Larry Chen: The GT-R N1 Collection: The Absolute Rarest RB Skylines To Exist Video

Larry Chen Video Transcript

It feels like one really long day for me I woke up in LA and now I’m here in Sydney and we have probably some of the rarest GTRs of all time right here if you want to get technical they’re actually the rarest Nissan Skyline GTRs so you’ve all

Heard of the zedtune the s-tune you’ve heard one of of whatever of all those cars but the ones that have left the Nissan factory these are actually the rarest not the m-spec nurse not the v-spec two nerves none of the colors that you talk about actual model the N1

Is actually the rarest of all the skyline GTRs and here at gdr Festival we actually have not one of each model one of each sub model we actually have 15 of them here this weekend so uh it’s pretty special wow wow I actually came all the way from Los

Angeles for the GTR festival and this is actually your brainchild this is your event yeah you’re just like Mr GTR look the way I like to say it is this it’s not my event it’s the GTR communities event I’m just here to facilitate it I I’ve always loved GTRs

And it’s that bias has always been apparent in all of my work in the automotive industry so one day I just said I I want to do the Art Festival I just it just had to be done it was just a passion thing and it started off as a

Passion sort of side Hobby and it’s just grown and grown and grown and grown and honestly I think it’s even outgrown I guess the business model itself it’s it’s now an international level event people coming from around the world we’ve got some serious cars both racing on display collector it’s got every

Facet of GTR I guess scene that is that exists is here in the one place so what is this collection exactly well the good thing about running GTR Festival like this is our eighth year now is I’ve obviously made friends with a lot of GTR owners there are some

Collectors out there now that they’re getting rare and more expensive that look they love the car but they don’t necessarily want the spotlight but they also want the GTR Community to enjoy these cars so I’ve actually got a couple of friends that own quite a large collection of n1s you know some owners

Own the complete set there’s actually two complete sets in Sydney with one owner and essentially what they’ve done is let me bring them to gdr Festival so I can share them with you share them with the people here share them with the world so um yeah it’s basically a

Private collection and uh yeah big thanks to the owner that has basically let us have them on display this weekend yeah so this is actually owned by one person yeah this is the complete set and you said two of these complete sets exist in Australia yep do you know of

Anyone else in the world that has a complete set like this uh I haven’t met anyone that does I’ve met people that own an N1 and to be honest not a lot of people for some reason the Australians seem to know about the N1 we know a lot about it

Um but a lot of people overseas just kind of really haven’t heard about it so I’ve never even heard of anyone in Japan having a complete set doesn’t mean they don’t but this honestly when one of the models is one of 11 of a series 3r33

There can only be 11 people in the world that could potentially have a full set but whether it’s a full set also depends on how far down you want to go the rabbit hole if you want a complete set of just 32 33 34 there is a couple of

Those I don’t think anyone owns the complete set of every series though obviously but we do have every series here so you’ve got series one two and three in you know 32 and 33 and then series one and two in R34 so so yeah there is actually all of the above here

At gdr Festival and I don’t think they’ve ever been together in one spot ever I last do that series one what is N1 exactly well here’s the thing everyone hears the word N1 and they think N1 turbo is N1 block N1 you know lip spoilers and all that sort of stuff

And essentially a lot of those N1 Parts started life as I guess group a parts from the i32 racing as well as Nismo Parts but they actually collimated in a an N1 model of car and what this model of car is is essentially a motorsport special you’ve heard of what the WRX STI

You know type ra or type c where it’s from Factory they want you go racing with it so the whole idea of these cars is they’re lighter weight a stronger engine oil cooler no air conditioning or stereo from Factory although it could be optioned back in there’s no rear

Windscreen wiper on the glass for these that’s actually one of the biggest giveaways if it’s a real N1 N1 engine N1 turbos you know like N1 block obviously but essentially you’ve heard of the v-spec 2 having an N1 engine well that’s what this is and they basically took it

To go racing so can anybody just at the time when this is a brand new car could anybody buy N1 no no they were very it was actually very difficult to get one it was either Executives got it or certain race teams and workshops would get them because essentially the whole

Idea was you put a roll cage in it which obviously homologated cars don’t come with the roll cage and stuff but you take this homologated car put a roll cage in it a couple of basic mods and you go racing and people have used them in everything from like super Tycoon

