If I could have a magic wand to steal the creativity of someone or something (as an advertiser I tell you I would love to), I would know what to steal. I would love to steal the creativity of the Nissan guys in the 90s. Their “future of yesterday” was crazy stuff, almost cyberpunk. Don't you believe it? Then you've never seen anything like the Nissan Cocoon in 1991.
But what did they do?
I don't know what ended up in the nostrils of the Nissan staff at the time, but it had to be really powerful. At that time the birth of the Japanese house's imagination was particularly rich. The Pike series, for example: I've seen Playmobil stuff with more aesthetic dignity. But nothing expressed the sense of the phantasmagoric quite as much as the Nissan Cocoon. We are in the most extreme fantasy, friends.
The Cocoon is sort of a strange minivan/wagon mash-up. Did I say “wagon”? Yes. A long, three-row, six-passenger car with a small door at the back that would open to become another outside seat, but facing backwards. I'll show you first. Ready? Here you are.
Nice, huh? Ideal for a romantic evening enjoying the queue at the Salerno-Reggio Calabria toll booth. And once folded, the additional seat simply became the internal lining of the trunk: this has its own intelligence, admit it. Look at this fantastic houndstooth wallpaper! And how the seats have folding legrests! And each seat has its own overhead ambient lighting! A plane, or rather: a train.
Cocoon: everything, more
Do you complain about the serious problem of the lack of tortuosity of the central tunnels of today's cars? Yes, I know, I'm close to you. It's a big problem, which the Nissan Cocoon solved with the most tortuous tunnel of our entire life. In a kind of long beige plastic roller coaster you can find everything, even the first concepts of LPG systems.
But we all know you're only here for the title
“Oh, Gianluca, and the part about spitting? You certainly haven't done clickbaiting, we're amazed at you!” you will tell me. And no. Simply, I reserved the best for the finale. Well yes: the Nissan Cocoon already had an embryonic anti-asleep system. When he noticed (but how? I can't find the criterion anywhere) that the driver was about to fall asleep, he spat a puff of "refreshing" liquid of uncertain composition in his face. This was all VERY '90s.
The smooth style of the supposed bodywork, the unusual proportions, the “we want the future” lines… imaginative and extravagant. He has a great personality, and recounts those years perhaps better than any documentary or film.
