Dan Trent – The Original Skyline GT‑R Is Japanese Exotica At Its Finest

As I've learned more about the Skyline legend I've come to appreciate the older cars more though. Meaning the display of five historic GT-Rs – from 1969 'Hakosuka' 2000GT-R to 1999 M-Spec Nür R34 – at the New York International Auto Show I was attending the other week was probably more interesting than the latest tweak to the current R35 taking centre stage.

I had a fascinating chat with Nissan design boss Shiro Nakamura at the show too, his involvement with the current GT-R stretching back to the original concept in 2001 and making him quite the authority on why it looks the way it does. People write the GT-R off as a power and technology crazed Terminator of a car. But I think it's a lot more interesting than that, its styling reflecting a tradition stretching back to the late 60s yet not chained to that, or the more recent and familiar R32, R33 and R34. While the Hakosuka carries the European influence obvious in many 60s Japanese cars the signs of emerging identity and confidence are already there. Indeed, of all the Skylines on display before us Nakamura identified the Hakosuka and R34 – first and last of the Japanese-only Skyline GT-Rs – as the biggest influences on the current one. That reference is in the angle of the C-pillar in case you were wondering.

The legend of the Hakosuka - also commonly referred to by its KPGC10 code - only really came to my attention when I first saw this video of one being thrashed round Fuji. I loved the look of it. I loved the noise even more, that screaming 2.0-litre DOHC S20 straight-six just so exotic, hard-edged and brutal.

So I want a Hakosuka GT-R. Trouble is so does a growing, passionate and increasingly well-funded cohort, raised on the Skyline legend and drawn to the car that set the template. Japanese exotica like this might still be niche compared with old 911s and the like but the $242,000 hammer price of this Hakosuka set a line in the sand for the kind of money these things can fetch. I was at the auction and spent much of the night seeking the car out so I could look upon it in the metal. I eventually found it lined up in a shopping mall outside the sale hall, surprisingly compact but brimming with purpose and a wonderful balance of delicacy and muscularity.

As is the way in the classics market many of the cars on sale are 'lesser' Skylines jazzed up to look like GT-Rs. Many of them beautifully done, even if they tend to run the less exotic single-cam motors. I have no idea if this one is original or not as there's not much info in the ad. Or an engine bay pic. The fact it combines the riveted on wheelarch extensions with the steel wheels – as they were originally apparently – and hasn't been dropped, modded or fitted with fat rubber as many are leads me to hope it might be.

If this and the R34 are the bookends to the legacy expressed by the current GT-R it's only right I'd want both in the fantasy fleet. I've no idea how much it would cost to realise that and start the collection at the beginning. But a man can dream.

Images courtesy of Dan Trent and Car and Classic