Series to uh like you know people have done tarmac rallies in them and things like that so they’re a motorsport special and then so on the R32 is there anything that you potentially can point out on this look to be brutally honest with you

So the only true way to know if it’s an N1 from the outside at first glance other than being white and you know they might have a badges they don’t have a windscreen wiper right that’s a big thing right so it’s being small but it’s big they created

Rear glass yeah just for it yeah because on all the other ones it’s sticking out of the throttle windscreen wiper so and they made it lighter with no air conditioning there was no stereo from Factory although you could option it back in if you wanted to but other than

That like you can see it’s basically the same so this owner his goal was to basically collect all of them yeah he wanted to restore them to their former glory that’s right and that’s the thing is it’s like a lot of people just don’t realize they are the rarest one and a

Lot of them got turned into race cars so there’s we don’t know how many are left that’s that’s the other big thing is you know it’s only 63 of the R32 v-spec 2. how many are left we don’t know there’s only you know 11 r33 series threes of

These made how many are left we just we don’t know how many left where did it actually start then it was with 32 yeah but it was was it the v-spec one or what was it original so you got original V spec one and v-spec two when you go to

R33 you’ve got series one two and three but all v-spec and R34 you’ve got a v-spec and v-spec two series one then series two so essential what do we actually have here today this is this is the rarest of the 32 so it’s the v-spec

Two and one one of 63. if you want to find out all the numbers I’ll be honest with you I haven’t memorized everything one but GTR registry has a full breakdown I’m very surprised by the way when you’re trying to remember every single model of car and how many there

Is it does get very difficult so um so yeah this one had air conditioning put back in some of them come with an oil cooler some don’t so yeah and then this is not original no that’s right no but the owner of all of these vehicles he’s

Planning on restoring these yeah so I’ll be honest with you one thing I did notice is believe it or not the first time I ever saw an N1 was actually back in 2002 one actually got traded in the dealership that I worked at in 2002 when I had a small stint as a

Salesperson I knew what it was but no one did and no one cared so a lot of them got modified because you know 10 years ago people weren’t collecting these they were just tuning them so a lot of n1s do have some non-genuine stuff but the owner of this is planning

On returning most of his collection back to completely stock but he can’t help himself there’s Nismo wheels on every one of them but hey close enough right like they’re still from the manufacturer just from these ones that are Nissan so but he was want to return them and

Another big thing is you always hear about the N1 headlights right so everything that you hear that is N1 is on an N1 is basically the easiest way to put it if you want to know what’s in there so if you’ve ever heard someone

Say I want an N1 you know Bonnet lip or N1 vents or the N1 boot lip spoiler N1 block n12 everything N1 is basically in the N1 what is N1 actually stand for depends who you ask no one knows I think it was group N is what someone said at

Nissan and other people have said they don’t know but the logical part would be group N because that’s basically a production car racing category for tarmac rallies and certain types of circuit back in the day so I can’t confirm because every time I try to ask

Someone at Nissan they won’t tell me but one can only presume that the end was group N but who knows if someone out there can find out translate and let us know uh yeah I’ve heard about 10 different stories so you know what it probably does stand for mismo yeah the

Difference between this and something like the 400r and also the z-tune yeah z-tune or the s-tune the thing is with the Nismo ones they weren’t made by Nissan as per se they the car comes from Nissan goes to Nismo in fact Zed Tunes weren’t even off the production line

They were actually second-hand cars brought back so Nismo takes a Nissan and modifies it to be a Nismo model well the n1s come from Nissan they’re not via Nismo they are from Nissan so when you talk about Rarity they’re the rarest from Nissan if that makes sense I see

That’s the easiest way to put it off the production line correct that’s right they’re off this way that’s right so so Nissan had to homologate them to use them for racing in certain categories within Japan or everywhere else so they have to come from Nissan they can’t

Necessarily be like a Nismo made model of car to meet some of the rules of racing but if you have a look here that’s the oil cooler I was talking about on the r33 so this is only a N1 yep that is an N1 item yeah this one hasn’t got air

Conditioning as you can see doesn’t have a radio so this is a I guess the best representation of an N1 it looks like a brand new car I know it’s amazing isn’t it I love the the it says Nismo Nissan but it’s funny the script it looks so I mean it looks like

I I don’t know whatever word processor they had back then it was like the default yeah it looks period correct yeah correct but yeah honestly the wheels and strut bar and the Nismo logos are obviously not Factory but like I said a lot of these get modified and are

