The Prince Car Club of Australia will be celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Prince Skyline GT (S54) at this year's Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport.
After a not-so-successful attempt at the 1st Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit with a Michelotti designed Prince Skyline Sport, Prince Motor Company put all efforts into dominating local motorsport in 1964.
To do this, Prince engineers extended the front of the 1963 4-cylinder Prince Skyline S50 by 200mm to accommodate a souped up G7 2-litre 6-cylinder motor from the 1963 Prince Gloria. Equipped with triple webers, the Prince Skyline 2000GT (S54A-1) was born. It was publicly announced in March 1964, and, on May 1st, the day before the 2nd Japan Grand Prix a limited number of 100 units were “released” in order to obtain homologation for the GT-II race.
The Prince domination was denied, with a late entry Porsche Carrera 904GTS beating the 7 entered Skyline 2000GT’s.
The Skyline GT still became an instant hero in Japan after leading the Porsche for a lap and ultimately finishing in positions 2nd through to 6th and 8th behind it. It was this lap that is renowned as the ‘Birth of the Skyline Legend” and Godzilla. Nissan continued with the Skyline and its racing versions after the Nissan-Prince merger in 1966Australia received less than 500 Prince Skyline GT's (GTA & GTB) from 1965 - 1968. Around 100 survive with only around 50 “on the road”. The very active club will be displaying around 10 incredible vehicles at the Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport.
The 2024 Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport will take place on March 8-10th at the famed Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. Tickets at the gate. Patrons under 17 years of age are free to enter if accompanied by an adult.
Visit the event page here.
Author: Jason Quigg