It’s finally happened. The R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R has turned 25 years old, meaning it’s now eligible for import in the United States. It’s a moment that many wannabe R34 owners have been dreading, because once the 25-year comes into effect on a car that wasn’t originally sold in the States, it typically sends values skyrocketing in the markets where they’re more readily available. And considering just how revered the R34 is among millennials, the supply of the hottest Skyline of all was expected to dry up in a matter of minutes.
Luckily, that hasn’t happened yet. Perhaps because values had already risen in anticipation of their acceptance into the US import market, and because we’ve got own fair share of Fast and Furious fans here to drum up demand, which means there’s still a fair share of cars to choose from providing you’ve got the cash to burn (think north of £150k these days). And if you don’t mind a few modifications, you could even bag an R34 at a fair old discount. This V Spec with a few Nimso bits can be yours for £135k, and if you can look past the bodykit there’s always this 2000 example for £115k. But what about the creme de la creme? A low-mile, bone-stock R34 in full fat V-Spec II Nur grade. A unicorn, you say? Well look what we’ve found.
It really doesn’t get any better than this: a 18,495-mile Nur devoid of any mods, not even the top-drawer stuff from Nissan or HKS. Not that the NUR needed any work to set your trousers on fire. As the final iteration of the R34 Skyline GT-R, Nissan dialled up Godzilla to its ultimate form by chucking in the motorsport-grade RB26 engine from its N1 homologation special. That included a reinforced cylinder block and pistons, upgraded conrods and a new exhaust manifold, as well as larger turbochargers with ceramic blades that upped boost and reliability.
Guess how much power it produced with its snazzy new engine? Yep, 280hp. Exactly the same as the standard R34 GT-R. Obviously, Nissan only said that so as to not fall foul of the gentleman’s agreement between Japanese carmakers to limited power - it’s believed Nurs were actually putting out around 330hp, which sounds much more credible. Meanwhile, the firmer suspension setup from the standard V-Spec was carried over, as was the trick E-TS Pro all-wheel drive system and active limited-slip differential. Nissan never got round to setting a lap time around the Nurburgring, despite the car being named after circuit, but there’s a good chance it’d slash several seconds off the seven-minute-54-second time one of its test drivers set in a standard GT-R - if not more.
Visual changes were far more subtle, as was the case with all bar the Nismo-tuned R34s. There are no special sports seats or door-sill branding, and you don’t even get a commemorative plaque to remind you of how special of a GT-R you own. All you get is a gold-coloured VIN plate, a gold engine cover and a V-Spec II Nur badge at the back. That’s it. However, Nurs were offered in an exclusive colour, Millennium Jade, which is what this example here is finished in. Looks marvellous, doesn’t it? And of the 1,003 Nurs built, only 300 were painted in Millennium Jade and just 156 of those were in V-Spec II grade.
What you’re looking at, then, is a proper unicorn, and one that’ll likely have teenage American tech billionaires clambering for it if you don’t act quick. The price hasn’t been disclosed, but it’ll likely be more than the £250k being asking for this modified Nur. Serious money for a car famed for its (relative) affordable performance back in the day, but Nick Mason paid £35k for this 250 GTO in 1977 and it’s now worth more than a small country. Here’s hoping the R34 doesn’t follow suit.
SPECIFICATION | NISSAN SKYLINE GT-R (R34) V-SPEC II NUR
Engine: 2,568cc inline-six, twin-turbocharged
Transmission: six-speed manual, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 280@6,800rpm (wink wink)
Torque (lb ft): 289@4,400rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
Year registered: 2002
Recorded mileage: 18,495
Price new: N/A (Japanese import)
Yours for: POA
1 / 5
