Midnight Purple 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec Shows Blossoming Chameleon DNA autoevolution.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from autoevolution.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
With the Skyline badge now applied to the cars sold in the North American market as the Infiniti G35 and G37, the GT-R badge found itself lifted from a special variant to a stand-alone car. The team assembled to create this new monster took it from Godzilla to Mecha-Godzilla, embracing not just twin-turbocharging and all-wheel-drive but twin driveshafts, a six-speed double-clutch gearbox, and a new twin-turbocharged V-6 engine. And it would be sold here.
If the original GT-R was a katana, and the R32/33/35 a firearm, then the R35 was a Gundam warsuit. Weight increased to 3800 lbs, but power levels matched that of the handbuilt Z-Tune R34. The first models were more road-going racecar than Nissan 911 Turbo, but the R35 GT-R became more polished over the years. It also got quicker, running a sub-3 second 0-60 mph sprint by 2011. A decade later, that s still impressive.