Nissan displays every GT-R ever made at New York motor show

Nissan have put together an incredible display of GT-R vehicles at the New York motor show this year, including immaculate examples of every generation ever made.

The first is the “Harosuka” PGC Skyline GT-R which was released in March 1971. It featured a 2.0L straight-6 DOHC engine developing 120kW (160hp) at 7,000rpm, which was sent to the rear wheels via a 5-speed manual transmission.

The first Skyline GT-R rode on a semi-trailing arm strut suspension, and a total of 1,945 vehicles were produced.

 

Next came the second-generation “Kenmeri” Skyline GT-R, introduced in 1973. the car, a 1973. Nissan only built 197 of these beautiful cars, due to the gasoline crisis which hit in the early 1970s, drying out any demand for high-performance sports cars.

For the next decade, this was the last GT-R until the production of the R32 in 1989.

 

Ah yes, the third-generation R32 “Godzilla” GT-R. The R32 was the first vehicle which Nissan applied all-wheel drive and a twin-turbo, 6-cylinder engine to its high-performance package – a formula which was retained all the way through to the R35 GT-R of today.

The R32 was designed to dominate Group A racing, and it did exactly that.

 

The R32 was followed by… you guessed it.. the R33 GT-R. While arguably not as pretty as the R32, the R33 was nearly identical mechanically to the old car, though Nissan made improvements to the gearbox, suspension settings and the ATTESA all-wheel drive system.

Unfortunately, these changes meant the GT-R weighed around 100kg more than the R32, which wasn’t a good thing considering the engine wasn’t producing more power to match.

 

Nissan stepped things up a notch when they released the R34 GT-R in 1999. The R34 featured cleaner and tougher looking exterior styling while also being shorter, in response to customer concerns that the R33 was too bulky. The R34 also featured a new electronically controlled version of the ATTESSA all-wheel drive system, along with a revised version of Nissan’s RB26 2.6L twin-turbo straight-6 engine.

The R34 also had a computer-controlled HICAS all-wheel steering system, which was activated when the vehicle exceeded 80km/h. While Nissan claimed the R34 GT-R only produced 206kW (276hp) in order to comply with the ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ between Japanese auto manufacturers, real world testing showed the cars had a factory power output closer to 243kW (325hp).

 

Finally, Nissan also had a prototype for the R35 GT-R Nismo from 2013. This heavily camouflaged and huge rear winged vehicle was spotted by spy photographers at the Nurburgring leading up to the launch of the GT-R Nismo.