The Nissan Skyline GT-R has always been lusted after, thanks in part to its forbidden fruit status courtesy of the 25-year rule. As the clock ticks away, more of these cars become available in America, and the coveted R34 generation is now hitting these shores. There’s a rather fetching example on Cars & Bids right now, but something doesn’t quite add up about this one.
The vehicle in question is a 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec, listed in Gulfport, Mississippi by seller HBWholesales. It’s a desirable trim, and we’re told it’s got a clean Florida title and 56,200 km (~34,900 miles) on the clock. At the time of writing, the high bid sits at $100,000 with two days remaining. That’d be a steal, but you’d expect the price to go somewhat higher before the auction closes.
Dive into the numbers, though, and things get a little curious. As noted by Facebook page Team Free Spirit, keying the VIN into Google brings up some irregularities.
The car is marked with a fresh VIN plate marked BNR34-001222. This shows up at a few places, chief among them being Classic.com. That site lists the current Cars and Bids auction page, but it also records a former attempted sale by Collecting Cars in September last year. At that point, the vehicle was listed in Malaysia with just 14,724 km (9,149 mi) on the clock, with the note that total mileage was unknown—suggesting the vehicle lacked an original cluster.
Dig deeper and you’ll find a more curious result. A car with the same VIN shows up on the @wheelsporn Instagram account, posted on November 1, 2023. At that time, the Indonesian account had listed the car with 72,000 km (~44,000 miles) on the clock. Interestingly, in the last 21 hours, the post has been edited to list the VIN as “BNR34-00xxx…”. The car also appears quite different in the details. The stereo, exterior lighting, and intercooler are all different, and under the hood, there’s a different cam cover, intake, and turbo setup at the very least. The mod list is quite different, too, with the engine apparently having an N1 block, forged HKS pistons and rings, a Trust intercooler, a GReddy radiator, and it relies on an HKS FCON ECU.
In contrast, Cars and Bids lists the car with quite a different array of modifications. We’re told it currently rocks a Tomei exhaust and titanium downpipe, an HKS blow-off valve, and a GReddy intercooler. It’s also got a Haltech 2500 ECU with a flex-fuel tune, though we’re not given any dyno charts to indicate how much additional power these mods might be making. In any case, few to none of the parts match the Instagram post, and there’s no mention of an N1 block or forged internals at all. Oh, and the car is apparently running a Volcan battery… most commonly seen in the UAE.
Of course, none of this is to say that the car on Cars and Bids is necessarily not what it claims to be. It’s entirely possible that clerical errors are to blame, or the posts from Indonesia and Malaysia are themselves false. The car could have also been legitimately purchased and modified this year; some of the original lights that are included with the Cars and Bids sale support this idea. The seller claims to have purchased the car earlier this year.
Regardless, the irregularity has raised questions about the vehicle’s legal status in the US. That’s in part because not every R34 GT-R is yet legal for import to the US. If indeed this vehicle is BNR34-001222, it was built in January 1999 according to GT-R Registry. That’s now over 25 years in the past, so it could have been legitimately imported stateside. Commenters on the auction page have called for documentation to verify the matter.
On the seller’s part, HBWholesales has been doing its part to answer questions on the auction page. As noted by Team Free Spirit, the Cars and Bids photos show a VIN plate that doesn’t appear to be a genuine article, with typos and a different font to a factory example. This contrasts to an earlier photo shared by the seller of a worn and damaged VIN plate. The current seller also notes that they have contacted the original importer for more details on the car’s status and import approval. The seller posted an import invoice dated 10/25/2023 for the VIN in question from one Method Auto Group in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
“The seller has been unusually diligent and responsive in working with us and trying to figure out what’s going on. He’s still looking into it,” site founder Doug Demuro told us in a text. “If we don’t come to a positive conclusion before the auction ends, obviously we’ll just cancel it for the benefit of our bidders — but we have a few days, and given the seller’s positive attitude and legitimate efforts in trying to learn more, we’re inclined to give him a bit more time to due diligence.”
Compounding this issue is the fact that, while cars generally need correct import paperwork to get a title, not all state DMVs will return that documentation with the title. If you’re buying a PT Cruiser from your buddy that probably doesn’t matter, but for cars on the edge of 25 years it’s a much bigger deal.
[Mercedes’ Note: Luke from Team Free Spirit does comprehensive dives on an imported vehicle’s history so that buyers don’t get screwed. The poor quality VIN plate, which is in a font not used by Nissan and has a bad typo in the engine/transmission area, makes you question the rest of the vehicle. There was no mention of a restoration on the vehicle until the VIN plate discrepancy came up. The question also remains if this vehicle is a 1999 or later, which would impact its importation status. Thankfully, the seller appears to be working hard to figure all of this out. – MS]
Overall, it’s a nice-looking R34. However, until its status is confirmed in greater detail, you might want to tread carefully. Importing cars like these involves grand sums of money, and you always want to make sure you’re getting what you paid for.
Image credits: Cars and Bids