital modern safety technology.

In its 60 years on the Australian market, Nissan has shifted more than 238,000 Patrols.

“The Patrol has been an integral part in the success of Nissan here in Australia and, over the same time, has opened many new pathways for Australians to explore this rugged country thanks to its renowned off-road abilities and dependability,” said Adam Paterson, Managing Director of Nissan Motor Company Australia.

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Interestingly, Toyota is marking 70 Years of the LandCruiser this year, although the name was never used until 1953. Like Nissan/Datsun, Toyota was building Jeep-like 4x4 vehicles in Japan in the post-war era and its BJ became the LandCruiser just before Jeep filed a trademark on its name. Nissan soon followed suit and named its vehicle the Patrol.

Further coincidence is that the vehicle they are both copying, the Willys Jeep, celebrates its 80th in 2021. There can be only one original.