Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy 50th Nissan GT-R, Happy Birthday to you.

Hi guys and welcome to this edition of Right Car. As you can probably tell from the title, This month 50 years ago, the first-gen Nissan GT-R was revealed to the public. To mark this momentous occasion, I will be talking about the 5 generations of Nissan GT-R, including the current R35. So sit back in your bucket seat, grab a twin-turbo V6 sized bowl of popcorn and get ready for a trip back in time. I will put a picture of all the generations at the bottom of their paragraphs.

Now to start at the beginning of the GT-R’s life, with the 1969 model. This car was produced from 1969-1972 and had a 2.0-litre inline-six engine. This engine produced 119kW/160hp and 176Nm/130lb-ft. The chassis, known by Nissan employees as KPGC10, sent all of this power and torque to the rear wheels through a 5-speed manual transmission. This car was actually called the Nissan Skyline GT-R and was called this until the 1973 model was cancelled. Believe it or not, the Skyline GTR was only a 4-door sedan until 1971 when it was converted to a coupé.

Next in the history books is the 1973 model. This car had the same engine and power/torque numbers. To seperate this car from the old one, it had disc brakes on both axles and more areo bits. This car’s life was cut short by a petrol crisis in the early 1970’s and as a result, only 197 cars were made. This car was a nicknamed the kenmeri after a popular advertisement featuring a young couple, Ken and Mary. This car was the only new…ish GTR you could buy until 1989, when the R32 was first introduced.

On the 29th of August 1989, Nissan started production of the R32 GTR, perhaps the most sought-after GTR ever made. The R32 had a 2.6 litre twin-turbo inline-six engine that made 206kW/276hp and 353Nm/360lb-ft. This power and torque was sent to all 4 wheels by a 5-speed manual transmission. On the 22nd of Febuary 1990, Nissan revealed their GTR Nismo. This car had more power, more areo bits, less weight and was more reliable than the regular R32. This Nismo was inspired by the Group A touring-car racer that satred it’s career the very same year. The R32 finished production in November of 1994 with 43,937 cars produced.

In January 1995, the R33 started production. The R33 had the same engine as the R32 and the same transmission. Although the R32 and R33 shared the same engine, the R33 addressed some of the problems with the R32’s engine, like it’s oil pump drive collar. The R33 was also all-wheel drive. There was also the V-spec model, which was 10 kilos/22 pounds heavier than the regular car and had lowered and stiffer suspension. In 1995, Nissan decided to enter the R33 in Le Mans and made the Nissan GTR LM, which finished fifth in it’s class. Production of the R33 finished in 1998 with Nissan having made 16,668 R33’s.

In January 1999, the R34 GTR was revealed. The R34 was revealed in three specifications: the regular GTR, GTR V-Spec and GTR V-Spec N1. The R34 was shorter and had a smaller front overhang than the R33, in response to customers thinking it was too big. A new feature was added to the R34 and this was a screen in the centre of the dashboard that showed you in realtime performance and vehicle data. Production ended in 2002 with 11,577 cars produced.

Now we come to the end of the story, the R35 Nissan GTR. The R35 Nissan GTR has a 3.8 litre twin-turbo V6, The first GTR to have a V6 and not an inline-six, that produces 419kW/562hp. Linking back to the R34 GTR, the R35 has a function in it’s infotainment screen that shows realtime performance and vehicle data. New to the Nissan GTR, the R35 has a navigation system. It also, rather annoyingly, has a speed limiter but that limiter switches off when the car senses you have reached a race-track. In 2007, the Nissan GTR was the most technologically advanced car Nissan had ever made, but it would have to to justify the $190,000 asking/base price. there is also a Nismo version of the R35 that, like the R33 Nismo, had more power, more areo and less weight than the standard car.

Thanks for coming and I hope you enjoyed this 0-60mph/0-100kmh sprint down memory lane. Please hit the follow button so you know when my next post is up. Again, thank you and I’ll see you next time. And remember, if you want help choosing the right car for you please get in touch on the Contact page.

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