Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Tag: Skyline R32 (Page 1 of 3)

The SkyLevin: an AE86 with the face of a Skyline HCR32 – AE86 Wall of Shame

Just like last time Levin Delta Integrale, we have another face-swapped example: an AE86 with the face of a Skyline HCR32! Even though the tail lights seem to originate from a Trueno AE86, I’ll just call it the SkyLevin. It may look a bit weird as the R32 Skyline is almost a decade ahead in design, but does it look good? That’s up to you to decide!

Autoworks Nipponshi AWN 800: AE86 with Skyline HCR32 front end
Autoworks Nipponshi AWN 800: AE86 with Skyline HCR32 front end

Autoworks Nipponshi

Let’s start with the builder of this insane car: Autoworks Nipponshi. They called their work the AWN 800. I can understand the AWN abbreviation, but I have no idea what the 800 means. I wasn’t able to find out much about this garage. I’ve tried searching on both Romanized and Katakana, but nothing turned up except for this Motor Fan article. My guess is this was done by a small garage in the Nipponshi area without a website or any presence on the web. I’ve also tried to go through all the garages in the Nipponshi area but to no avail.

Rust AE86 + Skyline Frontcut = SkyLevin?

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How the Skyline GT-R got the Godzilla name – Friday Video

Aiden Millward has done a ton of videos about racing and I love his storytime videos. It harks back to those good old days and Aiden can tell these stories with that little extra cherry on top. Most of his storytime videos are about Formula One or Le Mans 24 Hours as those are the most covered motorsport in this world. However, earlier this week, I was pleased to see him covering the story of Godzilla. The R32. How it earned its name. How it outclassed everything else.

Godzilla R32 at its finest hour at the 1992 Bathurst race
Godzilla R32 at its finest hour at the 1992 Bathurst race

Not to spoil too much of this story, but the Nissan Skyline R32 didn’t earn its nickname in Japan. It earned this name in the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATTC) over the period of 1989-1992 when it dominated the Supercars (group A) racing series.

You can find the video below:

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Games: Over Drivin’ Nissan Skyline Memorial

Back in the 80s I played was a game called Test Drive that allowed you to drive a Ferrari Testarossa, Lamborghini Countach, Lotus Esprit, Porsche 911 and the Chevrolet Corvette C4 (the order is my pick order from 1987). Shortly afterwards it was was succeeded by Test Drive 2 which only had the Ferrari F40, Lamborghini Diablo and the Porsche 959 and Test Drive 3 followed quickly. Then it became silent for a while as the company who created Test Drive created a fantastic game called Stunts. The only game to be considered a successor in the years after was The Need For Speed by Electronic Arts. It basically had the same feeling as Test Drive 1 including the police persuits and Test Drive 2 and featured again a set of “affordable cars” including the Toyota Supra JZA80, the Acura/Honda NSX and the Mazda RX-7 FD.
Over Drivin' Nissan Skyline Memorial
This game got really high scores from the magazines and became an instant bestseller and successors were made in big quantities. The NFS series also sold in Japan as the Over Drivin’ series. Of course the game quickly adapted to the Japanese taste and in 1996 the Over Drivin’ Nissan GT-R was released which included Nissan-only cars (more on this one in a later post). This series also included a special edition called Over Drivin’ Skyline Memorial which basically is the same as the original The Need For Speed game but this time it contained the full Nissan Skyline range up till 1997:

  • Nissan Skyline GT S50-B
  • Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R PGC10
  • Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R KPGC110
  • Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-EX KHGC211
  • Nissan Skyline RS Turbo C KDR30
  • Nissan Skyline GTS-X HR31
  • Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32
  • Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32
  • Nissan R390

I remember playing this game a lot around 2001 or 2002 on my emulator (I did not own a NTSC capable Playstation) and had great fun with it!

The nice thing is that earlier this week IKnowSkyline posted all the video footage of all Skylines in the game in one single video:

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Friday Video: Nissan ATTESA E-TS explained

As already posted yesterday by JNC the Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 is as of today an official Japanese classic. Released on 21st of August 1989 means it is now 25 years old and legal to import to the US (about the only place on earth where it wasn’t) while in some other countries it no longer has to oblige to certain rules anymore (CO2 ratings and such).

The BNR32 Skyline was stuffed full with various electronic gadgets like the ATTESA E-TS system, SUPER HICAS 4 wheel steering and the twin-turbo PLASMA RB26DETT. Back in the 80s the Japanese car manufacturers loved acronyms!
Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32 ATTESA E-TS
Now if you wonder what the ATTESA E-TS system is: that basically gave the Skyline GT-R four wheel drive by splitting torque between front and rear wheels once it loses traction.

Coincidentally two days ago IKnowSkyline posted a clip taken from the Best MOTORing July 1989 edition featuring the all new BNR32 Skyline GT-R and an explanation of the the ATTESA E-TS system: Continue reading

Video: The very first Best Motoring Hot Version

Last week I discovered Ka Ko (via Rocketpencil) who posts Best Motoring videos on an almost daily basis! 🙂
One of the gems he posted last week is the very first edition of Best Motoring Hot Version:
Video Best Motoring Hot Version first volume
As you can see there is a thrilling battle in this episode: the infamous Keiichi Tsuchiya battles with an (almost stock) Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 the (back then) brand new Toyota Corolla Levin GT Apex AE101 featuring the new 20 valve Silvertop 4AGE. The battle is very very close even though the AE101 has a lot more power under the bonnet!

What else can you expect from Best Motoring Hot Version Volume 1?
– Toyota Levin GT Apex AE101 vs Toyota Trueno GT-Z AE101 vs Honda Civic EF
– Toyota Levin GT Apex AE101 (superstrut) vs Toyota Levin GT Apex AE101 (non-superstrut)
– Toyota Levin GT Apex AE101 (superstrut) vs Toyota Levin AE86
– RX7 Drift vs Grip
– Group A Nissan Skyline GT-R cup with Keiichi Tsuchiya drifting his Taisan GT-R R32 on a wet Fuji Speedway!

Watch the full video below:
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JAF 2013: Last but not least, the Akina Speedstars Skyline R32

This is the last posting about the Japanese Autosport Festival and I saved the best for last: a black Nissan Skyline:
JAF2013: Nissan Skyline GT-S R32
I’m not too sure about which variant it is, but it certainly ain’t no BNR32 GT-R…
I suspect, based upon the bootlid spoiler, that it is a Skyline GTS-t (HCR32) where the RB20DET outputs a decent 212hp. Given the bigger intercooler on this one it surely will output a bit more than that.

This Skyline has been imported from Japan 9 years ago, but what surprised me is that it used to reside around Mount Haruna in the Gunma prefecture: Continue reading

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