The Nissan Skyline doesn’t need much in the way of an introduction if you’ve followed the import sports car scene with even just a passing interest. What’s talked about less frequently is the lineage that accompanies that namesake, as the Skyline was born decades earlier with the fanfare that can only come with besting (temporarily) the monstrous Porsche 904 on the Suzuka Circuit. The Skyline legend would only build from there, and today, finding an early production model will demand parting with close to six figures in order to buy a decent one. Here’s a far more affordable option: buy this battered Nissan Skyline Hakosuka listed here on Yahoo! Japan with an opening bid of 3,000,000 yen, or just under $29,000 US.
Of course, “battered” may be too generous of a description for what we’re looking at here. It’s total carnage, really, with not a single body panel left that hasn’t been ravaged by rust. The Skyline is located in the Fukuoka Prefecture of Japan, and over the years, there’s been plenty of evidence shared by urban explorers that show how cruel the local climate can be to vintage tin. Cars parked with any proximity to the ocean are certain goners, and if this Skyline weren’t a sports car of some significance, it almost certainly would have been scrapped eons ago.
Wow – that interior makes a big project downright gargantuan. There’s no interior to speak of, with door panels, carpeting, and most of the dash long gone. It makes you wonder if this Skyline – like a Camaro RS/SS or Mustang Mach 1 over here – was used as a parts rig for many years before someone realized prices were going up and it’d be worth saving for later on when an already-limited supply dried up even further. Now, I’m sure some of you are looking at this and wondering why an enthusiast would try and save such a rough specimen. Well, in addition to limited supply, there’s also this great article from Road and Track describing the Skyline’s on-track exploits involving a Porsche 904.
Oh, in case you were counting on finding a mill in this tired rust bucket, no dice – you are truly starting from scratch, and finding a date-coded engine that matches what this Skyline originally had under hood is going to be almost impossible. Skylines of this generation left the factory with a 2.8L inline-six engine (my displacement figure may be slightly off), a race-ready motor the likes of what you’ll see in the Road & Track video link I shared above. I’m truly curious what will happen with this car, as the listing notes that the right front pillar is broken due to rust and it’s basically being balanced in place with metal pipes and a pallet. It really defies common sense to restore it, but that’s rarely proven to be an obstacle for the truly committed.
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