The NEC Classic Motor Show Sale 10th - 12th November 2023

The NEC Classic Motor Show Sale 2023 Cars 186 Registration: R30 GTR Chassis No.: BCNR33042794 Estimate: £58,000 - £68,000 Specialist: Joseph Watts Telephone No: 07779 082707 Lot 262 1998 Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R V-Spec (Series 3) - Ex-Johnny Herbert The car presented here is a 1998 Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R V-Spec which, by 14th April 1998, had been exported from Japan to the UK and was registered to the Formula 1 driver Johnny Herbert, who at the time was driving for the Sauber team. The car was assigned the distinctive registration R30 GTR, which it has always worn (and still does). Johnny’s ownership is well-documented on the car’s original UK logbook, by an accompanying light-hearted sales note, in magazine clippings and in a series of photographs of him posing with the car – and looking suitably proud of it! The car itself is a late-production ‘Series 3’ example (‘Series 3’ is the informal nomenclature for R33 GT-R models built in the last years of production - 1997 & 1998, when the evolutionary development changes of the R33 culminated). In 1998 only 1,175 GT-R examples were produced, far less than in the preceding years. This car is one of only 37 late production ‘Series’ 3 R33 V-Spec cars produced in Dark Grey Pearl (KN6) paintwork, itself one of the rarest Skyline colours, making this a special and sought-after car. We understand that, in the late 1990s, Johnny had the car regularly serviced (and tweaked power-wise!) with marque specialists Abbey MotorSport Ltd. of Surrey. When our vendor bought the car in 2020, he returned it to Abbey MS who immediately recalled it fondly and still even had a copy of its famous registration ‘R30 GTR’ in their office! Our vendor ensured Abbey MS went right through the car, giving it a full recommissioning service (as it had been in storage for a while) to include replacing cambelts, all fluids and much more. Some additional work (c.£10,000-worth) was also carried out to ensure the car’s tip-top mechanical health (full details in the accompanying invoices). The car presents as a very standard, unmodified example, but still benefits from its earlier Abbey MS tuning, an upgraded NISMO exhaust and turbo binnacles, and several smaller touches such as the fuel and radiator caps. The car has covered just c.45,000 miles from new, which is supported by accompanying paperwork and its commensurate condition. Following Johnny’s tenure, it was subsequently purchased by its next owner in 2000 who kept it until 2010, whereupon the following owner exported it to Sweden the car was put into dry-storage, not used and never registered in Sweden, before being bought by our vendor in 2020 and repatriated (when it covered 42,579 miles). The Japanese performance car market has woken up and there is an opportunity to be part of it with this wholly original, well-cared for, low and significant-ownership R33. We welcome any inspection of this example, it will not disappoint Previously owned and upgraded by Formula 1 driver Johnny Herbert; with just 45,000 miles and a recent £10,000 recommissioning, this is a much sought after ‘Series 3’ example, the final evolution of the R33. More Details Lot 262 Bid On Lot 262