Nissan Caball
The Nissan Caball is a light commercial truck manufactured by Nissan Motors from December 1957 until December 1981. The Caball was mainly sold in Japan, Hong Kong, South East Asian countries, Australia, New Zealand, and few European countries and shared the Nissan Junior platform. While the Caball name came to an end in 1981 with the cancellation of the Junior, its larger replacement received the Nissan Atlas name in the domestic Japanese market. These are 2–4 ton trucks, the lighter versions in the Atlas truck range took over after the lesser Cabstar/Homer. In Japan, it was available at Nissan Store locations and replaced by the Nissan Atlas.
Nissan Type 80
The "Type 80" was the first cab-over truck that Nissan produced. It was built between 1937 and 1941, during the time when Nissan was under a joint venture with American Graham-Paige. Thus, the Type 80 shared a modified version of the chassis from the Nissan Type 70 sedan but was lengthened and made heavier. Its cab design was patterned after the Federal COE truck of the same period.As it was a truck, the Graham-Paige rear axle was not enough to support the payload the truck was going to be subjected to so it was replaced by a locally built heavy-duty rear axle. Apart from the standard platform truck, it was also available in many other body styles such as a van, fire truck and bus. The truck was utilized by the military during the Second World War, alongside other models from Toyota and Mitsubishi.
Nissan would not produce another cab-over truck until 1957.
First generation (C40)
First appearing in December 1957, the Nissan Junior Caball began as a cab-over version of the B40-series Nissan Junior. Like the Junior, the Junior Caball used the "1H" four-cylinder engine, developing at 4,400 rpm. In August 1958 the C42 version was released, with power up to. The C43 was released in 1959 with a new grille design that was larger and filled the space between the headlights. The cabin air intake used on the C40 and C42 was gone, with cabin air directed through the grille itself. Also gone was the interior floor hump, the C43 now featured a flat cabin floor in front of the seat. The cabover approach was used because of Japanese Government dimension regulations, which dictate how long a vehicle can be and how wide so as to stay within favorable annual road tax obligations.Second generation (C140)
The C140 was introduced in April 1960 and continued in production until replaced by the C240 series six years later. While almost identical in appearance to the C40, it featured an all-new 1.5-litre G-series engine also seen in the Cedric. Power was up to at 5,000 rpm. There was also a bus version called the Echo, which was introduced a month before the Caball. This was the first Caball to see export markets outside of Asia, reaching a certain level of success in Australian and Central American markets. There were also VC140 and KC140 versions available.In 1962 the C141 Caball was introduced, which is when the "Junior" part of the name was dropped and the truck simply became the "Nissan Caball". Like the C40 and C140, the C141 is based on the Junior 40 pickup. While the 1.5-litre "G" engine remained available, the main engine was now the 1,883 cc H engine, offering. In 1963 the Caball underwent a major change, with the front sheetmetal replaced and with a more bulging, "droopy-eyed" appearance. There was also a QC141 version available, featuring a 2,164 cc SD22 diesel engine producing. Now based on the Junior 41 pickup, the C142 was released in late 1965 with few changes from the C141, with the "1900" badge replaced with a "2000" badge. The grille and mirrors were also different. The G and H engines were replaced by the 1,982 cc H20 engine, with. This was the last Nissan vehicle where the doors were hinged at the rear.