It was 1964 when Prince entered their S50D-1 2000GT Horizon in the Japan GT-II race, intending to go far on their own among the other heavy-hitters from the area.
The vehicle was simply a household saloon, however revealed pledge leveraging its substantial G-7 SOHC straight-six versus the competitors. Regrettably for Prince, it was this extremely exact same race where the Porsche 904 GTS was likewise gone into, thriving the Horizon and taking house the checkered flag (go figure, right?). However much to the surprise of the Prince Driver Club, the Horizons weren’t too far behind, completing second through sixth, controling whatever else on the grid.
Why is this essential? Well, I ‘d argue that if it wasn’t for the success of this race, the almighty Horizon as we understand it might have diminished off into another chapter of lost Japanese history.
The 904 GTS that won the ’64 race is what pressed Prince engineers to establish the Prince R380, which handled, and beat the upgraded Porsche 906 at the Japanese Grand Prix 2 years later on, causing the acquisition of Prince by Nissan.
Yes, there are some stories about political impact rather requiring the merger, however needless to state, Nissan welcomed Prince’s success in motorsport. Nissan dropped the Prince name, nevertheless, the Prince Vehicle driver Club was stated to have actually been managing their motorsport department concealed deep within the business for many years after. They even worked out of the old Prince head office in the Mita district of Tokyo, instead of the Nissan head office in Ginza.
Nissan continued with the Horizon after the acquisition, however this time under its own badge and with a facelift. Though it wasn’t simply a facelift, it was a whole redesign that took a number of years to finish.
The preliminary C10 was powered by the old Prince G15 inline four-cylinder engine and was just used as a sedan or wagon. They’re thought about the pre-facelift vehicles in spite of sharing crucial ‘Hakosuka’ style attributes like the ‘browse line’ above the rear quarter panels, aggressive Pininfarina-like belt line, and quad headlights among others.
As the facelifting procedure continued, the Horizon ultimately wound up in its last type, or a minimum of last Hakosuka type. The almighty as we have actually familiarized it is the KPGC10, which is the two-door, pillar-less coupe variation of the late-model Hakosuka It was removed of whatever to be as light as possible and was the very first Horizon to have rear fender flares to include larger steel wheels and tires, while likewise keeping totally independent suspension on all 4 corners.
However I can’t neglect the most fundamental part about the vehicle– the S20 engine, which was a Prince GR-8 influenced DOHC inline-six that originated from the factory with hemispherical combustion chambers, 4 valves per cylinder, and naturally triple carburetors, leading it to a declared 160hp and something like an 8,000 rpm redline. It is among the best-sounding engines I have actually ever heard. Therefore, the KPGC10 was and still is the most race-bred Horizon of them all.
Manifesting
This family tree with all of its historic significance and impressive style is what led me here. A 10-year non-stop search that concluded with what was rather actually the acquisition of my dream vehicle. Yes readers, the KGC10 Nissan Horizon 2000GT above is mine, and I still can’t think it when I type that out.
All of it started back in high school. I can’t mention the specifics of when precisely, however I ‘d approximate at some point around sophomore year is when I checked out my very first Japanese Choice publication, and the very first time I saw the C10 Horizon. I might have been a late bloomer to this compared to a few of the other owners, however cut me some slack. After all, I chose the best vehicle to fall for, right?
Anyhow, I keep in mind scanning the pages, having not an idea what any of the words implied given that it was all in Japanese. All I understood was that I liked the vehicles that remained in it. They were motivating and various, and greatly concentrated on the drift and position scene at the time. However I clearly keep in mind stopping dead in my tracks the minute I laid eyes on the page with the Hakosuka on it. It was low, it had flares, and these small little wheels with bubbly tires. The majority of especially however, it looked muscle car-like, practically American if you didn’t pay it excessive attention. And it was a KPGC10 GT-R homage.
I feared of the numerous little information and complexities of its style. It was so easy however likewise so classy and yet kept this aggressive temperament. To this day, the style is the crucial particular that actually makes me melt when I take a look at it. I would consider it the most gorgeous vehicle penned out of Japan, parallel to the Toyota 2000GT.
