This 1990 Skyline GTS-t Reminds Us There’s More to JDM Than The GT-R

I know the global motoring community tends to scratch their heads at us crazy Americans getting all excited over average-ish cars like this week’s found in the classifieds. Wait a minute - did I just call the Skyline average? Yes I did, because ‘90s Skylines are pretty much the Japanese equivalent to ‘90s Mustangs in the States. They’re pretty cool and they can be plenty of fun, but they’re freaking everywhere.

Everywhere, that is, except the USA. Our 25-year import rule sucks, but in some ways it brings new life to cars that might not ordinarily get such spotlight. I think the non-GT-R Skylines like this 1990 GTS-t Type M for sale in Florida fall into that category. What’s not to like about an RB20DET and a five-speed manual turning the rear wheels on a Japanese sedan? I’ve always been one to look left when everyone is looking right, and right now all the JDM fans in America are all giggly over the R32 GT-R. This GTS-t has all kinds of fun factor, and since I’m not a GT-R fanboy, I’d take immense pleasure in turning this rear-wheel drive sedan into a GT-R killer.

I think the asking price is a bit steep at $13,900, but it’s not like you’re going to find another GTS-t at the dealership down the street. Plus it’s already my favourite shade of blue, and it’s a Type M which means five-lug wheels and better brakes. This one is also listed as having a limited slip diff, and it wears some GT-R body panels for a muscular look. It only has 31,000 miles, and per the walkaround video it sounds like it’s in good mechanical shape. Still, that’s little comfort because both the video and the ad leave much to be desired when it comes to condition. All the more reason for a healthy test drive.

Still, you might be thinking that $13,900 doesn’t sound steep for a GTS-t Type M with such low mileage and GT-R styling cues. Take a close at the photos however and you’ll see all kinds of paint blemishes, among them a driver-side rear door which appears to be flat blue. There’s some obvious damage on the driver side rear quarter panel as well, and my concerns extend to the interior. Clearly it has an aftermarket steering wheel so who knows how many opposite-lock episodes it may have endured in other cars. I’d guess a lot, because it looks terrifically worn, as does the handbrake.

Admittedly such things are hard to judge accurately through photos, but the interior wear combined with the exterior faults are cause for a bit of concern. For starters, it doesn’t look like a car with 31,000 miles. By no means am I suggesting the dealer is guilty of rolling back the odometer - I have no idea on the laws and regulations for such tampering in Japan, but this car was certainly purchased long-distance so I suppose anything is possible. Another possibility is that it was wrecked and rebuilt, but again, I don’t know the process for indicating such things on an import like this.

A third scenario - and I suspect this is the likely one - is that it just lived a hard life. The short YouTube video description does mention the car is “tastefully modded with drifting in mind.” Methinks this GTS-t might have been tastefully drifted from time to time, perhaps even tastefully drifted into something that required a new driver side rear door. Honestly, as long as it was looked after mechanically, I don’t mind such activity. Probably because I’d be doing the same thing as this car’s new owner.

If I were selling the car I’d spend the extra cash to mend the paint and body issues. They’re extremely rare here in the States, and I bet you could easily get the investment back plus a bit more. But if someone is looking at this as a potential drift car, I suppose such things are less important than scoring this car for a good price. And I gotta say, even with those exterior flaws I still quite like it.

GTS-ts are fairly common around the world, but if you could buy this car in America for $13,000, you’d have a cool, rare four-door JDM fun machine for a pretty reasonable price.