Started as a luxury sedan and ended as Godzilla. It wasn't available to most of us for decades,
but it's an icon around the world. An evergreen star of video games and movies, Nissan Skyline
is the quint essence of forbidden fruit.
In the late 90's Japanese import culture exploded and suddenly posters of JDM cars covered American teenagers walls:
Supras
RX7's
300zx's
3000GT's
MR2's
s13's
s14's
Integra's
Eclipse's
Civic's
But for many, one car stuck out
twin turbo, all-wheel-drive, it looked like a buff Maxima, and we weren't allowed to have it.
This is everything you need to know about the Nissan Skyline in less than 10 minutes.
First things first, the Nissan Skyline wasn't always a Nissan it was a Prince.
What is a Prince you ask?
Well in the years following World War 2 Prince Motor Company was mostly
known for making electric cars, but in 1952 they moved away from electric and they asked
engineer Shinichiro Sakurai, the godfather of the Skyline, to create a luxury car to
rival the European and American brands of the day. Over the next decade the Skyline
would undergo a number of iterations, so would the Prince Company. 1966, Prince was acquired
by Nissan, all of a sudden Skyline was a Nissan.
Fun fact, according to insiders the Prince team operated almost completely independently within Nissan
'til the R34 was phased out in 2002.
May live in your house Nissan, but you are not my real dad.
You're not my dad! Ugly a**...
In 1969 shit got real, team lengthen the nose of the Skyline so they could fit
the S20; This is a six-cylinder, 24 valve, twin-cam, triple two barrel side draft badass,
that made 160 horsepower at 7000 RPM. They called it the Skyline Gran Turismo Racer or
Skyline GTR!
It transformed the car over night and immediately started embarrassing the Americans
and Europeans on the touring car circuits. The GT-R was successful enough to warrant
a second generation just three years later. Nissan wanted to present the car as having
an exotic, American vibe. So they marketed it with a series of amazing commercials starring
two American lovers named Ken and Mary.
Ken
Mary
Ken - Mary
Mary-Ken
American
Huh!
From then on the second generation GTR was known as the kenmery.
Now this car is a legend and its bad as f@$!, but unfortunately
bad as f@$! cars from the 70's ate a lot of gas and the gas crisis happened right after
the car was introduced. That made the GTR badge disappear for about a decade. The GTR
may have been dead but the Skyline soldiered on with the R30 generation.
It's a good looking car,
Boxy.
The R30 RS-X Turbo was a mainstay of the Super Silhouette races of the 1980s.
Later, the R31 GTS-R was purpose-built for Group A racing and won a ton touring car
championships in Australia so not sweating it.
As the eighties continued gas crisis disappeared, Japanese economy recovered, Nissan got more money, and they were finally able to focus
on the GTR brand that they abandoned a decade earlier. In 1989 the Skyline R32 GTR debuted.
It had a straight six, two turbos, all wheel steering, and four wheel drive. This is the
beginning of the Skyline that most of you guys know. This is the beginning of Godzilla.
Fun Fact, although the R32 was listed as having 289 horsepower, it really had closer to 320.
This was part of a gentlemen's agreement between all the Japanese OEM to not brag about their
horsepower. Around the time that the R32 debuted drifting started taking off and Nissan had
a Skyline for that too. The GTS-T was basically the same as the GTR, but it was rear wheel drive.
Which means it's good for skids around the corners
linking it.
The R32 kick of the 90's which is the golden era of Skylines. The R33 and R34 only cemented the dominance of
Godzilla!
The changes between this three generations are minimal, they lightened up the front end,
improved structural rigidity, moved the battery to the back, made the hicas electric, and improved
aero and updated the cosmetics. This is the Skyline we fell in love with.
This is the car that made it a legend. This is the reason for Brian O'conner/Spilner.
This is what many people picture when they hear GTR.
During this time Nissan made a number of low volume high-performance variance of the GTR.
Nismo, Nissan's racing divisions turned the R33 into the 400R. A 400 horsepower GTR.
Huh
Later the R34 got the M-spec and V-spec Nur editions.
Now it's the late nineties
R32
R33
R34 have made the GTR a legend. People are importing them
to the UK
to Australia
to New Zealand,
but if you live in the States you cant have one unless you're Paul Walker.
"dude I almost had you."
In 2001 Nissan updated the Skyline to the V35.
No longer a straight six now it's a V six, and hey we even got it in America
as a naturally aspirated two wheel drive Infiniti.
"dumbass"
Sweet thanks. For now, the GTR was dead again.
Or was it?
In 2007 Nissan announced it wasn't dead and it was coming to America.
And it was twin turboed and it was all wheel drive and it's not a Skyline.
It's just the Nissan GTR. looks kinda like a fat 350z. Is it a Skyline? Is it a continuation of the
legendary Godzilla? Let us know in the comments. If the there is other things that you think
people should know. Let us know. If you like this format let us know what you want us to cover
If you hate my face, let me know. If you want me to die, please tell me how.
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