Part 3a? Yes, because although the R32-33-34 generations form a natural group of three, nicely bookended by totally different models, there really is far too much to cover in one article.
Last time we ended with the R31 series, or ‘ultrabox’ as I think of it. The new RB straight sixes had made their first appearance, but seemed like just another nice Japanese six so far, the chassis was fairly mundane and the styling said ‘yesterday’. Nothing special.
In 1989 the R32 series was launched in Japan. Nissan pulled out all the stops to make Skyline the most technically advanced Nissan there was, overshadowing even the 300ZX Turbo. I imagine the Japanese Skyline fans were ecstatic – it looked like the giant-killer was back. But that’s kind of odd when you think about it; all the high-tech wonder-stuff goes into a regular coupe, most of it available in the related sedan as well, while the halo car of the range, the famed Fairlady/300ZX actually has less sport stuff. Hmm…
Of course, all attention was focused on the GT-R. Yes, it was back, and what a car! Designed to maximize its performance in Group A touring car racing, it had four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering, with ‘280hp’ (yeah, right…) as per the Japanese manufacturer’s agreement, from the 24-valve twin-turbo engine. 2.6 litres with a turbo put it in the 4500cc class (so let’s try two turbos…), which allowed them to use 11-inch tyres. Exploiting one loophole led to another, and Nissan wound up with a giant killer on their hands. A very nice looking one too. Hey, look what those guys can do!
But would all this fancy tech stuff work?
In race trim. 500-650hp, as needed.
It sure did! Famously for us down under, it out-powered, out-tractioned, out-cornered and comprehensively creamed the Holden V8s at Bathurst. I was ecstatic; though not a Nissan fan, I’d followed stories of this car with great interest and saw it as a victory for smarts over brute power. Infamously the Holden fans booed the winners on the podium. Next year the rules changed, and from that, V8 Supercars was born. Can’t have a modern AWD turbocar beating the home team. It was about this time I began to lose interest in motor racing, as I felt it was getting irrelevant.
Unfortunately, most Westerners only saw the GTR on the track. Nissan decided this new race special was for Japan only – except for the 100 they sold Down Under, of which there are probably several hundred left now. Gotta love used imports.
A race car kit built as a hot street car.
If your regular GT-R wasn’t hot enough, there were aftermarket tuners happy to take your yen. Apparently, it’s hard to find a Skyline of this era among used imports that hasn’t been modified in some way or other. Of course, that makes it tricky for would-be buyers in other countries, establishing just which model you have, and what state of tune it’s in – and what condition;
Below we have a GT-R V-spec II, which I think was the ultimate from the factory. But as with the Mine’s car above there’s no engine detail in this kit, so nothing shows. The model car aftermarket has fully detailed resin engines with all sorts of speed equipment available, should you choose to go that route, just be sure to bring those dollars! I rarely do.
Beneath the GTR and basking in its glow was a confusing array of regular sedans and coupes with less power, some of which had AWD. Nissan didn’t sell those here. Maybe because they were smaller and tighter than before, allegedly just what Japan wanted but not a good fit for big lanky Aussies. This one is a GTS-T;
Instead, Nissan offered us the forgettable Maxima. You didn’t see many around. Rather than switch to a FWD car, most Aussie buyers seemed to look elsewhere. Not one of Nissan’s better decisions; what works for the US doesn’t necessarily work for Australia. They could have sent us this Cefiro: same platform but let out at the seams a little. But no. Not even this. No rear-drive for you;
However, we have used imports to remedy that sort of managerial mistake. I’ve seen a few around, and there’s an R34 sedan in my town – like this, but white;
Next time – R33, R34
I was ignorant to the fact that the 1st Gen Maxima flopped in AU. Once you explained it, it made perfect sense. I had simply assumed that it was embraced there as it was in the US, where it’s become revered to a degree.
But that’s beside my point. As soon as I saw the thread, I had to jump in. You may not be a Nissan fan-boy, but your renditions their cars, especially the Skyline and GTR, are always great stuff.
Thanks! Over the years I’ve found that it’s not really worth barracking for one particular company – unlike a sports team, they are under no moral obligation to their supportesrs, and it makes no difference to what they churn out. While I can build a model of anything, I guess, I find that having a deeper knowldge, understanding, and enthusiasm for the subject really helps.
For these Skylines I’m much inspired by the work of the Japanese modellers over at the FB group Creativity; what some of those guys build is truly astounding.