I informed myself that day that I would own one much like the one in the image, flares with bubbly wheels and all– the complete KPGC10 homage.
Protecting The Bag
The search was most likely the most uphill struggle I have actually sustained in my whole life. As pointed out, it took me a years to discover the best vehicle, of which the very first 5 years were definitely useless. With Instagram hardly making its development and Facebook still in its teenage years, social networks searches were damn near out of the concern.
With my hopes squashed, I stopped and waited, though I didn’t actually understand what I was waiting on. I would sometimes peek around Craigslist occasionally, and a couple of online forums too, however absolutely nothing would ever show up. Or if they did, they were rusted to outright death.
Fortunately however, it appeared that others in the Datsun world were likewise assessing their interests for these vehicles in the United States, and as time advanced, so did the variety of Hakosukas that were imported from Japan.
( Enjoyable reality: I encountered my R32 Skyline GT-R whilst browsing the web for a Hakosuka a couple of years back, and the only factor I purchased it was to be a placeholder while I continued my search.)
Quick forwarding to about a year and a half back, my R32 GT-R was long gone and though I had Project 912SiX at the time still, I was itching to return into some sort of Horizon.
By this point, importing uncommon vehicles was rather typical in the United States. I was seeing R32s and R33s and even R34s published for sale regularly. I figured the timing was right, so I scavenged the web, all social networks, and for some factor chose to publish a ‘WTB’ thread in the Hakosuka owners group. Low and behold, the latter was what fate had in shop for me …
I got a PM from a social networks pal who handled to get in touch with me through R32 ownership, and he kept in mind that somebody at a regional track neighboring to him in among the southern states occurred to have a Hakosuka noted for sale, and it was just a few miles far from him. You can most likely think how hesitant I was of this, considered that I ‘d been looking for such an extended period of time. However my suspicions were put at rest the minute the seller gotten in touch with me and began talking about the information of the vehicle.
The KGC10 had actually currently been ‘brought back’ (I state that as loosely as I can) as soon as in Japan and emerged relatively well. It had actually remained in the United States for a long while prior to I asked, however the seller never ever actually did anything with it, so he was forced to let it go to somebody who would do appropriate justice in bringing it as much as its well-deserved splendor. I believe it’s safe to state, I was that man.
After an extremely long six-month sale cycle (the information would bore you, trust me, so I’m leaving them out), on December 11, 2019, I took shipment of my dream vehicle.
Very First Month
The very first thing I did was drive the outright hell out of the vehicle. I’m talking damn near utilizing it as a day-to-day chauffeur, whether that was to the coffee bar, the supermarket, or perhaps simply around the block for laughs. I could not get enough of it, and I can not reveal enough just how much I enjoy this vehicle. It measured up to whatever I was anticipating it to. The character, the appeal, the odor, and let’s not forget that definitely beautiful style. There would even be days where I ‘d simply go look at it while consuming my coffee. We actually went on dates together.
However the honeymoon was short-term. A month into ownership, and the defects started to pop out. Some suspension bits ended up being so worn that the vehicle ended up being undrivable. After finding some doubtful bodywork, I decided to put ‘ Package Job’ under the knife, eventually intending to accomplish that end vision of the low and aggressive vehicle that had the flares and bubbly tires that I at first fell for at 16. It was time for my variation of the homage to come to life.
Package Job Lives
The Hakosuka went to my pal’s bodyshop practically right away after the choice was made, and it made itself rather comfy living there too. With parts taking months to show up from Japan and a complete windows-out paint task in the roadmap together with metal repair and suspension/drivetrain upgrades, the vehicle separated itself from me for precisely one year. However the result could not have actually been anymore ideal.
That being stated, it practically looks the part aside from some information that are still in the pipeline. And naturally, there’s a whole list of other upgrades that are likewise in the works to bring Package Job to where I would consider it total. However I’ll spare the information for a future upgrade. Stay tuned …
Naveed Yousufzai
Instagram: eatwithnaveed
Email: naveed@speedhunters.com
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