Crossing the Blues

Saturday, April 24, 2010

First-Generation 1970 Nissan Skyline GT-R Coupe S45

What looks to be a pristine (or fully restored) example of the modern day Nissan GT-R's granddaddy, a 1970 Skyline GT-R Coupe S45 with only 89,000 kilometers or a little over 55,000 miles on the odometer, is up for sale by a Japan-based dealer. There's no asking price on the seller's website but understandably, we reckon that a historic model like 1970 Skyline GT-R with such low mileage won't be offered for a low price. 1970 Nissan Skyline GT-R S45The first Skyline GT-R was launched in Japan originally as a four door sedan in February 1969 (pictured here), followed shortly after by the coupe model you're all gawking at in the photo album below -no need to apologize, we did the same thing, ain't she a beauty?
Like its sedan counterpart, at the heart of the 1970 Skyline GT-R is Nissan's S20 2.0-liter straight-six DOHC 24-valve engine. It produces (or at least it did when it came out of the factory) a maximum output of 160PS at 7,000 rpm and a peak torque of 18.0 kgm or 130-lb/ft at 5,600 rpm. Power is transferred to the rear wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox.
1970 Nissan Skyline GT-R S45We don't have any official performance figures for the Coupe (maybe some of you Nissan fans can help us out here), but we did manage to find out that the 1969 Skyline GT-R Sedan with the same engine was capable of achieving a top speed of 200km/h or 125mph while it covered the first 400m from a standing start in 16.1 seconds (official data from Nissan).