Meets From All Over - Four One One

C211 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-Es:
Japan's First Turbocharged Production Car
After three generations and nearly 20 years of motorsport ass-whoopings dished out by R-series Skylines, it's almost impossible to imagine Nissan's halo car apart from turbocharged power. But the day did exist when such was the norm. In fact, Skylines were aspirated naturally for the first twenty years of their existence...until the release of the C211 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-ES in 1980. It was the first turbocharged production car to ever roll out of Japan, and while its reasons for being had little to do with performance, it single-handedly set the stage for the development of nearly every big-power Japanese performance car to follow.

The '77-'81 Skyline was produced in four trims, with the GT-ES being top-tier, replacing the GT-R trim that had existed earlier. The GT-R's naturally aspirated, 2.0L S20 inline-six was replaced by the GT-ES's 2.0L, L20ET turbocharged I-6, which more closely resembled the L24 I-6 mill used in the company's 240Zs for the previous seven years. No intercooler or bypass valve was used with the new engine, and the L20ET's cylinder head design was even more lackluster; its single, chain-driven cam controlled only two valves per cylinder, and the typical L-series "non-crossflow head" persisted in the L20ET-placing intake manifold runners inefficiently close to a hot exhaust manifold and turbo. As a result, Japan's first stab at turbocharged performance netted only 144 hp of total output-about 16 hp less than the GT-R's naturally aspirated S20 mill did in its final production run four years prior. But the C211's goals were accomplished nonetheless.

To call the C211 Skyline a failure based solely on its performance deficits would be grossly shortsighted. It was created with an entirely different challenge in mind: survival. The '70s oil crunch spelled disaster for many performance car lines, especially when combined with Japan's tightened emissions regulations. The C211's stripped-down appearance, and conservative fuel mileage allowed the Skyline name to weather the storm under the guise of an economical passenger car as opposed to an all-out sports car-a combination that it retains today-and advancements wrought from its development were later put to use in future generations of the car to boost performance. Turbocharging technology born of the L20ET was later applied to Japan's first 16-valve four-cylinder-the FJ20-creating the most powerful Japanese engine of the day, and paving the way for the development of the CA-, SR-, and RB-series engines that would give Nissan's competing car makers a precedent to follow for years to come. www.nissan.com

By Brian Chin

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