A moment of silence, please: NISMO R34 GT-R Z-tune sales officially end
And so, this is how it ends. The final Super Godzilla Specification R34 GT-R (a.k.a. the Z-tune) has finished its run. Initially intended to be a 20-car series, NISMO issued a press release last week announcing that in addition to the two cars finished in "NISMO R34 GT-R Z-tune Proto" trim, a smaller-than-intended group of cars was completed at the final customer Z-tune level due to difficulties finding appropriate R34 GT-R source vehicles. As such, the final run of Z-tunes, including the two prototypes, was limited to a grand total of 19.
Most remained in Japan, but a handful were exported (NISMO mentions Australia specifically), and the final deliveries are scheduled to take place in the immediate future (if they haven't already happened). This effectively closes the book on the R34, which is revered the world over by enthusiasts (and Gran Turismo players) of every stripe.
The next GT-R drops the Skyline moniker entirely, becoming a separate car in Nissan's lineup, and we'll finally see the finished product in Tokyo later this year. In the meantime, NISMO's keeping busy with a new hotted-up Z-car, and we have a feeling that they'll cook up something really tasty when the 2009 GT-R finally hits the scene.
Until then, follow the jump for a YouTube oldie-but-goodie, showing one of the two Z-tune Protos lapping the 'Ring at ludicrous speed. Long live the R34 GT-R!
[Sources: NISMO, YouTube]
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Roy 7:34PM (12/11/2008)
Hi, in The issue with the 2.8 is that the overbore---the walls get thin- and the engine would possible have a short lifespan, how come there is a Z- Tune skyline w/c is 2.8 liters? I'm really curious.
Reply
schlomo 3:19PM (3/17/2007)
man, I wanna see the whole video now...
Reply
Ford Mustang 3:33PM (3/17/2007)
Why is it that I thought they stopped making these years ago?
Ford Mustangs
Reply
James 4:16PM (3/17/2007)
So it took 3-5 years just to sell 20 cars? Weird. I like Skylines but this is old news, it is GT-R's time to shine.
Reply
stj 4:24PM (3/17/2007)
No it only took them 6 months to sell 20 cars at a price of $170000.
Reply
spdracerut 4:24PM (3/17/2007)
It probably took 3-5 years to build the 19 cars. And the fact they probably had a hard time finding donor cars... (since they couldn't come up with more than 17, not including the prototypes, and they wanted 20).
Reply
JD 4:28PM (3/17/2007)
Well that doesn't exactly tell the whole story. The Z-tune was an EXTREMELY expensive R-34, $150,000+, and it was made by Nissan Buying back some mid-mileage R-34's from buyers, around 60K miles, if I recall, since the block was worn in. They thoroughly worked the engine, and it put out over 500 HP. Quarter in the low 10's, this Z-tune was meant to close the book on the skyline. And so it ends. Nice cars, looking forward to the new GTR coming to the US.
Reply
Matt 5:48PM (3/17/2007)
Sorry, but for a hundred and fifty grand I'll take a nice Porsche over a ricer-mobile Nissan any day of the... life time.
Reply
Raúl 6:43PM (3/17/2007)
@ Matt:
Porsche's are nice, but are not limited and priceless like the Z-Tune.
So this is it, right? The end of the monster. I do have to say I'm impressed. It was a nice and good 99-month run for the beast of beasts (it'd be 99 months if they actually finished their last Z-Tune on the current month of March). I just hope the R35 (if that's the name) performs as it should. Ten year's difference between two models should be good enough for the technology.
I second the thought: a moment of silence for the fall of the beast.
Reply
stefan 6:44PM (3/17/2007)
I rather take the skyline over a tuned up beatle.
Reply
Bill 7:19PM (3/17/2007)
Way to go, Stefan! Porsche is a Tuned Up Beetle! LOL
Come to think of it, it is just that = an overpriced Krautburner Beetle!
He Ha!
Reply
DPC car videos 7:44PM (3/17/2007)
My hats off to the car that gave me hours of entertainment both in video games and car videos.
Reply
Harrison 8:34PM (3/17/2007)
I agree. This car spawned thousands of online brag-fests where people claimed that their "friend" has a 20000000hp GT-R with full wet nitrous system.
Aside from that, the Z-Tune was a great way to end the Skyline GT-R series.
Reply
Castle 10:22PM (3/17/2007)
The Z-tune was the fastest 1/4 mile production car in the world. @~10Sec.
Reply
chris 12:41AM (3/18/2007)
The 10 second thing was never actually proven. I don't doubt that it is much faster than almost any other car someone could care to think of, but from watching the Z-tune on Best Motoring a few times it looks more like a low-11 second car. However, NISMO probably could have easily gotten a 10 out of it during development as the car develops a massive amount of power than is then detuned down to roughly 500-550hp (they just say it gets 500hp to have a connection with the old JGTC cars) before they hand it over to the lucky few who bought one.
Reply
Castle 12:47AM (3/18/2007)
>>The 10 second thing was never actually proven.
Japan's Best Car Magazine did a formal test with the Z-tune and was able to achieve 10.4 seconds for the quarter mile.
Reply
shad0w 4:33PM (3/18/2007)
all hail the Gt-R r34!!... btw where'd the handmade carbon fiber versions of the legend go??
Reply
chris 2:22AM (3/18/2007)
Do you have a link to scans or anything? I've only ever heard the 400m time speculation relating to something Nissan achieved during development. The only third-party performance testing I've seen of the car at all have been Fuji, Tsukuba and Sugo laps by Best Motoring, no acceleration tests or anything.
Reply
nagmashot 6:54AM (3/18/2007)
The Z-Tune did the 10.xxs runs only as a prototype(not a single "production" model did it!!!!!!! claim from Nismo Z-Tune page!)...and to call a car based on USED 2.HAND cars a production model is pointless bs...it is a limited run of 20 highly tuned used cars..
detuned to 500-550hp? What a bs is going around here...the engine is heavly tuned using many JGTC engine parts to make 500hp...Nismo has hard times to make the R34 JGTC 500hp engine reliable for endurance races! They blown several Nismo R34 JGTC engines at the 24h of the Nürburgring as they tryed to drive with more as 500hp to be able to follow the M3´s and Porsche 911´s endurance race cars! With higher boost the engine was not able to survive 24h... 2f2f meets the real world..
Reply
James 5:25PM (3/18/2007)
FYI - The Z-Tune that came to Australia is currently for sale.
http://www.powerplayimports.com/includes/cars_list.php?make=Nissan
Reply