Why the Nissan GT-R Was Nicknamed Godzilla
The Nissan GT-R was a legendary race car. It destroyed so much competition that it was nicknamed Godzilla.
Written by Alex Reale
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Table of Contents
The first Godzilla movie came out in 1954, and the sight of the King of the Monsters destroying what is very clearly a diorama reminds us how far technology has come in nearly 70 years.
Our monsters have since improved on their believability, but Godzilla has maintained his legendary status in our collective imagination. If you described your 3-year-old nephew as the Godzilla of preschool, we’d know that Lego towers were being smashed, and crayons cracked in half.
But destruction doesn’t always have to be negative. Read on to learn about the
Nissan
GT-R, which earned its Godzilla nickname by smashing the competition. Early generations
Nissan introduced the world to the GT-R at the 1968 Tokyo Motor Show, reports
Motor Authority
, in a thorough history of the car. This first generation GT-R was slow by today’s standards, but its S20 dual-overhead cam 2.0 L inline six-cylinder engine and top speed of 124 mph were enough to win the JAF Grand Prix. The GT-R was off to a blazing start.The second generation GT-R debuted, and made its exit, in 1973. These five-speed coupes were highly anticipated, but changing emissions standards made generation two quite short-lived, and only about 200 were produced between January and April. The GT-R franchise then went into a long hibernation, and in 1989 woke up to present the third generation, the R32 GT-R.
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A monster awakens
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Generation three, it turned out, would be the one to rear its dino head. A 2.6 L turbocharged inline six-cylinder took the quarter mile time of the first generation down by three seconds, and increased horsepower from 160 to 276.
And it won a lot of races.
Nissan
notes that the R32 race car won every single Japanese Touring Car Championship from 1990 to 1993. This string of victories, along with big wins across Europe and Australia, prompted one Australian magazine to call this speedy Nissan “Godzilla” in a cover story. All this success made another Godzilla into a legend, one that endures to this day. 2 Fast 2 Furious prominently featured an R34 GT-R, and Gran Turismo’s licensed reproduction of the GT-R lets any gamer whip around corners with dazzling speed. Nissan’s monster became a king.
Godzilla endures
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After a massively successful run elsewhere in the world, the U.S. finally got access to the GT-R. In 2008, the R35 made its debut on this side of the Pacific, starting at around $78,000, reports Motor Authority. Upped to 480 hp by a twin-turbocharged 3.8 L V6 engine, the GT-R was ready to take the U.S. by storm.
The 2021 Nissan GT-R whips up a stunning 600 hp on a 3.8 L 24-valve twin-turbocharged V6. The engines are hand-built by five expert craftsmen, and professional drivers test them on world-renowned tracks like the Nürburgring. It’s beautiful, sleek, and can go 205 mph. Godzilla’s great-great-grandson is a monster all its own.
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