Skyline History, Part 7.

Continued from “Skyline History, Part 6.“

The C110 series and 4th Generation of Skyline was released for sale in September of 1972.

1972 Nissan Skyline 1600 Hardtop (4th Generation Skyline)

The lineup was very similar to that of the previous generation, with both 4 and 6 cylinder options in a range of either Coupe/Hardtop, Sedan or Wagon/Estate.  The engines were again the G16, G18 in 4cylinder and L20 in 6cylinder form for the Japanese Domestic Market and as with the previous C10/3rd generation Skyline…

…the export market received an L24 in the 6cylinder range, though the 4th Generation export cars lost the Skyline as well as Nissan name.  They instead received a K suffix and the Datsun title.  To be in line with the rest of Nissan’s export market (eg. Bluebird = 180B, Cedric = 240C, FairladyZ = 240Z, etc.)  The export lineup consisted of the 160K (G16, 4cyl), 180K (G18, 4cyl) & the 240K (L24 6cyl).

Datsun 240K GT Sales Brochure

The C110 was nicknamed the ‘Kenmeri’ in Japan, due to the advertising campaign that showed a young happy Japanese couple driving all about the place in their Nissan Skyline, the name of this couple was as the nickname would suggest, Ken & Mary.  Though these advertisements were a follow on from the C10, the majority of them were done under the C110 series and so that’s where the nickname stuck.

Ken & Mary C110 Advertisement

Again, as was now tradition, the nose of the 6cylinder versions was longer than that of the 4′s to accommodate the length of the engine.  Though this time that length was split more between the front and rear of the front arch as opposed to being predominantly rear of the front arch as it was in the C10

4 cylinder C110

6 cylinder C110

The more observant of you might also note the 4cylinder sedans came with lesser spec’d fender mirrors, rather than being a moulded uni-body mirror, they were your more typical 2-piece stalk and flat face affair.  This was only between the sedans, even the 4cylinder Hardtops got the uni-body mirrors as can be seen on the very first image in this post.

There were a few options and types available for the C110, in the seating you had the option of cloth Seats, vinyl seats with cloth inserts or 100% vinyl seats, in a variety of colours (namely blue or black.)  The more luxurious C110 was the 2000GT-X which came with a roof console with extra warning lamps on it, and electric windows all around as well as the added performance bonus of  Twin Hitachi SU’s, similar to those used on the FairladyZ or Datsun 240Z.

2000GT-X, L20 w/ Twin Hitachi SUs

The C110 was also the return to the trademark Skyline round rear lamps.  Having said that however, the majority of the 4cylinder cars still missed out on this feature.

"Stove-top" or "Afterburner" C110 rear lamps.

As many are aware, the early seventies saw an oil crisis which forced manufacturers to abandon most of their high performance vehicles.  Nissan was sadly not an exception to this rule, the legend that was the GT-R was only produced as a road car and production was cut short, only 197 of these vehicles are alledged to have been produced, making the KPGC110 the rarest of all Nissan Skyline GT-R’s.

1973 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R

This time the 2000GT-R was only available as a Coupe/Hardtop and it still used the S20 engine.

S20 Engine, 2.0litre, DOHC, 24valve, Triple Mikuni Solex 40PHH

Before the severity of the oil crisis was known, there was a C110 works race car proto-type built, but it was almost entirely a cosmetic affair.

C110 Works Race Car Prototype

As you can see, it’s coated in a deep metallic green with gold accents and pin-striping, emblazoned with the number ’73′ indicative of the year of the 110GT-Rs release.  With large, almost monstrous flares, devilishly wide RS-Watanabe wheels to match and a deep spook chin spoiler we can but wonder what greatness this purposeful looking machine may have achieved.  However, as there were so few 110GT-R’s made it’s best not to dwell, and we should continue the story of the Skyline…

1976 Nissan Skyline C111

The C110 was face-lifted and received a few minor modifications in 1976, this facelift became known as the C111.  The most notable was the Prince engine was to see it’s last Skyline and the G series was replaced by the L-series.  That being said, the Skyline was now available with the L16 and L18 4cylinder engines and the 6 became fuel injected, receiving the L20E.  Though export models still used carbs.  Electronic Fuel Injection on the 6cylinder, increased power from 120/125 to 130ps.  Though with it, the weight also went up, from 1150 -> 1220kg in the Hardtop and 1125 -> 1200kg in the Sedan.  The 4cylinder’s weight also suffered during the facelift by a similar amount of around 65kg.

These face-lifts as with any previous face-lift was more of a sales run-out of the old shell as the new shape was developed, and in August of 1977 the next Generation appeared, the C210 nicknamed “Skyline Japan”.  Which will be covered in Part 8.  Keep your eyes peeled!

-Michael