In sharp contrast to the spotless, grandiose public museums of some other car manufacturers, Nissan’s DNA Garage is tucked in a corner of the Zama Operational Center behind the rather nondescript closed doors of a giant--somewhat ramshackle--warehouse.

The Nissan collection within, however, is far from ramshackle. Inside the poorly lit garage, some 400 cars and trucks are parked, row upon unceremonious row in most cases. Vehicles range in age from Nissan’s first vehicle, the 1933 Datsun 12 (produced when the company was known as Jidosha Seizo) to the brand-new Nissan GT-R. The vehicles are primarily used for parades and other such events.

We recently spent some time in the ovenlike DNA Garage; below are some photographic highlights (in random order) of what we saw. Hover your cursor over the photos for descriptions. For more information, check out Nissan's Web pages about its collection (some of the cars pictured are too fresh to be included on the site):  http://press.nissan-global.com/COMMON/HERITAGE/database/en_index.html