Nissan, the car company, introduced its first sports car in 1957. The Legendary Skyline was originally built by Japan’s Prince Motor company. Production of the Prince Skyline lasted ten years, from 1957 until 1967. When Prince and Nissan merged with humble origins as a rather modest 4 door luxury car. The Skyline began to evolve into a performance bred sports car following the merger. Today the Skyline is the most recognized as the influential predecessor to the modern GTR.  In 1969, Nissan created its first GTR, bringing the company 52 trophies, and to this day GTR’S are still being manufactured. Nissan noticed the huge impact Skyline had on the company and decided to change the name to GTR. Many car enthusiasts also know the famous GTR as Godzilla. 

Nissan made its first Skyline in 1957, which featured a 1.5L GA-30 engine. It was a sedan 4 door vehicle that made 30 horsepower. Later on, in 1967, Nissan decided to add a 2-liter straight-six engine that made 220 horsepower, which was impressive at the time. An article from Nissan says that later in 1969, Nissan made its first GTR, and it had the same motor as the R380. The R380 was Nissan’s best race car during that time, the car came with a motor with a 2.0-liter inline-six engine. In 1977 Nissan released another GTR which had the same engine but a different body.

In 1989 Nissan noticed that the GTR was doing great in their company, so they decided to make a new GTR Skyline. This generation was called an R32 and came with a new motor. Many car enthusiasts started naming the GTR Godzilla because Nissan introduced a new motor in 1988 called RB26DETT, making 276 horsepower. This article from Evo states that the R32 has won 29 races in all Japan Touring car championships. The R32 was unbeatable. Nissan later created another GTR this generation was named the R33, the car had the same engine but it was programmed to perform better than its previous generations did.

The GTR was growing so much that Nissan wanted to make another one, so they made the R34 GTR. In the article, it states that this GTR had the same motor, which was the RB26 twin-turbo, but it came with way more advanced technology and it was one of the most popular GTR out of them all and was featured in movies such as the popular Fast and Furious, games, and more. So many enthusiasts wanted the car that they were illegally importing them to the U.S, and they are considered still illegal in the U.S until 2024 when they’ll be officially legal. 

In 2007 Nissan made a new GTR named the R35. This GTR came with a new motor which was a 3.8-liter twin-turbo v6. This engine ended up making nearly 600 horsepower, which is way more powerful than its previous generations. Nissan only trusted four people to create this new beautiful engine, and it was made by a Japanese group named Takumi. This GTR is not a Skyline because the R35 does not use the same chassis, and it’s a completely different build compared to the R32, R33, and R34. All of those are considered Skylines because they all have the same motor, but not the R35.  In conclusion, the Skyline has heavily impacted Nissan and has grown a lot throughout the years, and to this day, Nissan is still releasing GTR’s and most likely won’t stop anytime soon. It will be one of Japan’s most legendary vehicles.