The Nissan Skyline, and how it would put Japan at the top of the car industry for years to come

So, the Nissan Skyline, a car that has been made since 1957 under the name Prince Skyline. Originally a luxury car, it first debuted in 1957, producing a spitefully slow 60BHP that revved to the tremoundously low out put of 4,400 RPM. It only sold in rather large numbers and totally didn’t catch on.

Fast forward a bit and we arrive at the hustle and bustle of 1964. Prince wanted to go and fight the Germans, and because the air was being taken over by the Americans and Russians, they decided to destroy them on the track. This meant that Prince needed a racing car, and boy oh boy, they came right through. Known as the S54 2000GT, it produced 123 BHP at 5,600 RPM. Not only that, but it used disc brakes for the front wheels, virtually unheard of in the Japanese car industry. It also featured a limited slip differential, 3 Carburetors, and a 5 speed manual Gearbox. Only 100 of these where made, mainly due to homogolation reasons.

In 1968, Nissan decided to take off the Prince badge and pit on the Nissan badge instead. This era of Skyline was known as the C10. In 1969, something extraordinary happened. Nissan revealed a little known performance model known simply as the GT-R. Named the PGC-10, it was later nicknamed by fans and designers as the Hakouka. Hako translating into block, and Suka translating into sky. The GT-R used a 2.0L DOHC S20 I6 that produced a healthy 160 BHP, and 180 NM. Originally a sedan, it was later converted into a coupe. It racked up 33 victories in two years and celebrated its 50th race win in 1972. Unfortunately, Mazda’s new and improved RX-3 would end that victory streak in the same year, but the GT-R became a feared name on the track. It also was the very first Japanese car to feature disc brakes all around.

Nissan was on a roll, and they wanted to continue the GT-R name (more on that later) but first, we need to talk about the standard C110. Introduced in 1972, it was shortly nicknamed the Ken and Mary, Kenmeri, and sold an amazingly huge amount of 670,562 cars. Nissan has done it, it had sold more then double its predecessor had, and wasn’t just on a roll, it literally was the car. Even the Japanese police used it as there squad car. It even sold well in Australia, where most people bought the Ford Falcon XB, and sold for a reasonable 5000 AUD. In 1972, the GT-R version was introduced, running the same S20 I6 that produced 160 BHP. In 1973, the GT-R ceased production and would be a dead name for nearly 18 years before a car so fast on the track, referred to as Godzilla, would grace our pages and bring down Mercedes, Ford, and BMW.

In 1978, the Nissan Skyline C210 was introduced. It’s high output model, the 2000 GT-EX was favoured by the Japanese police and was the very first skyline to contain a turbocharged engine. Nissan also ditched the S series engine, replacing it with the now famous L series. It didn’t sell as well as the C110, but it did surpass 500,000 units, so I mean…

In 1981, the Nissan Skyline R30 was introduced. It sold quite badly and barely surpassed 400,000 sales, making it one of the slowest selling Skylines. Luckily, Nissan decided to bring back a sports model, known as the RS. Powered by a DOHC FJ20E, that produced 148 BHP at 6,000 RPM. In 1983, an even hotter, faster model was introduced. Known as the RS-X, it came with anti- skid control (predecessor to the ATESSA E-TS system). It also had Air Con, and an awesome Spoiler. The anti skid system was known as Super Hicas, and helped the vehicle in high speed cornering by allowing a certain wheel to control more power. The R30 also reintroduced Nissan to Motorsport, and to Bmws fury, Nissan would win the 1986 Australia Manufactures Championship. There was also another version of the R30, one so special that it will probably never be seen by many of us CTzens. It’s the Group C turbo silhouette. Producing 450 BHP, it was possibly one of the scariest things to ever graze upon FIA. Even it sponsor, Tomica, seemed to be for younger children. The car was so special, Paul Newman sponsored a version of it (he also has a salad dressing company that’s damn good).

1986 saw the Nissan Skyline R31, a car that sold decently well but not well enough. The R31 introduced the amazing RB series that would power generations to come. This time Nissan would go insane and boost the road going R31 to 208 BHP. Known as the GTS-R, only 823 were built, allowing homogalation, and the chance for Nissan to race in group A. It’s bitter rival was the Ford Sierra RS500, boosted by British firm , Cosworth. Even though the racing version had 430 BHP, was a huge amount, the equivalent Cossie had an entire 110 BHP on the Skyline and the Holden V8 Commodore had 70 more horses. Seems right for the Skyline to have lost most of its events right? Well, that wasn’t the case. The Skyline would win the 1989 Sandown 500 and the 1990 Australia Touring car Grand Prix, even if the final race of the 1990 Australia Touring car Grand Prix would be won by the new R-32.

