Form an orderly queue: Japanese specialists Built By Legends have released this iconic restomod, a better-than-new Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R. You may know the Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R from playing 'Gran Turismo’ or you may simply know that this is the Japanese sports car that every Tokyo tuner wanted to lay their hands on. And then lay down the rubber on a night out drifting.
But this isn’t the early 2000s anymore so Built By Legends have decided to improve the Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R more than just a little. Their restomod version of the Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R will, unlike the original which fell foul of the marvellously named Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act, be available in the United States. You’re looking at what the Americans - and you if you’re quick enough with that call to Japan - will be getting, but what’s under the skin?
First a word from Built By Legends themselves. Co-founders Masaharu Kuji and Katsu Takahashi are employing "legends of their industry" to create the finest Japanese restomod vehicles. “Our focus,” they add, "is to restore and recreate the Japanese tuner cars that had permanently been engraved in our memory.” Idea here, then, is to take a Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R to “a new level”. They’re not kidding.
Build process is meticulous, bordering on obsessive. Donor Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R is stripped down in the Built By Legends workshops and shipped to exacting Skyline specialists Garage Yoshida. They check the shell is within Nissan’s strict tolerances and then fit new structural panels before adding a total of 400 new spot welds. We told you Garage Yoshida were exacting. But this is just the start.
Shiranami White Pearl is the pristine new paintjob, complemented by classic Nissan BBL Navy underneath. Suspension is Aragosta Type S, brakes by AP Racing. Under the bonnet of the Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R lurks the biggest change, supplied by another legend: go-to tuners Mine’s. Their MB7 power unit is a reworked version of Nissan’s own RB26 engine, now producing a hefty 650 bhp, and mated to a Getrag six-speed gearbox.
Finishing touches are either handy for those shows or essential aerodynamics for those high speed runs. Mine’s supply the Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R with carbon fibre front and rear wings, a carbon bonnet, diffuser and aerodynamic mirrors.
Wouldn’t it be nice to open the garage door to reveal your Built By Legends Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R? Warning: it’s likely to be only the garage that's left since you may need to sell the house to buy one. First there’s the matter of securing a Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R donor car. We’d advise setting aside £165,000 to source yours. Then it’s the simple matter of handing over the Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R to Built By Legends so they can work their magic. That’ll be another £335,000, please. Total spend: £500,000, but legends aren’t cheap and who needs a house anyway?
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