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History stuff
Suprisingly, the Nissan Skyline has been in existence for around forty
years. The Prince Motor Company was in existence from 1952 until 1966
when it was merged with the Nissan Motor Company. In 1952 the Tachikawa
Aircraft Company started production of the Tama Electric car. In 1955
Tachikawa changed it's name to the Prince Motor Company, in honor of
the Emperor of Japan Crown Prince Hirohita, and from then on the cars
were sold under the name Prince.
For images from the Nissan Prince museum (dubbed the Skyline museum) view our museum photo album.
PRINCE SKYLINE ALSIS-1 SERIES 1955 - 1957
At the same time Prince stopped building electric cars and started
building petrol powered cars. In the mid-60's the Japanese Government
suggested a number of mergers of Japanese companies to create larger
companies that would be better equiped to handle any hostile takeover
attempts by foreign companies. Nissan and Prince took the government's
advice, and in 1966 they merged. (At the same time Toyota merged with
Hino and Daihatsu.) Most of the Prince models were kept in production,
but from 1967 on they were sold as Nissans or Datsuns. The Prince
division still operates independently inside Nissan and is responsible
for the Skyline range, including the awesome GT-R.
The first model Skyline was powered by a 1484cc 60hp OHV 4cyl. GA-4 engine. It was available in 4 door sedan and 5 door wagon.
PRINCE SKYLINE ALSI-2 SERIES 1957 - 1961
The ALSI-2 was basically the same as the previous model. The most
noticeable differences are the quad headlights replacing the twin lamps
of the ALSI-1, different bonnet emblem and the single large horizontal
bar in the grille was replaced with 2 curved bars. It retained the
1484cc 60hp OHV 4cyl. GA-4 engine.
PRINCE SKYLINE SPORT BLRA-3 1961
The Skyline Sport was designed by the Italian designer Michelotti. Only
a small number of them were ever built. They had hand built bodies.
Available as a coupe and a convertible. They were powered by the 1862cc
83hp OHV GB-30 engine. The design was dropped in favour of the S50-E
series due to it's cost effectiveness to produce, and retailability.
PRINCE SKYLINE S50-E SERIES 1961 - 1967
The second generation Skyline had a new 1484cc 70hp OHV 4cyl. G-1
engine. Early models, like the one pictured above, have a pressed steel
grille, later models have cast alloy grilles. The first of the cast
grilles have a series of vertical bars, after the merger with Nissan
the cars had a grille with one large horizontal bar. Most models have
large round stop lights (similar to those on a Cortina) with smaller
round indicators beside them, later cars have a (rather odd looking) 3
piece tail light lens. The base model cars have a chrome strip along
the side of the car that ends half way along the front door, with the
emblems mounted on the front door. The deluxe models have a full length
chrome strip. They had either a 3 speed column change gearbox or a 4
speed floor change gearbox. Cars with the 4 speed had bucket seats.
Available in 4 door sedan (S50) or 5 door wagon (W50).
PRINCE SKYLINE GT S54 SERIES 1965 - 1968
When Prince wanted to go racing with the Skyline someone had the bright
idea of taking out the 4cyl. engine and replacing it with the 6cyl.
from the S40 Gloria. At first a small number were built to homologate
the cars for racing, when these proved so popular they decided to put
the GT into full production. There was no way the 6cyl. engine would
fit in the S50, so what they did was they cut the car in front of the
fire wall and inserted an extra 8 inches of panel work into the nose of
the car to give the extra room needed.
When you look inside the engine bay this modification is clearly
visible. This gave the car a very dramatic appearence with it's long
bonnet and short boot. It was available in two versions, the "B" model
had the 1988cc 6cyl. 127hp OHC G7 engine. It had triple 40DCOE-18 Weber
carbs, 5 speed close ratio gearbox, 99 litre fuel tank, full
instrumentation, limited slip diff, power brake booster and a higher
compression engine. The "A" model had a 106hp single carb version of
the G7 with a lower compression ratio. Both models had disc front
brakes with twin piston calipers and alloy finned drums at the rear.
Later models had flow through ventilation with small eye ball vents
added to the dashboard. Later cars were sold as either a Prince A200GT
or Nissan A200GT.
In 1966, under pressure from by economic and government forces, Prince
Motor Co. merged with Nissan, so that both companies will have better
chances in survival.The S54-series Skyline was sold as a Prince A200GT
or a Nissan A200GT. Production of the S54 continued until 1968.
NISSAN SKYLINE 1500 1968 - 1972
 This
car replaced the Prince Skyline S50E series. It was powered by the new
1483cc 94hp OHC cross-flow 4cyl. G15 engine. Available in 4 door sedan
and 5 door wagon.
NISSAN SKYLINE GT GC10 SERIES 1969 - 1972
As with the previous Prince Skyline GT, the new Skyline was available
in a long wheel base GT model. One of the great things is that the
development team decided to go with a 6 cylinder engine. It was Powered
by the 1988cc 106hp OHC 6cyl. G7 series engine and later the 1973cc
109hp OHC 6cyl. L20 engine. It was available in a 2 door sedan (KGC10),
4 door sedan (GC10) and 5 door wagon.
