Many Urban legends surround the legality (or, more accurate, illegality) importing the Nissan GT-R skyline to the US. Experts claim Skyline is too fast for American police cars to catch up, that the powerful turbocharged machine is able to pump up to 1,000 horsepower considering many aftermarket parts. The fact that skyline is AWD and has a highest speed of 200 mph, and this is the time when the police explorer is the rear wheel drive and handled like a boat.

Remember, we talked about a two-door Japanese sports car from the late 80s until the mid 90’s here, not some modern turbocharged rockets. Then again, the horizon is not an ordinary sports car, especially the R32 Skyline GT-R which debuted in 1988 – a true period of fan known as the Dragon year.

That year, the horizon came hitting awareness of fans and professional racers. It won the Japanese tour car championship 29 times in a row. It also reached its first place in Australia Touring Car Championship in 1991 and 1992, enough to get the nickname “Godzilla” who was lovingly from Wheels magazine in Australia. Besides that, who can forget Skyline Paul Walker R34 power-sliding with a victory in 2 Fast 2 Furious?

So yes, Nissan skyline GT-R on R32, R33, and R34 is one of the fastest cars of their generation. But regardless of myth, speed, strong acceleration, and the fact that Skyline GT-R is the right drive (RHD) is not the real reason why they are illegal importing to the US.

The simple answer is Nissan does not intend to sell the GT-R skyline to Uncle Sam, and that means that some of the things we think on the American New Car lots are not taken into account in Godzilla. There is no one variant or the GT-R skyline iteration in accordance with emissions and guidelines for accident safety from the standard and safety regulations of Federal Motor Vehicle (FMVV), for example. However, government regulations play an important role, and all began after World War II.

Do you know the US Gray market began when American soldiers were placed abroad bringing home their European cars after the war? At that time, anyone could buy cars abroad and import it directly to the United States, the trend continued for more than 20 years after the war.

The first strike came in 1967, when American regulations on imports began. Drivers who have passed the official imported channel to make foreign car makers cry rotten, and the results are clamp in the gray market. However, what truly broke the camel’s back was when Congress passed the 1988 motor vehicle safety compliance law, which basically saved imported cars such as Nissan Skyline GT-R banned in America.