The C110 generation Skylines were produced by Nissan between 1972 and 1977 and were the second generation of Skylines to carry Nissan branding. The first Skylines were produced from 1957 by the Prince Motor Company. Prince was absorbed into Nissan following a merger in 1966, and the Skyline range (along with the Prince Gloria) became part of the Nissan line up of cars.
The C110 Skyline range consisted of three bodystyles, including a 4 door saloon, a 5 door estate/station wagon, and a 2 door coupe. The 2 door model formed the basis of the 2000 GT-R which was the high performance version within the Skyline range and which is the car represented by this Kyosho model. It was the first Skyline to feature 4 round rear lights which was to become a styling feature associated with the Skyline range. The car was sold outside Japan in some markets (notably Australia where it sold well at the time) as the Datsun K-Series.
Amusingly the C110 generation Skylines are often referred to as the "Ken & Mary" or "Kenmeri" Skyline thanks to a contemporary television advertising campaign for the car in Japan featuring a young couple of the same name enjoying the countryside in "Ken and Mary's Skyline". The ads were a huge success and the car sold in large numbers in Japan.
However, the high performance GT-R version was only sold between September 1972 and March 1973, and only 197 in total were made (out of a total of 670,562 C110 Skylines built). The car was a victim of rising oil prices (which led to the oil crisis of 1973) which Japan was especially vulnerable to as most of it's oil was (and still is) imported from the Middle East. Japanese buyers lost interest in performance cars and instead opted for more economical versions of the cars they bought. Nissan also pulled out of motorsport at the time, and the KPGC110 GT-R was never officially raced by the factory, unlike it's predecessor, the KPGC-10 GT-R. The Skyline GT-R was not alone in being prematurely put out of production by the rise in oil prices, with similar performance cars such as the BMW 2002 Turbo and most American "muscle cars" being similarly affected by the lack of interest in fast cars compared to economy cars at the time.
Hence this generation Skyline was the last to have a GT-R version until the R32 Skyline was introduced in 1989. A shame for fans of performance cars as the GT-R Skylines were usually excellent cars to drive. The KPGC110 Skyline GT-R had a 2 litre 160bhp straight six driving the rear wheels through a 5 speed gearbox. It also differed from lesser Skylines in having independent rear suspension, bucket front seats, disc brakes on all 4 wheels and a small ducktail spoiler on it's boot lid.
Thanks to the small numbers made, the real car is now extremely collectable and is highly prized in it's home market of Japan. This model by Kyosho which was released in 2006 also seems to be very hard to find and sold out very quickly from most of the online model retailers I tend to use (or so it seemed to me). I found one for sale on eBay from a UK seller, but even then I could only find a white one for sale and none of the red versions which were also released by Kyosho. As it happens I wanted the white car, but it is nice to have a choice! To date (March 2007) Kyosho have also released a silver version in addition to the white and red cars, and have also produced a white version with lower profile "minilite" wheels.
Kyosho did a nice job on this model. it has an accurate bodyshape with opening doors, bonnet and bootlid, plus lots of details such as wiring to the lights and the lights themselves which look very realistic. The white paint is superbly applied and there is a detailed engine and interior with nice features such as accurate wiring in the engine bay and soft touch seats with fabric seatbelts. The wheels and tires look very good apart from the lack of branding on the sidewalls of the tires, which is a common omission on many models at present (presumably due to licensing problems with the tire manufacturers). A nice touch is that the disc brakes on all four wheels are nicely detailed although thanks to the wheel design on this car they are not easily seen when inspecting the model. A good example of Kyosho not cutting any corners on this piece. The rear suspension also moves on this model which is a nice touch to have on a model but which can sometimes result in the model having an unrealistic stance. Thankfully this model seems to have a realistic stance when displayed.
Overall a high quality model from Kyosho and one which like many Kyosho 1:18th releases seems to be hard to find at the moment. Well worth getting if you can find one!
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