Nissan hosts GT-R owners meet
Hit the image above for a high-res view.
While the new GT-R sat out of reach on its velvet rope guarded pedestal at the Los Angeles Auto Show, InsideLine, along with Nissan and its advertising agency Chiat/Day, hosted a gathering for Nissan enthusiasts. The gathering was intended to give devout Nissan supporters a closer look at the new R35 GT-R. Preferential treatment went to those who owned, or once owned, previous generation GT-Rs. Nissan acknowledged that without their passion for a vehicle unsupported in the U.S. market, the new model might not have ever made it to showrooms in North America. The day was all about giving something back to those who helped grow the GT-R namesake.
As soon as InsideLine and Nissan confirmed the event details, a call went out to every GT-R owner in the Southern California area. It was an opportunity not to miss, the chance to gather every GT-R together to pose with the new model. In all 17 GT-Rs showed up for the event, not to mention the two R35 GT-Rs brought in by Nissan. The models present consisted of a couple 1972 HAKOSUKA GT-Rs, the first U.S legalized R32 GT-R, SCCA Speed World Challenge GT R34 GT-R and the 2005 Ultimate Street Car Challenge winning R34 GT-R. More of the crowd arrived in other various Nissan vehicles from 240SXs and Skylines to Datsun 510s.
In addition to the coverage posted at Edmunds Inside Line check out the gallery below for our own shots, and follow the jump for more event details and video.
Gallery: Nissan GT-R Meet
1972 HAKOSUKA Nissan Skyline GT-R
First R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R legalized for the United States
R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R that raced in the SCCA Speed World Challenge GT series in 2006
R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R that won Sport Compact Car's Ultimate Street Car Challenge in 2005.
When the crowd began to form at Chiat/Day the R35 GT-Rs were nowhere in sight. To settle things down the attendees were smoothed over by free pizza, water and InsideLine key chains. It wasn't until the novelty of being surrounded by so many previous generation GT-Rs wore off before Nissan released the new Godzilla to stir things up again. One silver and one red R35 GT-R cut through the parking lot while every on-looker fumbled for their camera. The exhaust sounded like a deeper toned VQ35 that will definitely turn your head when you hear it approaching.
As the crowd inspected every inch of the new GT-Rs Nissan handed out free t-shirts. The front of the shirt featured a track map of the Nurburgring with 7:?? in its center. The back showed :38 in response to the question marks on the front side. Nissan will not let anyone forget what time they achieved on the German course.
The silver R35 GT-R was identical to the model unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The red GT-R however, had lighter grey interior. While the red exterior looked sexy paired with the black trim and gunmetal wheels, the interior coloring seemed out of place. Black is perfect for the car, but if you must park in desert heat conditions it is understandable to settle for the lighter pigment seats.
As the sunset, and the lighting changed, InsideLine snapped a few shots of the GT-R collection sans humans. Then it became time to clear things out. The R35s moved aside and in a chorus of RB26s all the others headed towards the exit. It was about that time an elderly neighbor game by to complain about the noise, it was only the noise of 17 idling GT-Rs. However, no more than 30 seconds later the USCC winning R34 GT-R took off down the street in a four-wheel burnout. Now that was some noise to complain about.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Larry 8:42PM (12/05/2007)
Ahhhhhhh.......... I love cults!
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John R 8:47PM (12/05/2007)
[gurgles like Homer for a doughnut]
I'll take the red GT-R, please. What the heck. I'll take the red R35, too.
This may be hyperbole, but IMO some of the photos of only the GT-Rs at night at Insideline.com reminds me of the "A Great Day in Harlem" photo...except with GT-Rs...instead of the Harlem Renaissance Jazz greats.
Yikes...I'ma dork.
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Jerk Face 11:02AM (12/06/2007)
Wow, that was a really random mental link you've made between those two photo sets. LOL
Jon 8:52PM (12/05/2007)
I'll take any color. The car's sick. It's like it's too good to be true.
Nothing makes headlines like a Ferrari-slayer for a quarter of the cost.
http://www.sportscardriven.com
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viceroy_fizzlebodum 10:03PM (12/05/2007)
That 1972 HAKOSUKA is just sweet. I love the way those GT-Rs from the 70s looked.
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SuperSkyline89 10:00PM (12/05/2007)
Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[gurgles like Homer when he sees the ice cream ark, then faints on his laptop]
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tankd0g 10:07PM (12/05/2007)
LOL I pray to god that wasn't just a sting operation to get all the Motorex illegal imports off the road :P
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Lucas 11:17PM (12/05/2007)
Are they? What's the truth?
Sean Morris 1:23AM (12/06/2007)
What would you like to know about Motorex cars ? I worked at Motorex from 1999-2002. I was the one that got most of these cars together to this meet.
R33 GTS andGT-Rs are still in the list of admissible vehicles. VCP-32. http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/elig010807.pdf
http://vehicleimport.blogspot.com/
tankd0g 9:01AM (12/06/2007)
It's the illegaly brought in R32 and R34s you'd have to be worried about.
Sean Morris 11:53AM (12/07/2007)
Heres some Motorex information. The NHTSA allowed the importation of R32's, R33's, and R34's under VCP-17. It was only later they did an about face on the information they were presented at first back in 1998.
http://tyndago.googlepages.com/motorexstory
2o6 10:29PM (12/05/2007)
Uh, the GT-R is not an R35. The R35 was the G35/Skyline, and it was called a V35.
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Sean Morris 10:52PM (12/05/2007)
Uh.... its an R35 internally at Nissan. If you were there at the event, you might know this...
http://www.2009gtr.com
AZ 11:12PM (12/05/2007)
R34 is just effing hot, I'll take one in white over anything.
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nissanfreak87 11:34PM (12/05/2007)
dang, beautiful cars all of them.
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nick 11:31PM (12/05/2007)
The inside isn't ugly by any means but I wonder who the hell inside Nissan let this car, a 2009, come out with radio controls and switchgear that looks like it came out of the 350Z which came out, oh, 5 years ago.
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jORGE 11:34PM (12/05/2007)
IMO i would take a 4 door R32 I just like the way they look...Plus i dont see nissan ever making a 4 door R35
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stefan 6:25AM (12/06/2007)
The R32 was a skyline the new GTR isn't a skyline if you want a 4 door skyline buy the G35/V36.
David(Postal) 10:51AM (12/06/2007)
What if they put the GTR engine into the G35 Sedan? That would really be tough competition for the BMW M5
Temple 11:58PM (12/05/2007)
Nissan also had a similar event last weekend (December 2nd) at the Fuji Speedway. It was the Nismo Festival 07 they had a 08 GT-R racecar for the Super GT series that they did a demo of.
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