How Legends Are Born: Nissan Skyline

7 years ago - 12 December 2017, motor1
How Legends Are Born: Nissan Skyline
Sixty years of evolution in six minutes.

We've already talked about the Nissan Skyline and GT-R evolution a number of times, but it's that kind of special vehicle we really want to talk about again and again. And just in time comes a new cool video from Cars Evolution channel on YouTube, showing the most impressive models from the Skyline history in six minutes.

As you might already know, the very first Skyline as well its successor were actually produced by a company called Prince, not Nissan. It all started in 1957 with a 54-horsepower (40-kilowatt) 1.5-liter engine and some luxury features for that era, followed by the 1962 Prince Skyline Sport with 91 hp (68 kW), of which only a few hundred were built.

The first proper GT-R model appeared in 1970, just a year after Nissan and Datsun merged. It was powered by a strong 160-horsepower (119-kilowatt) 2.0-liter engine, which was equally powerful as a Porsche 911 of that time. With more than 30 race victories in less than two years, the GT-R soon made a name for itself in motorsport.

With four disc brakes and the same 160-hp (119-kW) engine, the Skyline 2000 GT-R from 1973 was one of the rarest generations of the model, as, due to the oil crisis, only 197 units were produced. The GT-R name disappeared for more than ten years, until it came back to life in 1989 with the GT-R (R32) – the first to receive the Godzilla nickname. It had a pure racing engine, an electronically controlled AWD system, and all-wheel steering to become one of the most famous GT-R of all times.

The GT-R (R33) that followed became the first production vehicle to lap the Nurburgring in less than eight minutes, but it was slower in the 0-60 miles per hour (0-98 kilometers per hour) acceleration than its predecessor due to its higher weight.

We won't spoil the whole video for you, so just sit back and enjoy 60 years of Skyline/GT-R evolution in the video.