You want the “Godzilla” years? I’ll give ya Godzilla:
https://www.autodetective.com/uploads/photos/nissan/juke/2015/659088.jpg
and
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Nissan_cube_15G_rear.jpg
Indeed!
More beautiful models, Peter, and I appreciate the historical context you’ve researched and provided. The Skyline always seemed almost mythical to a U.S. person like me, even after we got the GT-R here. In thinking about why the Skyline and not the Fairlady / Z-car got all the performance goodies, the only thing I can think of is that since most Z-cars were two-seaters (and not 2+2s), they were even more of a niche market. Great read and pics!
Thanks Joseph. Perhaps Nissan felt the Fairlady/Z already had all the technology that particular market niche demanded, and in all fairness the new Z32 generation was a stunning car, garnering much critical acclaim. It was only when I was considering the timeline that I wondered what the 300ZX would have been like with the Skyline’s AWD chassis setup. It never occurred to me back in the day.
It’s interesting how the R32 was released around the same time as the Z32 300ZX/Turbo, now imagine if the Nissan MID4 actually saw fruition after being shown around the world a few years earlier, Nissan would have been an absolute performance powerhouse and I’m still curious how or if the MID4 would have affected Acura’s NSX – would Honda have figured there was room for two somewhat similar cars in the market? Or just said whatever and let it loose anyway. What a time the bubble years were for cars…
That’s quite the selection of Skylines you have there, maybe you need to look into creating a whole Nissan dealership diorama. Or maybe first a real life outbuilding to house it all!
Ah, the MID4; now there was a sad one to lose. But from what Nissan had already achieved with the Z32, was there really a need for an even more (potentially) sporting car? They would have to distance it from the Z32. Surely they wouldn’t dare dumb down the Z-car? That would mean developing the MID4 as an ultra-high-performance weapon. But would that have been taking a step too far?
After all, Nissan was trying to be a respectable Japanese company; with the Z32 Z-car and the R32 Skyline both due to launch in ’89, maybe they felt under government pressure not to proceed? I guess we’ll never know.
Fortunately I have one, sort of. 🙂
Oh, that’s nicely done! Here is my slightly fuzzy photo from the LA Auto Show ’85 (or ’86?).
Thanks Jim. Strangely I’d had that kit for about ten years before deciding to do it as my entry in an online 24 hour build challenge four years back. I’m not up to the pressure of competition nowadays, just sit back and take my time. Fortunately the online community is a friendly group, they just want to see it finished whenever.
I have zero memory of the MID4, though upon looking online, it may have fallen out through the brain’s bland filter. Interesting looker it isn’t. That itself is a bit interesting, because the Z32 has always looked thoroughly nice: how’d they get the flagship so shaved of life?
My two-bob’s worth on the Zx v Skyline tech is that I don’t recall the ZX having a huge racing history, whereas the Skyline name was and is somewhat fabled because it does, thus, possibly, that’s where the tech went. I do recall (vaguely, as an increasing number of things I recall now seem to be) that the ZX was picked on for being a bit too fat, which isn’t the best for competition. Finally, the basic inline longtidunal layout to be used in many thousands of Skylines is very remote from the one to be used in a low-vol mid-engined V6, so perhaps economics played a part even when the bubble was big.
Brilliant work Peter! Looove that first pic. You’ve mastered building great models. Now, you are showing great skill at posing, and photographing them. These look absolutely great! Very inspiring!
Thanks Daniel. Your comments mean a lot; I’m my own worst critic.
For many years I’d just point and shoot; nowadays I make more of an effort to get down low and position the camera closer to a scale eye level, showing less of the horizontal surfaces and giving more depth to the scene. That lede photo was taken last year on my shed workbench. Under broad sunlight that dark green really sparkles; the diffused light in the shed dulls it a little, but gives that interesting pattern you’ve remarked on previously. I mentioned the guys at the Japanese site Creativity before; they’re the ones who put me on to the whole camera height and angle thing.
New Zealand was littered with Skylines and their ilk,especially this model and the 4WD Godzilla version was a track weapon in OZ Rainmaster Jim Richards was almost unstoppable in one the more basic versions trade on its success but are in reality quite ordinary on the road, there were plenty in boy racers hands not long ago and they were often willing to have a ‘go’ on quiet twisty roads bumpy blacktop is not where they shine and modifying them makes them worse, Nissan spent a lot of time and money making them good, aftermarket suspension mods seem to make them a lot worse,
Yes, it’s one thing to modify a V8 Holden for better performance and handling, but when backyard tinkerers try to improve something as highly developed as one of these Skylines, they need a lot more knowledge and experience if it’s not to end in tears.
