Japanese Nostalgic Car

The irreverent bloggers at Jalopnik have a garage that they’re trying to populate with the 50 coolest cars of all time. Alas, it’s a Fantasy Garage but the idea is so cool that we might have to steal it one day. Nevertheless, today they’ve elected to fill one of the coveted spots with a legend in its own time, the Nissan Skyline. Problem is, the Skyline has so many unbelievably awesome generations that they can’t figure out which one to include and have put the vote to the public.

And the nominees are: the KPGC10 GT-R, the R32 GT-R, R33 NISMO 400R, and R34 GT-R. Right now, the classic is trailing in the votes like a fourth party candidate. The post on the C10 has a few errors, however. They seem to have lumped the fourth-gen C110 Kenmeri (pictured) into the same generation as the third-gen C10 Hakosuka, and call the C10 the “original Skyline.” We think they meant to say the “original GT-R” since the Prince Skyline debuted in 1957. Nevertheless, you know what to do. Get over there and show some support for the old school!

Many moons ago, drag racers actually bore a greater resemblance to the street cars they were built off of than a Black & Decker 9.6V Cyclonic Dustbuster, and privateers could compete and win with nothing but self-named machines that bore few, if any, sponsor logos. As Japanese cars gained popularity in the late 70s, some quarter milers gave them the funny car treatment as well. One such racer was Chuck Etchells, who campaigned the “Future Force” Datsun 280ZX, a picture of which we stumbled upon on draglist.com sporting a towering blower whose height is matched only by the ten-gallon hat on the Yosemite Sam impersonator in the background. According to the site, “Chuck was one of the few to escape the little known Datsun curse. Like the Corvette Curse, almost every Datsun bodied funny car crashed.” His best time was a 6.17 at 227 mph.

Click here or a trip down memory lane, or if you wish to see an elongated Plymouth Sapporo. The choice is yours.