Look what arrived in the mailbox at JNC HQ today. Nissan has finally begun sending out GT-R brochures to interested parties. In it, there’s a brief history of the Skyline GT-R and, as far as we know, it’s the first time that Nissan USA has ever officially acknowledged the 50-year history of these JDM models. And in case you were wondering: yes, we are very interested in the GT-R but no, we can’t afford one. You can get your own brochure by signing up for updates on Nissan USA’s website.
A few months ago, we welcomed Kev’s Nissan Skyline (aka Project Hakosuka) to the family. And since JNC/grandJDM merge was announced, the continuation of his (mis)adventures has been a top request. Kev was gracious enough to replicate all the posts documenting his work in this thread. So in case you haven’t seen it, take a look. The only downside is that it resides in Sydney, Australia so we won’t be able to see it in person for a long, long time.
This Saturday is May 10, known to Datsun sport sedan owners across the world as 510 Day. Check out DimeQuarterly’s calendar for a list of events in your area. Oh, and get your mother something nice for Sunday!
Even in modern cars, we sometimes still turn into little old ladies when driving in a torrential downpour. But in round one of the 1972 Grand Champion Series, competitors in vintage J-tin had to race through a water-drenched Fuji Speedway. At full throttle. While contending for position. With none of the ABS, ESC, AWD or the decades of tire and suspension technology that have come since. Of course, this was the historic race in which the Nissan Skyline GT-R took its monumental 50th victory. Truly epic viewing.
Jay Leno. Comedian, talk show host, car nut, invoker of envy. He recently got the chance to test drive the new Nissan GT-R and in his review he revealed that his first car was in fact a Datsun 1600 Roadster. That’s right, folks, the King of Cars was a Datsun fanatic from the very start! He’s got some kind words for the little Nissan sports car, and although he no longer owns it, Leno’s still got quite the stable in the form of a Mazda Cosmo 110S and a Honda SM600, among others. We have to disagree with him about the GT-R being Japan’s first true supercar - we feel that title can go to either the Toyota 2000GT or the original PGC10 GT-R - but we can’t disagree with his unwavering love for all things automotive. Yes, we are all jealous of you, Mr. Leno.
When George Lucas wanted to zazz up Star Wars with an automotive cross-promotion in 1977, he opted for a Toyota Celica Liftback. Say what you will about the prequels, but the man had vehicular taste.
A dozen years later in Japan, that 70s space opera and Japanese cars teamed up once again in this 1989 Nissan Skyline ad. The man you see at the beginning explaining his acid trip concept is John Dykstra, the special effects whiz responsible for all the far out visuals in Star Wars and a bunch of other space movies. The Skyline speeding through an alien landscape with a giant planet on the horizon was trippy and reminiscent of the Knight Rider intro, but the badly-dubbed spacefish totally lost us.
