NSJK ZMII, 1960-1968
By the 1960s, NSJK (now Zenshi) has gathered the attention of more or less the entire nation thanks to the success of their small variety of cars, ranging from the compact and practical ZM1 to the flexible and sturdy Taiko Duty Truck. Around this time, the company began stirring up new ideas for additions to their vehicle lineup, one of those ideas being an affordable, practical car that is effective in carrying small cargo as it is in carrying a family. This idea resulting in the ZMII.
From a design standpoint, the car was to be the larger younger brother to the ZM1, and uses a similar design to it front-wise. Despite being slightly larger, the design ended up flowing well towards the vehicle’s presence.
Rear-wise, to support the idea of the vehicle being reliable with hauling a light cargo load, the vehicle was designed gave the air of a utility hauler, with design cues similar to the vehicles designed by Taiko. The hatch opened sideways, like a door, to make for near-effortless levels of accessibility.
Powering the ZMII was a cast iron 900cc I4 with 2 valves per cylinder making a decent 40 HP. The engine was mated to either a 2-Speed Automatic or a 4-Speed Manual transmission.
The ZMII proved to be a great addition to NSJK’s progressively growing lineup as it combined practicality with utility without overstepping one or the other. Eventually, NSJK created other variants of the ZMII to add more variety within the model, such as a sedan or an expanded cargo version with a longer rear trunk area. The ZMII ran for a healthy 8 years until it was eventually replaced with the Luris, which at that time split from it’s Axia trim to become two separate models entirely.