Automotive History

during the 1980s turbocharging craze, it seemed that every Japanese manufacturer ended up developing at least one forced-induction engine. A few of these were of the “gun” variety – boasting healthy power and big torque figures – and were ultimately slotted into highly-sought-after flagship models and top-shelf sportscars.

However for every legendary FJ20ET, G63B, 7M-GTE and 13B-Turbo pushed out to market, there existed an equal or greater number of lesser-known, lesser adored, more mundane cooking-spec engines which also happened to benefit from TEH POWAR OF BOOST. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the end result, the fruits of such labour were harnessed to power various Japanese iterations of the ’80s “hot hatch”, a market unto its own at the time.

one such example is Toyota’s 3E-TE engine.

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Skyline History, Part 6.

January 1, 2009

Continued from “Skyline History, Part 5.

So, in July of 1968, 11 years after the release of the ALSI-I 1st Generation Prince Skyline  the model took it’s new name of Nissan and despite still being under research and development of the Prince faction operating inside Nissan, the label on the car was to read ‘Nissan Skyline’ and with this, came a new chassis code.  This new Skyline was the ‘C10′.

3rd Generation, C10 Skyline

3rd Generation, C10 Skyline

Despite several cues being taken from the previous generation, one thing the C10 did lose was the famous round rear lamps.  However, it made up for this in other areas…

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Happy 2009

January 1, 2009

Happy New Year to all our regular readers (yes, all three of you). Here’s a brief list of what entries are in store for the coming weeks:

.: ’80s turbo talk: Toyota 3E-TE
.: Import from Japan, part 1: the art of searching
.: Skyline history: part 6 (C10 series)

Finally, some Youtube bosozoku madness for your amusement, ranging in quality from mildly tame to outrageously horrid. Whatever you might think of boso, you should at least give these folks top marks for trying; check out the white and red chop-top Crown at about 2 minutes in… o_O

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJoMBp_F0jI&hl=en&fs=1]

Skyline History, Part 5.

December 29, 2008

Continued from; “Skyline History, Part 4.

With Prince’s interest in racing peaking the S50 made the transition from family sedan to GT, the nose was extended 200mm to fit the G7, OHC 2litre Straight 6 as used in the Gloria.  This homologation development was done in 1964 and the car was initially known as the S54A-I.

Skylines New Badge

Skyline's New Badge

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Skyline History, Part 4.

December 23, 2008

Continued from; “Skyline History, Part 3.

So with the final facelift of the S21 doing it’s single year dash from 1962.  1963 saw the release of a new model and a new generation of Skyline.

The new face on the scene was the Prince Skyline S50;

Prince Skyline S50-D

Prince Skyline S50-D

A lot of the styling cues were taken from the previous model, despite the shape of the car being entirely different. Front and rear appearance made the car easily recognizable as the successor in the Skyline range, the now signature round rear lamps remained and the flowing trim that swooped under the rear panel (although changed for the new shape) was still a feature of the new car.

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