Project Nissan Skyline GT-R R33 – Part 1: I finally have one!

The long awaited R33 Skyline GT-R. To me, looking at it never gets old. I don’t know what it is, but the R33 GT-R’s lines has always just fit my “car mold”.

I’m going to tell you a story—a story about a 46–year-old boy who never grew up and now (whether fortunately or unfortunately is up for debate) will never have to. It involves a 25-year-old dream to one day own an R33 Nissan Skyline GT-R.

In the spring of 1995, Pablito was 20 years old and in the prime of his life, when the March edition of Road & Track showed up in his mailbox. Therein was an article called “Distant Thunder – Altered States”.

This R&T article showcased a handful of overdone tuner cars from Japan, including a Supra, a couple of RX-7s, but also a subtle looking…wait…what is that? “What’s a Skyline GT-R?” he wondered. Having never heard of one, it looked super intriguing to him, especially since he was into “sleepers” back then. Pablito loved the looks of this thing, and his jaw started to slowly open in anticipation as he read on.
A few paragraphs into the article, R&T author Sam Mitani introduced the HKS-built “Zero R” Skyline. Pablito thought, “Is this the back end of another one? And what’s HKS? Look at that back end!” Until then, the Ferrari F40 was R&T’s King of the Hill, with a 0-60 and quarter-mile of 3.8 and 11.8 seconds, respectively (but it also looked the part). Conversely, to read about a tuned/sleeper four-seater Nissan that was doing those runs in 3.0 and 11.0 seconds, respectively…Pablito’s jaw dropped to the floor.
Two pages later, the author talked about the blue car from the two-page spread–a Greddy-built Skyline GT-R R32 “RX”, which reportedly hit 60 in 2.9 seconds, and rocketed down the quarter in 9.7 seconds—this was a street car…and in 1995! Poor Pablito was losing his mind!

You see, Pablito was already as excited as anyone could be with the recent arrival of the E36 BMW M3, but we’re also talkin’ 240 bhp here, and quarter-mile times in 14 seconds flat, at best. These Godzilla numbers messed with Pablito’s already swimming head. To top it off, it was only a few months later that he was further tortured with the learning of the next generation Skyline GT-R being released that year, the R33. The fact that everything he read meant these cars would never hit Stateside was simply, well, depressing.

He’d fallen for this next-generation R33, even more than the R32; just everything about it. The updated look seemed just right. He’d give anything to see his future with a “real” job and garage with this over-the-top sleeper tucked safely inside. Sadly, it was so far-fetched it was impossible to even perceive the vision. As far as he knew, he’d never be able to own an R33 Skyline—or any Skyline—for that matter.

[you can’t have it…you can’t have it…]
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