This Restomod Mine’s R34 Is Nissan Skyline Perfection

Icon though the R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R may be, it’s now 25 years old, and you can rather feel that when driving one in 2024. The car you see here, though, is likely to drive a whole lot sweeter, while also looking absolutely fabulous.

It comes from Japanese firm Built by Legends, in collaboration with Garage Yoshida, the latter being run by Kozo Yoshida, a big name in the world of Skyline restoration. Between this and the fact that BBL uses a host of parts from legendary Skyline tuner Mine’s, we’re surely looking at one of the finest R34s in existence.

At Garage Yoshida, the donor Skyline is given a full teardown to its bare chassis, and rebuilt to exacting standards, with the chassis being wet blasted and spot welded. It’s then fitted with a Mine’s MB7 engine, a bored-out, 2.8-litre version of the Skyline’s legendary RB26DETT twin-turbo straight-six.

Mine’s is the kind of company that has a Master Engine Builder – his name’s Toshikazu Nakayama, and he hand-assembles the engine for BBL. This motor churns out upwards of 640bhp, and its redline is a screaming 8000rpm. Despite this power hike, it retains the stock car’s sturdy six-speed manual gearbox.

A full set of Aragosta suspension sits beneath it, as do Rays 21A forged wheels shrouding 356mm AP Racing brakes.

The front bumper, bonnet, rear wing and door mirrors are all replaced with carbon fibre items, and Garage Yoshida also repaints the car in five-layer OEM paint. It can be optionally finished with the iconic ‘ghost stripes’ down its flanks, made famous by the original Mine’s R34 demo car. The interior gets a full suede retrim.

Given the sheer hype around the R34, you won’t be at all surprised to learn that it’ll cost a bit more than pocket change. The build alone starts at around £355,000 – and that doesn’t include a donor R34, something that’s only going up and up in value.

Still, it’s hard to picture a Skyline done better than this. It joins BBL reworks of the R32 and R33 GT-Rs, meaning if you’re really flush, you can have perhaps the ultimate versions of all three of the iconic trio of ’90s Skylines. If you do, please give us a call. We want to be your friend.