At the drop of a hat, most people can rattle off the desirable musclecars of the 1964-74 era without question and do well. But if you were to do the same for Japanese cars, you would end up with a kind of stalled-out noise and a facial expression that is the human equivalent of a loading screen. That’s because few Japanese performance models hit the radar of individuals in the United States until the mid-1980s. Prior to that, most cars were dismissed simply because they were imports, if they were sold in the States at all. Cars like the Mazda RX-3, early Toyota Celicas, Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste and the Nissan Skyline have legions of fans worldwide today, but just like musclecars, that wasn’t the case back then. Most cars were exported out of the country once performing all of the maintenance required by Japanese “Shaken” inspection laws became more trouble than it was worth…or, they were destroyed per law.
So why, then, is this particular Skyline up for grabs at just under a hundred thousand dollars? One word: hakosuka. It’s the nickname given to the C10-generation Skyline, and translates roughly into “box Skyline”. And in GTX form, this isn’t even the top-dog of the line: in 1969, the Skyline GT-R appeared on this platform. That reason alone, the mystique of the Skyline GT-R and the performance heritage that has followed that particular model, is why. Every kid who grew up wondering why the Nissan they’d never heard of before was able to spank a Corvette while playing Grand Turismo knows why that badge is important, though to be fair, that’s really only appropriate for the R32 and newer series.
The C10 Skyline wasn’t a wilting flower, though, it’s just more typical old-school Japanese hot rod. A 2.0L naturally-aspirated four-cylinder, the L20 commonly found throughout Nissan/Datsuns of the era, sent power to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual. If you were local to the Japanese Archipeligo, you could get the Skyline in either two-door or four-door sedan layouts. And it’s the handsome two-door here that has us drooling. This is one of the two classic Skylines that have collectors and enthusiasts the world over dreaming, the other is the swoopy, almost Chrysler-like “kenmeri” coupe that followed the C10 body up, and it’s a question of what does it for you. We would take either one…they aren’t muscle cars per se, but they look great and besides, wouldn’t you like to own a copy of where a legend began?
eBay Link: 1971 Nissan Skyline 2000 GTX
I saw a similar or even earlier Skyline at my local cruise. This one was the same colour but had a tuned engine running 3 DCOE Webers and a performance manifold. Like most classic cars the original idea was gradually destroyed by technology and being moved into a more exclusive market so such fine examples are to be treasured!