The latter two cars actually looked brilliant. And as seen yesterday, also a 2 door hardtop coupé was available. The TI model in the picture resembles a Skyline in its purest form – even it’s called the “High Saloon II” it’s pretty basic. A 1984 car, with the small 1.8 4 cyl. unit, featuring an automatic gearbox. Any drift action has to deal with up to 90 HP – bring it on.

The design was the work of Shinichiro Sakurai, who was already involved in the first Skyline, still made by the Prince Motor Company in the 1950s. So we have some heavy Skyline heritage in front of us. Looking at the back of the car, the TI does not seem to have the double round taillights, which was a common feature on all R30 and DR30 models, except for the 5 door variants. As earlier Skyline models had different taillights on the TI models I guess the same happened here. ⁠

All in all up to 30 R30/DR30 variants had been available, making this Skyline a huge success. In 1983 actor and race car driver Paul Newman was hired for an advertising campaign, resulting in a “Paul Newman” model: the “New-man” Skyline. Nope, I’m not joking.⁠

Verdict: Quite a dull choice far away from any stance or drift action. It’s white and grey with steel wheels and no hubcaps. Deal with it.⁠

Der Beitrag A Nissan Skyline for everyday living – no drift skid marks involved erschien zuerst auf petrolpunx.

First of all: Wow! This resembles a lot of everything I love about japanese cars. They are well executed, well thought and sometimes just bold. The Skyline is almost iconic and maybe one of the best known #JDM-cars outside of Japan hence the Gran Turismo craze in gaming. But the #R30, or more correct the #DR30, is maybe one of the lesser known Skylines, while the newer #R32 and #R33 models have a strong following, and the older #KGC10 GT, the #Hakosuka #ハコスカ, are skyrocketing regarding prices. I enjoyed an in depth tour of this, provided by Fergus, who brought this to the #jcs2019 from the UK. Thanx mate!

So this RS-X Turbo started live on the base of the rather humble R30 series, available as 4 and 5 door, with engines starting from 1.8 up to 2.8, which I will show in a later post. The RS-X however was a turbocharged three door sports car, with over 200 HP, nicknamed the #Ironmask, or #Tekkamen #鉄仮面 – and as far as I know, never sold outside of Japan (maybe Australia?). The car was different in many ways to the R30, so these cars got their own chassis designation, thats why DR30. And this thing looks brilliant. The aggressive front end, the bold side graphics – and the attention to detail.

The original 1980s interieur looks stunning. There are actually two doorhandles, one for the people sitting in front – and of course, another one for people in the back. This is proper japanese design, avoiding any inconveniences for anyone. And yes, it has a rear windscreen wiper!

Another detail I love, but could not be shown here, is that you can actually change the angle of the roof aerial from inside of the car. I’ve never seen something like that! ⁠

Verdict: I’m not sure if I could handle this, but the idea is growing on me. If you want a killer Skyline, the DR30 RS models could be your chance. Maybe now is the right time to get one – as long as this is flying under the radar 😉

Der Beitrag Nissan Skyline Madness erschien zuerst auf petrolpunx.