A desperate time that created the first chapter of a modern legacy.
So far, we’ve covered several notorious performance cars that risen from Japan’s “bubble era” in the past month. Some gain huge followings while others fell short but still brilliant in its own right. Today, will take a look at a car that few people talk about anymore and why it shouldn’t be.
In the late 70's Nissan along with other car brands were struggling, we see the downturn of muscle cars around this time and Lamborghini went bust. The two oil crisis in 73' and 79' was a dark time for the auto industry and Nissan was dealing with another issue. They were having trouble keeping up with the competition (in terms of sale), Nissan was no longer a sales king and the cars such as their reputable Skyline was no longer the track dominator it once was.
So, Nissan got to work in recapturing the good ol’ times by creating the R30 Skyline, the goal of performance while being frugal. To achieve this, Nissan developed a brand new 2.0liter four cylinder engine called the FJ20. The block is made of iron so its super durable, four valves per cylinder with dual overhead cams, and sequential fuel injection, a first in the industry.
The engine produced 148hp which was impressive at the time considering it was more powerful than the best of Toyota at the time has to offer and better than the C210 Skyline it replaced with the optional six cylinder with force induction. It got Toyota’s attention and answered back with a new four cylinder coupled to a turbo. Nissan went ahead and turbocharged the FJ20 to create the FJ20ET fitted in the RS-Turbo seen here which can produce as much as 205hp. For the RS-Turbo the front brakes were beefed up to deal with the new horsepower, new exterior such as new gold wheels, more aggressive front bumper for more air, and a rear spoiler for better stability and just being extra “cool.” It was a motorsport star too just like how Nissan wanted it with winning many Australian Touring Car races before being retired and replaced by the mighty R32. It was also a favorite for drift fans with the durable FJ20 that can take just about any punishment a tuner can throw at it.
The car was a hero not just for Nissan in getting them back on their feet, but for Japanese performance cars. Without it, Japan wouldn’t have gotten so serious into the high performance trend and creating some of the most famous ones we know and reviewed before. Sadly though, with the other cars like the R32 through 4, Supras getting all the spotlights when on the subject of Japanese performance cars. The R30 seems forgotten, not getting enough praise for what it achieved.
Once again, another outstanding recreation from Tomica Premium. I think its fair to say with all the releases they made in the past year, this one have the most going on in terms of styling, I wonder if this cast is the most difficult one they make to date. All the details like the lights and graphics are so superb (just look at the badges printed in the 3rd picture) and great effort was put into those wheels. The interior is beautiful all red to match the exterior and this cast also features opening doors which some despise but makes the beautiful interior more accessible to see. There’s no way I can compare this to the HWs release, in every aspect, they’re both on different dimensions including retail price. If you want to get into collecting Tomica Premiums, this one gives you the most bang for your buck in terms of features.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back reviewing another rally car next week. Until next time. Sayonara.