Zero-Mile Midnight Purple R34 Nissan GT-R Nismo With $40K Motor Sells For $662K

Nov. 16, 2022 7:11 AM ET by Chase Bierenkoven JDM / 8 Comments

This could be the most expensive R34 GT-R ever sold.

This Midnight Purple II Clubman Race Spec BNR34 Nissan Skyline GT-R might be the best example of classic car insanity yet, selling at Contempo Concept in Hong Kong for around $662,208.

The R34 generation of the Nissan GT-R family has arguably become Japan's air-cooled 911. If you need any evidence, just look to any recent auction where an R34 was sold.

For reference, a show-or-display R34 here in the States with low miles can fetch anything from $130,000-$330,000, often more. Obviously, some cases are extreme, and the price can swell or dip dramatically depending on the condition and rarity of the specific variant, but the average price is around $150k. This car sold more than four times that, and a lot of it comes down to what's under the hood and the zero-mile odometer.

Let's talk more about the massive $39,395 threat lurking under the vented hood.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck76DpytHvB/

Nismo, Nissan's go-fast tuning and motorsports department, is working to keep the GT-R legacy alive. It'll rebuild and sell you a virtually new R32 GT-R and build special, more powerful versions of the RB26DETT twin-turbo inline-six found in the early GT-Rs.

This R34 has a Nismo R3 engine, a zero-mile odometer, and some genuinely insane upgrades. Still, it probably won't be the last of its kind - two more Clubman Race Spec cars with R3 engines are reportedly being built in Nismo's Omori factory.

The R3 motor is based on the R1 RB26DETT engine, which Nismo has been building since 2001. That led to the R2 and Nismo R3 turbo kit and eventually more R3-specific parts like cams and intakes from the R35 GT-R. In the case of the R3, Nismo built upon the R2 by improving reliability and low-end torque for street use, but we have a sneaking suspicion that this example may never touch public asphalt.

The R3 motor in this GT-R boasts new turbochargers, a new camshaft, R35 injectors, a new ECU, and a new long block from the N2 engine. Finally, things are topped off with a titanium exhaust. The result is 443 horsepower and 311 lb-ft of torque to all four wheels via the GT-R's original six-speed manual transmission. That $40k price tag attached to the engine alone is starting to make sense.

Add on the fact that this particular car is an already-rare 1999 Nismo model, and the outrageous sale price of the car becomes a bit more clear.

Speaking of exorbitant prices, the owner of this "new" GT-R will also have to pay more than the car's sale price in registration taxes if the vehicle stays in Hong Kong, which means this car could cost well over seven figures once all is said and done.

Hong Kong has an utterly ridiculous tax structure for newly registered vehicles, which this R34 is thanks to its odometer reading. Cars over $350,000 HKD ($44,743 USD) must pay 115% sales tax. Converted, the result is a $662,208 Nissan GT-R that will cost its new owner $844,455 in taxes alone.

That brings the final out-the-door sale price for this collector-grade Nissan GT-R to a ridiculous $1,506,663, making it one of the most (if not the most) expensive R34 ever. Earlier this year, an American collector was rumored to have paid almost $2 million for a Z-Tune version. The owner later explained that he didn't pay quite so much but would not say how much he did spend. Do the taxes applied to this Midnight Purple example count as part of a record sale price? You be the judge.

If the car is being exported, its final destination could be anywhere on the globe, but since Hong Kong is home to several billionaires, it wouldn't surprise us if someone bought this particular JDM classic just to flex on their friends who can only acquire Bugattis.