Will the madness never end? The Nissan Skyline’s 50th birthday party is still going strong, and throughout it we’ve had minicars, CDs, a reproduction Ken & Mary T-shirt, and everything in the Nissan Heritage Collection. Now, the company is releasing a collection of commemorative pins. There will be only 62 sets, given out randomly to those who enter the contest. The entry deadline is February 18, 17:00 Tokyo time. And oh yeah, you have to live in Japan. Nuts.
We know by our hits that the vast majority of you are reading this when you should be working hard. Fine by us! In fact, if your boss is kind of a hardass, then perhaps a Prince Gloria Super 6 will turn him into a more likable guy. After all, this car did usher in age of the straight six luxury sedans, prompting Toyota and Nissan (not yet merged with Prince) to create their own inline six-powered Crowns and Cedrics. Seeing as how this is 1964, however, the ad fades instantly and without irony from the bossman taking a swig of brandy to footage of him rowing his column shifter in Japan’s first overhead cam six with a goofy grin on his face, probably somewhere near the sedan’s 96mph top speed. Now quick, get back to work, there’s footsteps behind you!
A couple of weeks ago, we touched on the topic of the Prince R380 racecar in our retrospective on the Hakosuka Skyline GT-R. As we take up the story, the S54B Skyline debuted at the Japan Grand Prix in 1964. That day, the Skylines won the Touring Car class easily, but was beaten to the flag by the Porsche 904, a purebred mid-engined tarmac racer. Dr Sakurai, head of engineering at Prince Motors, then took steps to ensure that Prince would have a purebred racing car of its own, to wrest back glory at this most prestigous of all Japanese motorsport events.
We all know that’s it’s cool and we all definitely want one….but what IS a C10 GT-R, and where did it come from? That’s a good question for a great many Skyline fans. For every 1000 guys who would gladly sell some internal organs to own one, there’s maybe only one guy who might be able to tell you anything meaningful about it.
So let’s change that right now. GrandJDM readers, welcome to the Cliff Notes on our favourite car, the C10 Skyline 2000GT-R.
In April 2006, the Prince Skyline Register of Australia held their Nationals in Bathurst, New South Wales (Australia). As any racing fanatic will know, Bathurst is home to Mount Panorama - undeniably Australia’s most famous racetrack. 2006 marked the 40th anniversary of the Prince Skyline’s first appearance on the famous Bathurst race track—so what better venue than this!
It took a lot of effort from the organisers to get the event happening, and dedication from members who came from everywhere in Australia and even a couple from New Zealand! Sixteen Prince Skylines of various spec were in attendance, along with two C10 “GT-R replica” Skylines and me in my “modern” (!) C110 GT-R replica.
In the past week, airwaves have been inundated with some important birthday news from the automotive world, the 50th anniversary of the Ford Edsel. Rarely does the mainstream media care about the anniversary of a single model, but apparently exceptions can be made when said model happens to be one of the biggest cases of hype-not-living-up-to-ness in history. The Washington Post called it “the flop heard around the world” and “Ford’s Titanic.” Time Magazine merely said its narrow, upright grille looked like “a vagina.”
In a parallel universe, enthusiasts are celebrating the golden anniversary of a car that racked up countless racing victories and became a legend the world over, even though it was never sold to most of it. Well, Japan is as close to a parallel universe as we’re ever going to get, and car nuts there have been observing 50 years of the Nissan Skyline. In April, a sample of each of the twelve generations was displayed in the newly completed, $3-billion Tokyo Midtown. Then, there was another display at Nissan’s futuristic, gleaming-white Ginza gallery. And then this one. And then wallpapers, a series of diecast cars, a desktop gadget, a commemorative CD, and even a cross-country tour that ended at the very tree used in the Ken & Mary commercials. Now that’s a birthday party!
Possibly the most renowned model in all of Japan, the Skyline was born on April 24, as part of Prince Motor Company’s 1957 lineup. Half a century later, one example of each of the 12 generations have been assembled for a special 50th Anniversary exhibit in Tokyo’s Midtown Garden.
Meanwhile, a pair of spanking new V36 Skylines have taken off from Nissan’s Yokohama factories to travel across the island nation as part of the “Skyline Grand Touring - The Legend and the Future” tour. Each is visiting landmarks of Skyline history as they head towards their final destinations - Satsuma on the island of Kyushu for the West Route and the actual Ken & Mary tree beneath which the fictional couple cavorted in Biei, Hokkaido for the East. You can trace the routes vicariously here and see the details on Nissan’s official blog (Japanese only). The exhibit lasts until May 6.
Will the madness never end? The Nissan Skyline’s 50th birthday party is still going strong, and throughout it we’ve had minicars, CDs, a reproduction Ken & Mary T-shirt, and everything in the Nissan Heritage Collection. Now, the company is releasing a collection of commemorative pins. There will be only 62 sets, given out randomly to those who enter the contest. The entry deadline is February 18, 17:00 Tokyo time. And oh yeah, you have to live in Japan. Nuts.
