Novelties, melt-banana, nissan, cube, el camino, japan, jdm

Cubepage? Cubamino? Cubechero? You decide!

Ben Hsu over at Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine has become our pusherman for the weird Japanese stuff we're hooked on around here. Today he's sent in a photo of some Nissan Cubes with truck beds, which one can buy in Japan at Autobacs. According to Señor Hsu: "These were custom built by Autobacs, a Japanese big box retailer where, if you had enough cashish, you could turn your bone stock clapped-out 1989 Nissan 240SX into a full blown D1GP drift machine without ever leaving the store. One-stop shopping at its finest. They also build their own original sports car chassis, the Autobacs Garaiya." The question here is: What do we call a Cube with truck bed? There's a tenuous case for "Cubepage," because Nissan connects to Renault which connects to AMC which connects to Chrysler... but is three degrees of separation close enough?

To get us in the right mood for this, we need to purge our minds of the plain-white-rice image of relentless corporate dullness with which Toyota has saddled Japan (because, in fact, nobody does weirdness as well as the Japanese). Since you probably don't have time to read some Dazai right now, we're providing some Melt-Banana. OK, now the poll!

1:00 PM on Fri Feb 15 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,957 views
35 comments

Comments

Indiana Bento and the... at 01:04 PM on 02/15/08
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Cubepage without the P so its just CUBEage! WANT!
STORC at 01:04 PM on 02/15/08
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What about CUBRAT?
$Image of M. Night\'s The Halfshafting$ M. Night's The... at 01:08 PM on 02/15/08
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Hoju!
POLAЯBEEЯ at 01:08 PM on 02/15/08
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CUBE + TITAN = CUBAN
Number_Six at 01:09 PM on 02/15/08
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Cubepage. Must be pronounced like "triage".

So much wickedosity in one post.
POLAЯBEEЯ at 01:10 PM on 02/15/08
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CUBE + FRONTIER = C*NTIER
Indiana Bento and the... at 01:13 PM on 02/15/08
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CUBEacabra???
CafeRacer1200 at 01:24 PM on 02/15/08
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How about Cube + Jimmy = Chubby.
Tomsk at 01:30 PM on 02/15/08
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Cubechero, because of the Nissan Quest/Mercury Villager twins.
MrWizard45 at 01:39 PM on 02/15/08
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Cube + Ute = _______ Wait, no. That thing is fugly.
pcutt at 01:45 PM on 02/15/08
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Check out the treatment of the rear doors! Yep, nobody does weirdness as well as the Japanese!

I want my Cube-age and I want it now!
Maymar - now with 37%... at 01:52 PM on 02/15/08
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We've gotta think outside of the box (cube?) here. It's Japanese, it needs a weird and quirky name. I suggest the Cube Commodity Carrier (or CCC, or Cube Cubed).
beercheck at 01:53 PM on 02/15/08
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Cuballero
Nayrlladnar at 02:01 PM on 02/15/08
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Take a hint from Hummer: Cube SUT
FЯeeMan at 02:05 PM on 02/15/08
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@Nayrlladnar: just don't accidentally slip an 'L' in there.
Mad_Science at 02:18 PM on 02/15/08
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Cubaja?
Smitty at 02:20 PM on 02/15/08
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I must say that I'm not a big fan of cube cars, although I do recognize their effeciancy (aerodynamics aside). But these pickup versions look appealing.
pitchpitch Type-Я at 02:25 PM on 02/15/08
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What do the rear doors open to? Do they open at all?
rgseidl at 02:41 PM on 02/15/08
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I see no reason to treat this abomiprovement any differently that the rest of them: Cubamino will do just fine.

@ Maymar -

CCC was the name of a terrorist organization in Belgium of all places. Initially sustained by trappist beers and fries with mussels, they succombed to capitalist temptations and were eventually caught under a pair of golden arches. I don't see what the Nissan Cube has to do with any of that.

[en.wikipedia.org]
Smitty at 02:46 PM on 02/15/08
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@pitchpitch:

I presume that they open to the bed, a la Chevy Corvair pick-up ... now that was a piece of ... work.
JoSCh at 03:03 PM on 02/15/08
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@pitchpitch: Valhalla. I voted Cubamino.
yellofury * * * * * at 03:07 PM on 02/15/08
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weird I always thought Monocraft made these things not Autobacs:
???

+ Watch video
yellofury * * * * * at 03:09 PM on 02/15/08
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[jalopnik.com]
ahhhhh I see Daniel san
Ed - JapanCarBlog.com at 03:10 PM on 02/15/08
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Silly yellofury - Autobac owns Monocraft
econobiker at 03:56 PM on 02/15/08
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Cubepixup?
beercheck at 04:08 PM on 02/15/08
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Seriously, guys. No love for Cuballero? This seems like the perfect time to give the lesser known GMC sibling a moment in the sun.
yellofury * * * * * at 04:27 PM on 02/15/08
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@Ed - JapanCarBlog.com: yes i know beat me with a wet ramen noodle
POLAЯBEEЯ at 05:05 PM on 02/15/08
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@beercheck: I thought C*ntier (rhymes with Frontier) nailed it.
POLAЯFAIL.
no_slushbox at 05:12 PM on 02/15/08
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Nissan sells its pickup to Suzuki.

Suzuki had a cartruck called the MightyBoy.

==>

MightyCube
kleinlowe at 08:05 PM on 02/15/08
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They didn't even bother taking off the rear doors! Still, awesome.
Tephlon74 at 08:37 PM on 02/15/08
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@FreeMan: That's what she said.

Ah. Sorry....
turbo zero at 11:02 AM on 02/16/08
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@rgseidl: I'm liking the term "abomiprovement".
@pitchpitch: I didn't notice the rear doors before. I'd like to think that they open to reveal the rocket launchers, or better yet, the rocket booster engines.
NovaloadMissesPolar at 11:08 AM on 02/16/08
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Cube + Ute = Cuebute. If you ramp up the power you have Cuebrute. And if you're a nerd, you get a Cuebroot.
squablow at 02:12 PM on 02/16/08
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Well, the abbreviation for pick-up is PU. So I think we should call it the PUbe.
EuropaBambaataa at 04:13 PM on 02/16/08
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Cubavara? CuD22?

Actually, Nissan's car-based truck was the South African-built Bakkie, so this should be the Cubakkie (pronounced Cue-bucky).