Yahoo Autos 1987 Nissan Skyline on Cars & Bids is the GT-R's long-lost cousin
Spoken in a reverential tone by enthusiasts, the name "Nissan Skyline" is often associated with the fire-breathing GT-R. We likely wouldn't have the GT-R without the Skyline, but there are other, more humble members of the family that Americans didn't get to meet. Nissan sold sedan and wagon variants of the Skyline in global markets, and a seventh-generation model listed on Cars & Bids shows what we missed.
The Skyline's family tree traces its roots to a little-known Japanese carmaker called Prince Motor Company. The original model released in 1957 wasn't envisioned as a sports car; it took the form of an upmarket sedan whose design was vaguely reminiscent of an American car's. The lineup began shifting towards performance when the elegant, Michelotti-designed Skyline Sports made its debut in 1962 (two years after its presentation as a concept at the Turin auto show), but the GT-R nameplate didn't appear until the Hakosuka model arrived in 1969.
By that point, Prince was history; it merged with Nissan in 1966. Several of its nameplates lived on including Skyline, Gloria, and Homy. Nissan continued updating the Skyline range, the fourth-generation model arrived in 1972, but it consigned the GT-R to the attic after the short-lived second-generation model retired in 1973. The nameplate didn't return until the R32-generation model made its debut in 1989.
