Petrolhead's dream: Paul Walker's unique Fast & Furious Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R up for auction

• The late Paul Walker's Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R which the actor drove in Fast & Furious is up for auction by Bonhams in Germany.
  
• The car is being offered as it was personally specced by Walker for the film.
  
• Starting bids stand at R9.9 million.

Think Nissan R34 Skyline, and you'll immediately associate it with the late Paul Walker and his role in the Fast and Furious movie. Now, that exact car, as specced by Walker himself, is up for grabs at a Bonhams auction in Germany.

The fourth installation of the franchise was called Fast & Furious in 2009. Nearly a decade after the blockbuster film debuted in 2001, the young blue-eyed Walker, who starred alongside Vin Diesel, was still giving everyone heart palpitations with his good looks and crazy driving skills in the film. The star died on 30 November in 2013 in a car crash.

The movies gave birth to a new era of petrolheads who were into fast car modifications and neon lightning, and let's not forget the vinyl prints and aftermarket names down the sides of fenders - real or not, it didn't matter.

It also spotlighted the terrific Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R again, which has become synonymous with the late actor.

This car isn't just a collector's item, it's a car personally specced by Walker himself for the movie, and according to the auction house, Bonhams, the driving bucket seat is still in the exact same position as what Walker had left it as. However, we find that a bit hard to believe.

A vehicle like this is absolutely priceless to any fan or petrolhead who knows what the R34 Skyline is all about - it is one of the greatest Japanese cars of all time. Starting bids start at a cool €500 000, equating to an estimated R9.9 million. 

The Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R, better known as "Godzilla", was produced from 1999 to 2002. This model comes from the final iteration of the renowned straight-six engine and was built by Kaizo Industries.

READ | Charlize Theron shares new Fast and Furious trailer: 'Are you ready to ride?'

The R34 is known for its distinctive silhouette and is powered by the RB26 engine, a 2.6-litre twin-turbocharged in-line six-cylinder unit, and the standard R34 was claimed to deliver 206kW through all four wheels, thanks to Nissan's ATTESA E-TS all-wheel drive system. Even with standard tuning, the R34 can reach 250km/h.

According to Bonhams, the car was "constructed in 2002 as a second-generation R34 GT-R, this example, recorded on the GTR Registry under its chassis No 'BNR34-400109' as a Series 2 GTR painted in TV2 Bayside Blue".

The car appears in the fourth film when Brian O'Conner (Walker's character) walks into a candy store that is the FBI impound lot to select a vehicle to enter the all-important street race. He picks three: a white GT-R (portrayed on screen as Walker's personal car), a red R35 GT-R (owned by Daryl Alison of Kaizo at the time), and the blue R34 GT-R offered today.

So where did this car come from?

The car was purchased in Japan and brought into the US without an engine by Kaizo Industries. Then a correct RB26 engine and associated components were sourced, and the car was classified as a kit car, being reassembled in California, says the auction house, making clever use of a loophole.

It's also important to note that Kaizo Industries imported a variety of GT-Rs and intended to bring them up to US Department of Transport standards with strengthened seatbelt mounts and reinforced body shells. However, these modifications were eventually not accepted by the DoT.

Paul Walker. (Photo: Getty/Gallo Images)

Getty Images

View the listing on Bonhams here.

Bonhams further says that once the car arrived in the US, it was registered as a 2007 Kaizo, the car  was then modified and converted to Walker's precise personal specification.

Bids are online only for this unique vehicle and ends on 5 May 2023.

Some of the personalised modifications from Walker include: