If you squint, the sedan looks a bit like a longer, wider Datsun 510, and like the 510, the GT-R was a pretty basic, straightforward affair. The Skyline GT-R was a better-handling car than its predecessor from our story’s introduction.
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Once under the Nissan corporate umbrella, that recipe had been refined somewhat. Before they were snapped up by Nissan, the Prince Motor Company took the engine from their larger Gloria sedan and stuffed it into the nose of the smaller Skyline. The recipe for the first GT-R is analogous to another three-letter car, the Pontiac GTO. Here's your guide to the machines that carry the pride of Japan in three little letters.Įvery First-Gen GT-R Should Be Driven Like This The sedans and coupes that followed it immediately established a dominant racing legacy, and thanks in part to the Sony Playstation, would go on to become objects of desire all over the world.Īnd now you want one. It wasn't even under the Nissan corporate umbrella. That moment, that pass, is really where the GT-R story begins. Ikazawa went on to have a successful career, the highlights of which include him becoming the only Japanese Porsche factory driver.
#Nissan bluebird gt legends driver#
Tetsu Ikazawa, the driver of the Skyline, ended up third on the podium. If you look up the race results for the 1964 Japanese Grand Prix, you’ll find that Porsche won the race. It was a moment for Japan to take pride in her fledgling automotive industry.
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There was much to cheer about: The underdog Skyline had slipped past the sleek, mid-engined Porsche 904, proving that the pinnacle of German engineering could be bested. The hometown crowd of 170,000 rose to their feet, roaring their approval. On March 5, 1964, a boxy Japanese sedan passed a Porsche at Suzuka.