Mr. Thirty: the Australian sixth-generation Skylines...

"Did he say sixth-generation Skyline..?!

 ..the HR30, DR30.. the L20ET 2000GT Turbo's, FJ20ET RS-X's, frameless glass, fender mirrors, offset intercoolers, and hotplate tail-lights...

...the Hasemi Motorsport Group 5 Super Silhouette DR30..!!"


Oh, no..
..nope, no..
..not quite.

Think a little lower peg. Think pedestrian. Think church carparks.. community halls.. a volunteer chariot behind a Salvation Army store..
..L24E non-turbo sixes, rear drum brakes, and big ol' block-o-colour tail-lamps: it's the Australian MR30 Skyline.

On the Australian market between the C210 winding-up in 1981, and the R31's introduction in 1986; sedan and five-door hatch, manual and auto.. and as mentioned above, all powered by the L24E straight six.
A rare beast nowadays; the R31 Skylines would have to outnumber these things 100-to-1..
..but since I've yet to do a full post on the Australian MR30's (despite constant posting of their Japanese-market HR30/DR30 cousins), here we go.. a handful of examples I've come across in recent times, starting with the two above from the TCCAV Sakura Picnic a couple weeks ago.

First up...

1984 MR30 Nissan Skyline TI sedan. Auto. Metallic Silver over grey.

The facelift honeycomb grille from an update in late 1983...

Handsome alloy wheel and TI badge...

 The 2.4E badge representing the only engine option.. again.. the L24E six.

Hotplate tail-lamps are a classic Skyline detail; it'd be hard to resist grabbing a pair for even the nicest of original cars - they just look the business..!

Towbar and Aunger louvre are classic Australian touches.
 

1984 MR30 Nissan Skyline TI Sedan.. again. Auto.. again. In a beautifully-presented solid red over tan..

An open bonnet gives us the chance to check out the L24E; a 2.4litre, fuel-injected, single-cam straight six.. producing around 94kw and 180nm of torque in this local guise.

 That facelift grille again..

..and those one-piece alloys, the two-tone TI badge, and here.. one of those longitudinally-mounted mudflaps...

..and a view around the rest of what was a seriously neat example. It's so great to see this pair so nicely cared for...


The same can't be said for this next car, spotted in a 24hour Kmart carpark late one night....

..coincidentally another late facelift car - this time a dark blue over silver two-tone, with a grey cloth interior...

You're going to have to do your best to look past the faded paint and cheap hubcaps.. this would've looked sharp when new!

All has not gone too well.
What's important here though, is that it's here at all. It looks like it's two tyres into the wrecker's yard as-is.. but we can't count it out just yet. I really hope this can just stick in there until someone else snaps it up..!


The next two cars weren't so lucky. From a wreckers run earlier this year...:

First up, and resting beside some of it's showroom buddies (a Z31 300ZX/FairladyZ, and 910 Bluebird TRX).. is an all-white four-door. This one seemed like a massive shame, as it's just such a perfect base to turn into a nice Japanese-market replica. Good straight body too... urgh, what a waste..

..and an equal shame, but for different reasons...

1985 RMR30 Nissan Skyline TI hatchback. Auto. Light metallic blue over grey velour.
This painfully looked to have been such a nicely kept car too. Paint still shining. Carpets still soft and relatively clean. Seriously, it's a 30year old car.. it's survived so well.. and now this. Congratulations.

Relatively high KM, but the fact this looks uncleaned gives a good idea of how generally-tidy these enginebays remain...

Ignore the loose trim and other busted parts: I'm almost certain these things happened in the days leading up to me first coming across it. It was just too neat to have that sort of damage beforehand..

Uncracked dash, and just look at this footwell carpet! 30-years-old and still looking plush...

..hiding its 285,000km SO well.
Love the large orange numbers, horizontally-resting needles, and subtle grid detailing. The full gauge set is an absolute bonus..

Nice and neat HVAC control panel.. refreshing after seeing so many butchered ones in modified DR30 coupes in Japan. Obviously that AWA Cassette component isn't original fit, but is period correct.. and neatly done...

Air Conditioning was standard on the TI's..

Original AM/FM radio..

..and the AWA Cassette Stereo.

Liftback open. High lift-over, but removable parcel-shelf and split-fold rear seats would create a fantastically usable space - already filled here with bits of nearby cars...!

...and closed, for a rear 3/4 shot of an Australian RMR30 Hatchback. Not as pretty or desirable as the sedan, but a Skyline Hatch is certainly something different!

..and Done. As I whined about above - it looked to have been bloody neat for it's age..



So there we have it.
Australian sixth-generation (M)R30 Skylines, in both Sedan and Hatchback body styles.. and everything from cherry original cars, to a worn-out daily driver, to the poor cars that slip through the enthusiast net. Hopefully these continue to get a bit more love locally, because (like earlier Skylines) good examples will start leaving the country if we don't...