THE FIRST
NISSAN SKYLINE
GT-R IS BORNR32GT-R SHOCKS
THEWORLD(^01) FEBRUARY 1969. The GT-R is born when Nissan installs the high-
performance S20 2.0-litre straight-six engine from the Prince R380
racing car into its PGC10 Skyline sedan. Designed to dominate
production touring car racing, the 1120kg four-door could hit a top
speed of 200km/h thanks to the S20 producing 118kW/177Nm.
'MID4' CONCEPT
PREVIEWS R32
(^0) NOVEMBER 1985. Nissan signals its intention to produce
another high-performance model with the MID4 Concept,
unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show with a mid-mounted 3.0-
litre V6, ATTESA all-wheel drive and all-wheel steering. Two
years later the MID4 Type II adds twin turbos.
MAY 1989. After a 16-year hiatus, the GT-R nameplate returns
adorning a twin-turbo, all-wheel drive technological terror
designed, once again, to dominate touring car racing. It proved
popular, with an incredible 43,937 built between 1989-'94, the
rarest being the V-Spec II N1 with 63 examples made.
MARCH 1971. The GT-R becomes a two-door (KPGC10), the
coupe bodyshell shortening the wheelbase by 70mm and cutting
20kg from the overall weight. It’s dubbed the ‘Hakosuka’ (roughly
translatedas‘boxSkyline’) and is a racecar for the road, with a 100-
litrefueltank,fixedbucket seats and a back-to-basics interior.
THE FIRST
TWO-DOOR
NISSAN SKYLINE
GT-R IS BORN
03
- As a racecar Hakosuka was unstoppable,
winning 52 Japanese touring car races
between May 1969 and October 1972,
including 49 consecutive victories.
HAKOSUKA
DOMINATES
JAPANESE
TOURING
CARS(^04) SEPTEMBER 1972. The second-gen Skyline GT-R debuts with
an unchanged drivetrain in an all-new chassis. Known as the
‘Kenmari’ GT-R due to the popularity of the advertising series
featuring the characters ‘Ken and Mary’, it lived an extremely
short life, the oil crisis limiting its production to just 197 cars.
SECOND-GEN
GT-R APPEARS:
THE 'KENMARI'