But
best of all was the Skyline GT-R, Which featured the new 1998cc 160hp
double over head cam 6cyl. S20 engine. This was available as a 2 door
(KPGC10) and a 4 door (PGC10).
2000 GTR
Late 1972 to early 1977 gave us the C110 series: 1600GT, the 1800GT,
2000GT-X, and the 2000GT-R. The 2000GT-X was powered by the L20 2.0L
OHC Inline-6 engine with 130HP. The 1800 was powered by the G18 engine,
and the 1600 by the G16.The 2000GT-R had the powerful S20 2.0L DOHC
Inline-6 engine with 160HP . The PGC110 denotes the 4-door
configuration, and the KPGC110 was the 2-door version.
 After a four year hiatus the new 5th generation was released in August
of 1977. Again a full range was released ranging from the 1600TI which
was obviously powered by a 1.6 litre engine through the 1800TI-e.x,
2000GT up to the 2000 GT-e.x in April of 1980 packing a 140HP L20ET OHC
Inline-6 Turbocharged engine. This was the first point that a turbo had
been introduced and the 2000 GT was the top performer so far how ever
there was no GT-R released in this generation.
The 6th generation onwards begins to look familiar for those who had
never seen the previous generations. This is the point in design that
the Skyline adopted it's length. There were basically 5 models released
in this series.
 The 1800TI, 2000GT-e.x. and 2000GT-e.x turbo, the 2800GT, the R30 2000
RS and the R30 RS Turbo which were powered by the FJ20 2.0L DOHC 16V
Inline-4. The DR30 RS had a normally aspirated FJ20 giving 145HP, and
the RS Turbo version's turbocharged FJ20 had 190HP. 2000GT and 2800GT
were powered by Inline-6 engines.
With the obvious popularity of the R30's, the design structure remained
consistent. The 7th generation features the R31's from the 1800I to the
GTS-X turbo. They were first released in August 1985. The GTS-X came
equipped with Nissan's HICAS All-Wheel-Steering system.
It even has an adjustable electronic front spoiler, the R31 was a
starting point for using the RB20DE engine. The R31 GT features an
RB20DET.
The 8th Generation Skyline
 1989
saw the release of the R32 which is the 8th generation of the Nissan
Skyline. Nissan brought out the GXI, GTE, GTS, GTS25, GTS-t, GTS-4 and
the Godzilla GT-R. Well known for it's performance and power, there is
a model to suit everyone from families to full blown enthusiast's. The
R32's power ranges from around 90KW's up, the engine capacities range
from 1.8 litre up to 2.6 litres in the GT-R.
The GT-R also introduced the ATTESSA system, which controls the car's
all wheel drive capabilities. ATTESSA is Nissan's AWD on-demand system,
and it diverts torque from the rear wheels to the front wheels as
required, increasing traction with inputs from sensors in the car. The
VSpec (also known as 'Victory Specification') version of the GT-R had a
better suspension and Brembo brakes as stock. The R32 was produced up
until late 1993, which saw another change in design.
The 9th release of the Nissan Skyline was the R33. This machine is a
little bigger and a little heavier than it's predecessors, however to
compensate Nissan have outfitted the majority released with 2.5 litre
engines. This gives the standard non-turbo version 142KW, and the turbo
models 187KW. R33 GT-R has improved ATTESSA AWS and HICAS AWD.
The GT-R was released with a KW rating of just 206KW due to Japan's
power restrictions, however with just a few modifications that can be
increased immensely. For the general consumer market the R33 was
released in non-turbo, turbo, rear and four wheel drive models. The
range and specifications can be found on the specs page of this
website.
This brings us to today, the new 10th generation R34 Nissan Skyline.
The specs for the R34 can be found on the links page on this site. The
R34 still features the RB26DETT, in-line six cylinder 2.6 litre twin
turbo motor. The main visual differences are the outer body design,
different geometry on the rear wing, the guarded undercarriage, and the
new GPS and engine management computer screens inside. The R34 is much
more refined than the the bulky R33 and already boasts much better
performance on track. R34's are being imported into New Zealand both by
Nissan and by private importers.
Skyline V35 Newest Skyline Release!!!
The newest Skyline Design has been released and now features an even
more futuristic look than before. Check out the lowdown on the latest
range of Skylines bound for the roads at the official Nissan website
www.nissan.co.jp This is the 11th generation now known as the V35. The
V35 comes in 4 versions: GT, GT-P, GT-S and GTe. The new car comes with
two entirely new engines, the VQ25DD producing 215hp and 275Nm from
2.5l of displacement, as well as the VQ30DD, with 260hp and 330Nm from
3.0l.
For images from the Nissan Prince museum (dubbed the Skyline museum) view our museum photo album.
Other Links of interest:
Nissan Museum Official Site
Prince & Skyline Museum
Skyline museum
Nissan Prince
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