NISSAN SKYLINE R34 GT-R

DESPITE THE FINANCIAL WOES OF ITS PARENT COMPANY, THE LAST OF THE SKYLINE GT-R LINE REMAINS THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER

- ANDY ENRIGHT

Model Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R V-Spec N1

Engine 2568cc 6cyl, dohc, 24v, twin-turbo

Max power 206kW @ 6800rpm

Max torque 392Nm @ 4400rpm

Transmission 6-speed manual

Weight 1528kg

0-100km/h 4.4sec

Economy 15.8L/100km

Price $275,000 (estimated)

THE TEXT MESSAGE was delightfully pidgin-cryptic. It was 1998 and Bill Thomas, the former editor of this august tome, was working with me on a never-to-be-launched car magazine in London. Bill showed me the screen of his phone. “Meet me in the midnight at Nur.” The sender was Nissan engineer Hiroshi Tamura, a man steeped in Skyline legend. Tamura had to be excited about something to summon a journalist to the Nürburgring in the middle of the night. There could be only one reason: to see something that was still hidden from the public at large.

That something was Nissan’s Skyline R34 GT-R, being readied ahead of release to the UK market, and Tamura was right to be proud. Although the R34 was produced in relatively small numbers, with a production run of 11,578 between January 1999 and August 2002, it represented more than just Nissan’s holding pattern ahead of the 2007 R35 GT-R introduction. It was the final iteration of the GT-R’s straight-six lineage, and today its valuation reflects its cachet with collectors. No fewer than 14 separate versions of the car were built, informally broken down into a Series 1 from the start of 1999 through to July 2000 (7066 units) and a Series 2 from August 2000 through to August 2002 (4512 vehicles). All were powered by the RB26DETT straight-six driving all four wheels via a six-speed manual transmission.