Aha! I was waiting for Part 3, and getting a 3a and a 3b is like the icing on the cake! The R32 was a fantastic change of direction for the Skyline; arguably the best iteration ever. Some of the design details border on sublime, and most folks would never guess it shared its platform (or versions thereof) with the Cefiro, Laurel, Silvia and (later) Stagea, all of which must have helped soak up some of the development costs too.
Re the V8 Supercars, I agree, I began to lose interest in Australasian motor racing once the rules changed and the V8 Supercars arrived. Brute force isn’t always the best solution.
Anyway, looking forward to Part 3b!
Thanks Scott. Ric has 3b ready to go, but he likes to break up the Skyline saga with something else on the alternate fortnights. And fair enough too. I can understand not everybody is interested in these.
It’s amazing to reflect how much mileage Nissan got out of the Skyline platform; three totally distinct sedans with nary a panel in common, a totally distinct coupe and a uniquely-bodied wagon. But then their larger platform had the Cedric, Gloria and Leopard, and I’ve never managed to get the smaller Nissans straight in my head, there seem to be ever so many of them. Is it fair to say it’s no wonder they got into financial hot water?
Strange fellow that I’m said to be, I much prefer the sedan R32 over the coupe. I think it’s one exceptionally elegant shape, and it is sad Nissan didn’t try it here. It couldn’t be too much smaller than the old R31 Skyline sedan, which was already ungenerous not only to onlookers who had to see it but to passengers who rode in the back.
I too agree about my interest waning post that Skyline finish. What with the ugly booing and general ferality, it did seem a bit of a victory for the angry mob, though it must be conceded that – how shall I put this – touring car racing was never the first choice of those who couldn’t make it to the opera on a Sunday.
In a somewhat ironical twist, folk who are very likely linearly-descended from that ’92 mob later found the virtues of the turbo Skylines, as 2nd hand imports, and, as Bryce alluded to, took those very virtues and proceed diligently to apply great ignorance and ruin them, what with drag-sized tyres, exhaust pipes like train tunnels, stereos designed for large stadia, chip-tunes that meant eternal back-farting and black smoke that, they seemed not to understand, meant they were draining their wallets of fuel money as quickly as God had earlier drained their crania. A pestilence of these tasteless boudoirs circulating and causing deafness in most inner suburbs on any given weekend has tended to sour me on Skylines a bit.
Not to take away from your models, Pete, which I’m sure are silent – indeed, the only thing that speaks loudly is the very great skill in their making, as rightly it should.
Thanks Justy. Always interesting to read your comments. Sometimes they align with mine perfectly, sometimes they’re slightly off-focus, but we generally agree.
I’ve only been in the front of an R31, and never looked in the back. It was owned by an octogenerian, and it looked like a car designed for an octogenerian, and near as I could tell it drove like one too. I was a callow thirtysomething then, and I was distinctly underwhelmed; though I may occasionally wonder whatever happened to Kath’s Astina, I have no such curiosity about her dad’s Pintara.
I’ve seen R32 sedans in the metal, but it was only when building this one that I realised just how well-conceived that sedan shape is. Naganori Ito is credited with the design; it seems Shinichiro Sakurai handed over the reins to him after jointly working on the R31, and being “Mr. Skyline” since the early sixties. I reckon there’s a fascinating story to be unearthed there; while I’d love to read it I no longer have the reseach skills to unearth and write it. Probably been done, anyway.
There’s a nice stock R34 sedan I see at the shops now and then, and there used to be a ’32 or 33 coupe in the next block from me; I’d hear it but rarely got to see it. Not bad for a country town of 5000-ish. We might have more Skylines than any other Nissan…
I may just possibly have over-stated the lack of rear room of the R31 (and possibly the use to which each R32 import has been put and the capacities of their owners too), but it wasn’t great. Very comfy, high-set, but legroom not extensive, and by appearance, the R32 appears lower, which would have to make it fairly tight.
I actually “got” the idea of the severely angular R31, and in some drawing-board sense, it could even look Japanese-architecture elegant: it was in the execution that it fell down almost entirely, looking merely mean and cheap. It is indeed a remarkable change that occurred to the R32, and even moreso when one considers that, by some alchemy of good design, it still looks like Skyline family.