Never quite Factory and it is hard to get them 100 genuine uh you know obviously some have had Parts taken off and some have been crashed so but this is one of 11 of a series 3 r33 so that’s um it’s so rare it’s very rare so talk

About an awesome plate every one of these have really really cool plates and obviously series three means the headlights are worth more than some people’s cars so so yeah it says v-spec N1 this is actually Factory badging yeah oh well maybe not Factory no so it doesn’t say N1 no it doesn’t no

How would you know that if you said to me can you please tell me if my car is an N1 the first three things I would do is I’d look at the window and if it hasn’t got a windscreen wiper I can narrow it down and go where you

Obviously knew how to I actually have an N1 rear window on one of my cars which is to me I’m like no big deal but to a lot of people that’s like how’d you get that I’m like well you could get them just very difficult the next thing I’d

Look at is I go has I got air conditioning in a stereo which this one doesn’t you can see there’s no AC button on there um hmm okay and then obviously the the big one that for me is such a giveaway because I just can’t see you ever getting this is

The oil cooler got it and then obviously after that you’ve got to go engine number gonna make sure it’s an N1 block and then obviously GTI registry will let you use the VIN to basically narrow it down as well so so then tell me about the M1 block this is something a great

Story yeah this is this is like a very um like an Australian yeah yeah I love I love this story and and I only knew half of this story up until recently Believe it or I went to the group I uh Gibson Motorsport 30th reunion the guys that

Race with the group a cars and essentially when they started racing the G2 in Australia our race conditions are pretty tough and you know in Japan essentially Nissan controlled the formula for group a and they just went here’s your car but in Australia we went

And built our own group a cars and we we tested a Japanese one and basically went this will not survive our events like a thousand kilometers at Bathurst with drivers that are run into each other and some pretty Fierce competitions so we had to strengthen it do a lot more

Development on the group a cars ours was considered the best ones in the world and the fastest but when we first started testing we did what every gdrna has probably heard about or experienced now as we cracked blocks so Alan heaphy from Gibson Motorsport took all the

Analysis of where the block was cracking and what it was doing and went back to Japan showed it to Nissan Motorsport and Nissan and said our blocks are breaking and this is where they’re breaking and they are breaking the exact same place that we always break them above the oil

Feed and cracking on the deck so in typical Japanese fashion they fixed exactly what he said was breaking and that is they put extra ribbing inside the N1 inside that N1 block to stop it cracking above the oil feed and they made the deck thicker we’ve done all

This in our block test videos we’ve cut them open and had a look and essentially we as far as we’re aware that feedback that we gave is what created the N1 block and then obviously led to the GT500 block so it was actually Australian testing that we think as far

As we’re aware led to it because it can’t be coincidence right that we went back with that information we got a new block back and then now this block exists and we can’t see the difference they may not have been badged and one blocks back then but essentially it was

Our research and development that made that happen we’re not worthy we’re not worthy it doesn’t make any sense why every block was on and then one block after that point right you think so right like it I think the same thing like I just why didn’t they make them all that because

The material isn’t that much different at least in terms of traditional testing unless there was some Secret Sauce material thing that we can’t test that’s all I can think of we have r32n1 v-spec 2. r33 v-spec N1 but we have a v-spec 2 R34 and a regular v-span and another v-spec

Two yep so we have three R34 and ones the rarest is obviously the vase back two only 18 that’s two of them so two of 18 uh v-spec two n1s are here yeah let’s take a look at the regular v-spec one first well realistically the only difference

Between the V spec and v-spec 2n1s is exactly the same as what’s different between a normal v-spec and v-spec 2 right that’s really it that’s like they didn’t go on nothing else within the kind of N1 formula really changed it was just they took an A v-spec and then a

V-spec two and then gave them the N1 stuff if that makes sense okay well this far into the video but are all n1s white yes yeah it’s a blank canvas like you said for you to start meant to go like a race car yeah you’re meant to go super

Tycoon tarmac rallies things like that that’s what these were for so they’re all white were there a lot of famous race cars that we grew up watching did they actually start life as street cars as a N1 car yeah honestly some of the ones you would have seen growing up

Modified like some of the mines cars were in ones because they saw that as the base platform as the best one to use right it’s the lightest you want to go racing there probably are more n1s that were used if for tuners early that we probably didn’t even know they were end

