Is this one of the rarest JDM options for the R32 Nissan Skyline? Accessories enthusiasts say, “Yes!”
Browsing BackShelf., the rare and uncommon JDM accessories enthusiast group on Facebook, and I came across what group member Sean Kirby says is, “one of the rarest Nissan Skyline accessories” that came with his Autech R32, this optional factory double rear-view mirror setup.
Check out a better photo of the featured blog post image below.
Here’s what the mirrors look like from outside.
“Played with 100s of Skylines,” Kirby captions his photo. “This is about the rarest I have had come in with.”
At first glance it almost looks like a glitch in the matrix, double rear-view mirrors is not something you see in a car, however old.
Dylan Sattler, another group member, confirmed that, as mentioned, this was a factory option on 1989-1991 R32 Nissan Skyline sedans.
Check out Nissan’s catalog photo of the rare, double rear view mirror below.
As you can already guess, the extra mirror was to keep an eye on and to better facilitate conversation with rear passengers.
Group member Charlie Stevenson’s .02 on the matter is the likely explanation why Nissan offered this accessory.
“(This double rear view mirrors are) mainly in police cars and taxis for better rear view to see the rear passengers. Most of them get ripped out and thrown away over there apparently. That’s why this one’s kind of a rare option to have.”
Other group members mentioned that this one come in handy for driving school instructors too.
While most Americans see the R32 Skyline as one of Japan’s best sports cars, a literal and figurative Godzilla of the racetrack, that honor goes mostly to the R32 GT-R.
The vast majority of R32 Skylines sold went to normal, everyday Japanese people that needed a spacious four (or two) door sedan (or coupe) for jaunts around town, the occasional trip, and commuting (i.e. just a regular car.)
That fact becomes more apparent when you consider the wide range of engines the Skyline came with, ranging from a 1.8L carbureted NA SOHC engine with 90 HP to the legendary twin-turbo RB26DETT 280 HP engine engineered to dominate on the racetrack.
While this double-rear view mirror looks ungainly and seeing how most were ripped out, it’s no surprise this idea never caught on in the import world and elsewhere.
Today, the spirit of the double-rear view mirror lives on in a more aesthetically pleasing form factor, the conversation mirror, mostly found on vans like the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna.
To some extent newer cars with in-car cabin cameras did what this double mirror once did decades ago, albeit these cameras are a lot more sophisticated, often used to monitor not only passengers but driver awareness in real time.
I briefly looked through other Nissans of that era on EPC-Data.com like Laurels and Silvias and could not find other Nissans that offered this uncommon accessory so, as Sattler commented, maybe they were really exclusive to just Skylines.
Whatever the case, consumers spoke, remaining a (now) rare accessory stuck forever in a bygone era.
