NISSAN SKYLINE R32 GT-R
WHILE JAPAN'S FAVOURITE MONSTER, GODZILLA, RAN INTO IMAGE PROBLEMS HERE EARLY ON, IT'S MUCH SOUGHT AFTER THESE DAYS
Very few cars have influenced the automotive world more significantly than the Nissan that came to be known as ‘Godzilla’. At the heart of the GTR was Nissan’s 2.6-litre, straight-six engine with sequential turbochargers, an intercooler and variable torque-split transmission. Official engine output was a very conservative 206kW but more realistically in the 260-270kW range.
Nissan’s decision to build a car that would challenge Porsche in the world performance car market had consequences that reverberated through global automotive design. It also prompted a ‘dumbing down’ of Australian motorsport.
Reaction following back-to-back Bathurst 1000 wins in 1991 and ’92 convinced promoters that the motor racing public didn’t want a high-tech, all-wheel drive dominating the Touring Car category and banned them in favour of the rear-wheel drive, V8 ‘taxis’ we’ve been saddled with until now. Sadly for Nissan Australia, the car-buying public thought likewise.
Australian-complied GTRs arrived during 1991 and with a price-tag of $110,000. Times admittedly were financially daunting but with the cheapest 911 Porsche costing $55,000 more, the GTR looked to be a bargain.
Australia’s first batch of R32 GTRs was built at Nissan’s Murayama factory during May and June 1991. The second run of 50 cars came down the same production line in August. They were then shipped to Melbourne where 50 extra hours per car were allocated to fit local compliance items including child-seat restraints, a fuel-filler restrictor and the high-mount stop-light.
Local cars also had Blaupunkt sound systems, a roof-mount aerial and replacement speedometers that read to a barelyadequate 260km/h. Of the 100 cars that arrived as ‘official’ imports, 26 were painted Black Pearl Metallic with a further 37 of each in Jet Silver and Red Pearl Metallic.
In a 1993 article entitled ‘Farewell To Godzilla’ which marked the end of the GTR’s race career in Australia and tracked its disappointing sales performance, Wheels magazine reported that just 63 of the available cars had found owners.
A decent proportion would initially have gone to proprietors and senior execs of Nissan dealerships who doubtless retired their 300ZXs in favour of Japan’s most advanced and potent supercar. That left just a few dozen to decorate the garages of private buyers, but even those seemed ridiculously hard to move. Not the case today where any that appear for sale attract a string of buyers.
MARKET REVIEW
The first GTR is a very significant car and under different circumstances might have been considered a revered collectible rather than a bit of a disappointment.
There were two, now three, distinct market segments in Australia for the R32 GTR. At the bottom of the pile sit low-volume import cars – arrivals from Japan during the past 20 or so years that have probably travelled significant distance. Lots of these are available and even if we run short there were almost 44,000 R32s built between 1989 and 1994. Too many cars in an ambivalent market (with many of them in sub-standard condition) drag down the prospects of better examples to appreciate.
Above the basic models sit the R32 ‘V Spec’ which was sold in two editions totalling 2756 cars. Nismo and GTR N1 versions add a combined 788 but there are just 100 in Australian specification, making local cars the most collectible R32 of all.
Under the bonnet when identifying an Aust-delivery GTR, look for a Nissan Australia compliance plate and the Vehicle Code 40ZKBNR32RX.
They are prized by people with a sense of the GTR’s Australian race history and appreciation of its very significant engineering attributes. Despite recent price improvements and survivors thought to number about 60 cars, prices are still way below the money being paid for older, Australian-made performance cars.