Ones because like I said no one no one made a big deal out of it to begin with and yeah that’s essentially why but mines cars have used in ones before yes maybe that’s why they’re white yeah could be so then for you being a GTR nerd what

Does this mean to you like seeing all these together uh it’s special right like I can’t not be special seeing this many n1s together and I guess because I knew what they were and I had some history with them and I know the owner and I know the

Owner of a few of these I know how special they are so for me this is big and I’ve been trying to I guess share that special moment with everybody and make them understand that we’ve got some of the rarest details in Australia we’ve got the fastest Skyline GTR in the world

Quickest GTI outright you know we had the group a cars we’ve got time attack GTRs we’ve got some serious modified gdrs here and I think the best in the world and it doesn’t mean anyone else isn’t doing good things with them but I just think Australia at the moment is

Leading with modified and racing but we also have some of the most collectible GTRs in the world um there are two z-tunes in Australia at the moment there used to be three and we’ve got s Tunes here we’ve got 400 hours here we’ve got heaps of end ones

Every model of GTR is in Australia like just about I can’t think of one that isn’t off the top of my head so so yeah and um obviously everyone here loves GTR so having the special Collective things is just as important as having the fast

Ones I think so this one is pretty much the same yeah R35 brakes Nismo wheels just different color wheels so yeah as you can see black mirrors on them too so wait is that a thing for the N ones well here’s the thing with Nissan Nissan does strange things you can be halfway

Through a production cycle and a part number will change so like you’ll see that it’s 34s are all black but the 33 and 32 are white so is it a Black Mirror thing on a 34 v-spec or V spec two and one I’ve seen them with white I’ve seen them with

Black so only someone at Nissan that remembers that stuff could actually probably tell us so that one’s a little closer off the top of your head we’re looking at all of these really pristine cars yeah and honestly any one of them could be so close to being a hundred percent

Original that’s right N1 yeah what do you think these five sitting here are worth just just just yes here’s the thing right like so if a v-spec 2 Nur that has like way more of them in the world can get up towards a million dollars at Peak buying with low

Kilometer I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these n1s is approaching a million bucks I really wouldn’t like it’s if people understand the Rarity and the condition of some of these but even like the last time I saw an N1 change hands that wasn’t broken or beat up you know

You I don’t think you could get into an N1 from now for probably under 250 000 Australian like as the bottom end of the market I’m high kilometer not perfect Etc and the top end of the market I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a million dollars even us very soon for a

For an N1 especially in R34 v-spec 2. it’s so interesting to me because in the grand scheme of things it’s really not that much more special no but it’s just the littlest things it doesn’t even have like a special plate no badge it was just a motorsport car that’s like and

Nissan just went GTR Motorsport version like that’s it they they didn’t think I don’t think anyone thought this would happen even I didn’t and I’m going to be honest with you I’ve been in the GTRs for over 20 years and to me my 32 GDI is probably insured for three three hundred fifty

Thousand dollars it’s I bought it for 10 grand like I’m used to 20 30 40 50 000 GTRs that we modify and thrash around and have fun in so to think that they’re worth this much money now is just incredible like it really is so crazy I tried it in my

Brain I keep trying to tell myself this is just a 70 000 car so I can still drive it and enjoy it but when you think about the money it makes it difficult to difficult to drive but they all have been driven on the street like they’re

Not complete Lockaway cars so let’s take a look at the last one this is a v-spec two like this is the carbon Bonnet yeah this is this actually comes Factory unpainted yes so there are like there is an N1 you could get it unpainted so this is not the first one

I’ve seen like this I’ve seen three other v-spec two n ones like in that condition unpainted so yeah unpainted carbon Bonnet so so potentially this I I don’t know the numbers yeah of this but this one is one of 18. this is the one that’s worth some serious money wow

You can see once again oil cooler yeah oil cooler yeah this one like I said you could option aircon back on so some do have air cons some don’t and then no rear wiper no re-woper and then also nice area no stereo and this obviously you can see he’s got

The black seats black seats world’s most expensive factory seats at this stage do you so looks amazing looks brand new yeah even the key looks good yeah check it out 23 000 K’s what’s up with the black gauges exactly huh that’s the thing about Nissan is so many things have changed even mid-cycle

