Will this rare Nissan GT-R set a new record? Guess the final bid for your shot at $500

Here’s a hint before you start formulating your guess on this week’s Bid is Right contest—Do not underestimate the potential value of this sale. We know it might be tempting for those outside of the Japanese collector car market to dismiss these hot imports as a passing fad, but as we’ve explored in our many breakdowns of the erupting values in the Japanese and JDM sector, there is some serious money at play—particularly when it’s a car as rare and ultra-desirable as this 2002 Nissan Skyline GT-R M-Spec Nur up for grabs on Bring a Trailer.

Any R34-generation Nissan GT-R is an auction hotcake these days, but this one threatens to set records. At the time of this writing, the high bid stands at $250,000; $70,000 short of the record for a GT-R on Bring a Trailer, and more than half-off the overall GT-R record, but we’ve got 11 more days to go as of today. A 10-km example of the R34 GT-R V-Spec II Nur holds the current record, sold for $591,000 through a Japanese auction house.

The car on the guessing block is an M-Spec Nur, the slightly softer, finer-appointed sibling to the peaked-out, hard-nose V-Spec II Nur. We’ll let your independent research sus out the minutiae of what cuts the line between a V-Spec and an M-Spec and as to which one is more desirable, but here’s a tiny, tasty clue—just 285 M-Spec Nurs were built against 718 V-Spec II Nurs produced.

It gets better. According to the seller and corroborated by independent research, this particular R34 qualifies for U.S. importation. Aside from the handful of cars federalized by MotoRex in the early 2000s, we’re only just starting to see the first R34-generation cars make it to our shores legally through the 25-year import law. But, if you want one of the rarer, hotter variants, you’re still limited to just four types of R34 GT-Rs qualified under the tricky and restrictive Show and Display exemption.

Just the R34 V-Spec in LV4 Midnight Purple II, V-Spec N1, V-Spec II N1, and the M-Spec Nur are qualified for Show and Display. So, if you’re the lucky winning bidder, you can expect to enjoy your new JDM ultra-toy for 2500 miles or less every year—at least until 2027, when the M-Spec celebrates its 25^th birthday.

Good luck with this one. Our final piece of advice would be to check out Hagerty’s Valuation app, where you just might find pertinent data on this rare bird, but other than that, it’s up to you to figure out just where the high bid will land, so hit the comments below. Just make sure you don’t overshoot the mark, as we only count those guesses that are at or under the final bid.

Get guessin’.

House rules:

• The commenter who guesses closest to the hammer price without going over wins. (Hammer price excludes auction house fees).
• One guess per commenter.
• If two people guess the same amount (within a dollar) the earlier guess wins.
• Commenters must provide first and last name in addition to email address.
• We will close the guessing on January 16th 2023 at 1:00 pm est.
• Your privacy is important to us, and we’ll never sell your information. By providing your email you will receive the weekly Insider newsletter, and you can opt out at any time.
• You can read the full rules here.