Violently fast, illegal in the United States, faster than a Bugatti Veyron, with a value over £300,000; and arguably one of the best looking behinds in the industry.
The Nissan Skyline GT-R does owe some of its infamy to ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ - where the late Paul Walker was seen in his role of Brian O’Conner, owning and driving a 550 bhp Skyline R34. As if this power wasn’t enough to make it tantalising - which it is regardless - all of the speed enthusiasts in the States knew that these cars could not be legally imported into the US and so immediately had a ‘forbidden fruit’ angle which is just delicious.
Sadly, Walker’s death has also immortalised that particular vehicle which had an asking price of $1.3Million at auction - but this price of course includes owning a piece of cinematic history. So how exactly are some R34 Skylines reaching prices over $400,000 - that were NOT piloted by a tragically deceased celebrity?
Well - to answer this we have to look at what exactly an R34 V-Spec II / M-Spec NÜR is. Not only a Nissan Skyline Gran Turismo Racing (GT-R) which has ceased production; not only a Victory-Spec II limited edition; but also a Nürburgring limited edition.
The Skyline R32 was nicknamed Godzilla in 1989 - because of its ability to dominate Japanese Touring Car Racing. However it was also totally exclusive to Japan so the rest of the World could only read about the GT-R in magazines!
Nissan had a tendency to keep making limited edition productions of the GT-R which was already a sub-model of the Skyline - within five years they had a base GT-R; a Nismo (Nissan Motorsports); an N1; a V-Spec; and a V-Spec II.
In 2002 - the final year of the R34 - Nissan produced the V-Spec II Nür and the M-Spec Nür (Kazutoshi Mizuno Chief Engineer). These Nür versions - named after the famous Nürburgring circuit and celebrating the R34 being the fastest Skyline around the circuit AND the fastest series production car available at the time - had upgraded engines and bigger turbos; along with various gold accents around the car.
Only 1003 Nürs were made - and then the Skyline stopped production. Just like that. Well, it wasn’t quite that sudden, but the R34 was replaced by the ‘V35 Skyline’ and was completely remodelled on the 350Z platform, and exported Worldwide as the Infiniti G35. It certainly was not the Godzilla the world had grown to know and love. This was all due to the merger with Renault and the appointment of Carlos Ghosn as CEO - attempting to make Nissan more profitable and a more global brand.
Without going into too much detail - the US market had to essentially wait for the 25th birthday of these already ultra-rare R34’s before they could be legally imported. As you can imagine, various bidding wars over different specs and mileages of Skyline only served to make them even more expensive and even more coveted. In December 2020, an R34 M-Spec Nür sold for 37 Million Yen - or $359,000. Prices now are sometimes exceeding $450,000.
It might sound impossible - but there’s more. There are currently 18 incredibly rare ‘Z-Tune’ Skyline GT-R’s out there that are not up for sale. These were the absolute LAST models of the R34 made by the Nismo team - and they were specially tuned after the engineers had to purchase 18 used R34’s, because Nissan was no longer producing them! This was the R34’s final send off. There is also a Skyline GT-R that not even the Nissan-Renault CEO is allowed to drive - a one-off GT-R Skyline R33 LM (Le Mans) housed in Nissan’s Zama DNA Garage.
Driving Experience offers you the opportunity to book time behind the wheel in both a Nissan R34 Skyline and Nissan GT-R from as little as £45. Head to our dedicated Nissan experiences page today to book yours from forthcoming dates or purchase one of our open gift vouchers!
