The Nissan Skyline GT-R is objectively a great car to drive and modify, but the fact that it was never offered for sale in America is what makes it particularly cool. Now that they’re getting older we’re starting to see more of these cars stateside, which I’m stoked about.
March 11, 2021 Car Autance Feature Photo Details
- Car(s): 1990 Nissan Skyline GT-R
- Location: Palisades Parkway
- Photog: Tony Yang
- Camera: Canon 5D Mark 4 (not sure of the lens I believe 16-35mm L)
With a few complicated exceptions, non-U.S. cars basically need to be 25 years old before they can be imported. As of 2021, that means any car from the venerable R32 GT-R era is eligible and they’re starting to pop up for sale.
There are a few outfits bringing these Skylines in to America en masse, relatively speaking, but it’s also possible to just bring one on over yourself or buy one off somebody else who did privately.
This silver 1990 is owned by our own social media director David Lee. “I bought it off an ex-Navy guy,” he told me over a Slack chat. “A bunch of them went to Japan and bought these during 2000s for cheap, and some have resold them. I just had to make sure he had import docs and I paid via PayPal.”
Nowadays GT-Rs are pretty expensive because they come with a lot of caché. But the more legwork you’re willing to do, the less you’ll have to pay. At any rate, they’re in no danger of becoming “common” even if they seem to be flooding your Instagram feed. It still takes dedication to spend a sizable chunk of time and money on an old Nissan.
We’ll talk more about Skylines and importing JDM cars in general on this site soon. For now, I just wanted to share this cool image. Here it is again in full-size glory:
