Skylines and GT-Rs are now legal in the USA - What does it mean for Aussie owners?

“Everyone’s wrong!” begins the animated and boundlessly-enthusiastic Andrew Hawkins, founder of (among many other things) Motive Video, the GT-R Festival and the internet’s source of all-truth when it comes to most things Nissan, and all things GT-R.

“People are saying that the floodgates opening is going to drive international prices up, but the truth is that just about everyone - whether they’re a YouTuber or a private collector - that wants an R34 GT-R in America already owns one. My theory is that the people who are saying it’s going to spike prices up have a vested interest in them continuing to appreciate in value. In fact, we may have already seen the peak of the GT-R prices, my suspicion is that they’ll start to normalise in price,” Hawkins continues.

“I’ve personally walked around the TOPRANK storage facility in Japan and at a guess, there’d be hundreds of GT-Rs just sitting there, waiting for build date to align with the US import laws, then they’ll be shipped over,” explains Hawkins, speaking of the legendary TOPRANK warehouses that are filled with GT-Rs (alongside other JDM hero cars) that will start to leave for American shores as soon as January 2024, when the R34 is finally legal under the 25-year embargo."

But the groundswell of activity that’s currently surrounding the R34 seemed to wash right over its predecessors - the R32 and R33’s reception was far less adulant.

“That may very well be the Paul Walker effect,” suggests Andrew, hinting towards the R34’s prominence in America thanks to Paul Walker’s R34 GT-R in 2 Fast 2 Furious, or his more tastefully-modified GT-R in Fast and Furious 4. So enamored was he with the platform that he owned at least one R34 GT-R in his extensive personal vehicle collection.

And while the Yanks might be getting their hands on the vehicles themselves, Hawkins is adamant that the Aussie aftermarket stands to gain the most from the R34’s popularity in the States.

“They’ll never catch the Aussie tuning scene. They’re so far behind us and our scene is advancing so quickly - sure, they might get the cars to make decent power, but currently they’re not as well set up or nice to drive as our Aussie GT-Rs. A lot of the American tuning scene still idolises the hero JDM brands, and while their parts are good, the Australian speed parts are great. The Americans are quickly learning that the JDM parts get you points at car shows, but it’s Aussie parts that’ll make you fast!”

Just about every leading Australian GT-R workshop has been boasting for years about sending drivelines or even complete vehicles abroad, and with the strength of international currency against the Aussie dollar, that’s sure to drive plenty of American and European GT-R fans towards an all-Aussie GT-R.

Interestingly, the GT-R hype that glossed over the R32 and R33 Skylines also appears to skipped several generations of Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, as well as Nissan’s timelessly-beautiful S15/Silvia platform, which we reckon might be prime for an explosion in US-popularity.

Whatever it is that's driving the prices skyward, be happy in the knowledge that they're currently appreciating faster than inflation and almost as quickly as Sydney property. Whichever way the winds of JDM trend blow, one thing is for absolute certain. If you own any sort of remotely popular plastic Datsun, you should hang onto it for now.