In 1988 Nissan introduced the R32, featuring a tuned version built by Autech. The Autech would feature and RB26 that produced a healthy sum of 212 BHP. In 1989 Nissan reintroduced the GT-R name, and started the launch off with a Nismo version of the car. Nismo, which was a small firm dedicated to motor sports would help launch the car. The GT-R was supposed to only produce 276 BHP, but a group of journalists discovered that it was actually running around 316 BHP. It could sprint from 0-60 in 4.7 seconds and did the quarter mile in the modest time of 12.8 seconds. When Nissan designed the car, they had the Nurburgring lap record set in there minds, and with 2 turbochargers strapped to the RB26, this was an easy goal indeed. The car that has set the record had been a Porsche 944 with a quick time of 8:45. What nobody would have known was just how much faster the GT-R would be. It set the stupidly quick time of 8:20. Not content with just embarrassing Porsche on the Nurburgring, the GT-R would take 29 of 29 races in the JTCC championship. Even better was the fact that the GT-R was then introduced the Australian Touring car Championship, and finally besting the all mighty Ford Sierra Cosworth. The GT-R was so fast, that it quickly became apparent that Group A would be scraped. The car was just too good. An Australian journalist nicknamed it Godzilla, and the name stuck. Towards the end of the Skyline R-32s life, Nismo released the special edition Nismo GT-R. Producing 500 BHP, the car was a monster. The car even had a V spec version that came with special BBS wheels. The V in V spec stood for Victory. Even the mid spec GTS-t produced a healthy 212 BHP with the help of good old trusty RB20DET.

In 1993, the Skyline R33 was introduced, being slightly heavier then the previous generation. It scored a 3.8 out of 5 in a crash test, making it the highest rated Skyline in the event of a crash. The GT-R came after the P.Ride 280 Type MR, producing 298 BHP, powered by the all new RB28DETT. In 1996, the GT-R was reintroduced and managed to beat the R-32s Nurburgring time by 23 seconds. It was equipped with an electronic Differential, Atessa ET-S, and Super HICAS. The R33 was not as good as the R32 in Motorsport, being beaten by the F1 GTR. The R33 was said to be the very first production car to beat the 8 minute mark on the Nurburgring. In 1996 Nismo introduced the 400R, producing 400 BHP. The GT-R was heavily favoured by racers on the Wangan, and set a record at Sendai raceway. Another less known limited edition model also appeared, with only 12 made. It was known simply as the LM. It also raced at Le Mans in France. All models of the GT-R made 302 BHP.

In 1998, the last of the RB series was introduced. Known as the R34, it’s mid range GT-T model had an equal amount of power to the R32 GTR. In 1999, the GT-R named reappeared, and something extraordinary happened. Jeremy Clarkson liked it. It was one of the very first Japanese cars Jeremy liked and he had good reason to like it. Producing 276 BHP (yeah right) it was actually running around 329 BHP. Clarkson described the GT-R as mind melting and physics bending. The GT-R came in 11 varieties, the top of the line being the limited edition Nismo Z tune that was producing 497 BHP. There was also the special edition V spec Nür’s to celebrate its victory at the Nurburgring. It was made all the way up to 2005. Because the R34 would be the last Skyline to bear the GT-R name, all customers received a photo album dedicated to the GT-R. When Jeremy Clarkson first drove the car around, he compared it to the likes of a Japanese stereo. He was quoted to have said “this is a British amplifier, it is very elegant, very stylish, and very simple, with just one knob, and it makes a lovely smooth sound. Very nice, now this is a Japanese amplifier, look it’s got a button here for adaptive control, and another one for VGCA and if we pull down this smoked panel, we find blue fluorescent lighting and a great knob here to adjust the sup woofer low pass filter.” It was showing how the Skyline was like a computer and how it was literally electrifying.

The Skyline is a car with history, and great love, and it will forevermore be in the hearts of nearly all car enthusiasts.