In a lot of these cars it’s hard to keep track of every single variance look how good condition everything is amazing incredible it really is incredible this is something else this car is yeah so when you hear N1 now used for parts now you know the car that it’s for or car

That it’s from and here’s a fun fact some parts now are listed as N1 parts that aren’t did you know that so with the Nismo Heritage program and Nismo is selling a lot of parts some OEM parts that are used in an N1 because it’s the

Same part number it now has N1 so for example people say oh it’s an N1 crank no it’s a factory crank mate they’re the same like but it’s now sold as an N1 crank so people go I’ve got an N1 crank in my car I go yeah every GTR has an M1

Crank except for obviously early R32 short nose but essentially there are some parts due to the Heritage program that have got the N1 abbreviation but the main stuff we know of and that is you know the vents in the bumper and the lip and the boot lip spoiler and things

Like that but the Nismo R32 also had that stuff so some crossover there so the parts catalog from Nismo is sort of on an N1 from Factory but at the same time it comes with things from Factory that are completely for the N1 so so yeah they’re interesting they’re very

They’re very interesting and I I really enjoy the fact that these N1 models exist because it’s kind of like everything that you want for your GTR that’s Nismo or N1 is essentially on these but they’re Nissan cars not Nismo so it shows the tie in between Nismo and Nissan and obviously the Motorsport

Program so essentially this is where they all come together this is where the Nismo and Motorsport and Nissan are all kind of meetings in the meat in the middle and then the N1 thing was only with this these Series yeah that’s right yeah 32 33 34 yep nothing before

Scarline nothing after 100 nothing before nothing after there is no r35n1 I’m surprised they didn’t I thought that with everything going on over you know how long we’ve had the 35 for now um you’d think they would have done an N1 as kind of like a badge collector thing but

Haven’t done it haven’t done it at all it’s it’s this is a Skyline GTR thing only so so yeah and trust me I wish I’d got in early and bought one earlier because yeah they they used to be not that much more than than anything else

In fact if anything an N1 with more kilometers you’d probably go for the non-n1 and especially if you’re going to modify it right so but the thing that blows me away is that I’m sure at one point in time somebody owned one of these cars Aura and one and they had no

Idea because there’s no real weight there’s no obvious way to no there’s not obviously if you know what you’re looking at if you know skylines you know GTRs yes yeah but I mean I I consider myself kind of a Nissan nerd but honestly I didn’t know all this stuff honestly GTR registry

With the with all the obviously the build numbers and the the VIN codes you can use to determine if it’s legit or not is obviously one of the best ways but like I said the clues are white no real windscreen wiper no stereo no aircon and then go see if it’s got the

Oil cooler and the 33 and the 34. if you’ve got all of those things I would still go the next level because I have actually seen a non-n1 with an N1 oil cooler that obviously got out of a crashed one so anything is possible with

With Skyline gtis as we all know so the VIN number is really the final way to check and yeah yeah but also the block too right yeah that’s right but when you can get it in one block so you can get N1 you can get N1 everything

Somehow but some of it was not like the oil cooler wasn’t really sold as a separate thing right so there are some things that are hard to fake but not impossible the oil cooler is probably the biggest one um but like you can then one block you can buy an N1 engine out

Of a v-spec two Nero if you want like it’s there are places to get them and even like I said you can buy an in one block so you could fake it in one almost all the way down but there reaches a point that it’s a couple little things

And then the VIN number itself is obviously the giveaway so so yeah hard to fake not impossible but I’ll be honest with you I never I think I’ve only ever seen one person ever try to fake an N1 because it’s so much effort to get the right bits so just getting

The rear screen without a windscreen wiper is those windscreens now are like two three thousand dollars because people want them so bad and it’s they’re hard to find as well so to fake one is very difficult but um it can be done but a lot of people didn’t know what they

Were anyway so who fakes a car like said tune you’ll know what it is so you’re fake you have a fake Zed tune they look awesome I would too but with an N1 no one really faked them because they didn’t know about them so these are I

Think these are like the Hidden Gem of the GTR world the ZN ones and like I said I’ve always thought they were special I always knew what they were but it’s now good to see that other people can share it and see how rare these ones

Are hey thanks for watching if you want to support us directly go to larrychanprince.com I print and sign every single one of these this is the perfect gift or it’s the perfect piece of art for your wall Me Foreign [Applause]