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Ultra Rare Midnight Purple II 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec Is the Pinnacle of JDM Cars

When you think about Japanese car culture, a few heavy hitters will instantly pop into your head, like the Toyota Supra, the Honda NSX, the Mazda RX-7, and, perhaps, the most notorious of them all, the Nissan Skyline GT-R. The GT-R is one of the best creations to ever come out of Japan, and car culture wouldn’t be the same without it.
Midnight Purple II 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec 16 photos
Photo: Bring a Trailer
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Like every great car story, the Nissan Skyline GT-R came to life thanks to racing, with the Skyline 2000GT starting it all. It was a good car, but there is always room for improvement. Thus, in 1969, an automotive legend was born - the Skyline GT-R.

The first GT-R was a four-door sedan with a race-derived 2 liter (122 ci) straight-six under the hood. Pair that engine with a finely-tuned suspension, and you have an absolute monster on the track.

In 1971, the world got the coupe version of the GT-R. It was short-lived, but it cemented the GT-R name and spirit in our hearts - lightweight, great handling, and a screaming straight-six under the hood. In 1972, the second generation arrived. It was bigger and heavier and looked like a small muscle car. Its success was limited though, because of the plague-like gas crisis that wiped out all of our favorite cars.

Midnight Purple II 1999 Nissan Skyline GT\-R V\-Spec
Photo: Bring a Trailer
The next Skyline, the R31, was released in 1985. The R31 received mixed feelings from Skyline enthusiasts. It wasn’t a bad car in any way, shape, or form, but it didn’t rise to the legendary status of the first generation. But what the R31 brought to the table was the legendary HICAS four-wheel steering system and the RB family of engines.

Seeing this, Skyline’s designer got back to the drawing board. The next GT-R had one objective in mind - to dominate the Japanese Touring Car Championship. To achieve that, it got a new, twin-turbocharged straight-six, known as the RB26DETT. Pairing that with the HICAS system and all-wheel drive, the GT-R was ready to dominate.

And it did dominate, winning an absurd 29 races…out of 29 starts - that's all of them. This absolutely insane performance put the GT-R back on the map as one of the best performance cars out there, and it earned the nickname we all know nowadays - “Godzilla.”

The road for the GT-R was set. It had the performance, the pedigree, and a bright future ahead. That said, the R33 was a little bit of a step-down, growing larger and softer, but it still had that classic recipe and kept dominating on and off the track.
In 1999, we got the most notorious Skyline GT-R of them all - the R34. It had the same RB26 engine, but with a few minor tweaks. This generation of the GT-R is the most popular one, and that comes as no surprise, being Brian O’Connor’s car of choice in a lot of Fast and Furious movies.

Midnight Purple II 1999 Nissan Skyline GT\-R V\-Spec
Photo: Bring a Trailer
As you can imagine, with fame like this, the prices of R34s have skyrocketed in the past years, easily reaching six figures for a clean example. If you have that kind of money laying around and don’t know what to do with them, I have something for you.

Take a look at this ultra-rare 1999 R34 GT-R. This particular one is special for a couple of reasons. First of all, it is a V-Spec car, which stands for Victory Specification. This option was first introduced on the R32, to celebrate its racing success. The V-Spec brings a few goodies to the table, like aero parts, specifically tuned suspension, and more aggressive styling.

But the rare and cool options with this car don’t stop here. It is also finished in ultra-rare Midnight Purple II paint. This color scheme was a dark purple, and it was limited to very few cars. It came in three different variations, out of which the Midnight Purple II was the rarest of them all.

Midnight Purple II 1999 Nissan Skyline GT\-R V\-Spec
Photo: Bring a Trailer
This particular R34 has 95,000 miles on the clock (153,000 km) and is stock. That means that under the hood, we will find an RB26, pumping out some horsepower. I say some horsepower, because, technically, it only has 276 hp (280 ps) - but that’s not true. That power figure is there because of the Gentlemen's Agreement, which was a pact between Japanese manufacturers to not exceed it, trying to avoid a horsepower war. That said, the R34 GT-R has been dyno’d multiple times, churning out around 320 hp (324 ps).

The straight six-engine is mated to a six-speed manual transmission and delivers the power to all four wheels via the ATTESA all-wheel drive system with a limited-slip differential.

This GT-R is up at auction in Ferndale, Washington. It isn't perfect, as there is a little bit of rust present, it has a few dings and scratches here and there, and pretty high mileage for a car of this rarity. That said, right now the price sits at 155,000 dollars, and it will most certainly go up in the 6 days that are left on this auction.

Now, you keen-eyed fans out there might notice that this R34 doesn’t comply with the 25-year rule when it comes to importing cars in the states. Fear not though, as this one is imported under the Show and Display exemption, which means you can only drive it 2,500 miles (4,023 kilometers) per year. Alongside the Show and Display letter, you will get a Car VX report and a clean Washington title.

Midnight Purple II 1999 Nissan Skyline GT\-R V\-Spec
Photo: Bring a Trailer
The price is really high for these cars, but they are truly more than just that. They are a big part of car culture, they are a huge accomplishment in the Japanese car industry and, for most of us, the reason we are so in love with cars. It is overpriced, and, dare I say, overrated when you look at the car itself. But there is more to it than just some specs, and when you consider that, it all makes sense.
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About the author: Călin Iosif
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Călin’s origin story is being exposed to Top Gear when he was very young. Watching too much of Clarkson, Hammond and May argue on TV turned him into Petrolhead (an automotive journalist with a soft spot for old pieces of... cars, old cars).
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