My R32 Skyline GTR find and build thread

[krowles]

So this is going to be a sort of "story" on how I acquired my dream car, along with a progression and build thread into hopefully a mind, beautiful, beast of a BNR32.

Some of you may not know me, but my name is Kane. My passion for cars started way before I got my first car, but I always had 2 dream cars, the R32 GTR and a MK4 supra. I swore to myself that some day I would own one of these cars, all I had to do was figure out a plan of action...

At a young age I was able to use the barter system pretty well. I was always trading baseball cards, Pokemon cards, bicycles, etc. Starting with cheap stuff, and gradually working my way to a better end product was pretty much natural and second nature. So at the age of 15 I realized what I was going to do to get my skyline, I was going to trade my way to the top!

So I was 15, I had $1,800 bucks (from selling my card collections and bicycles) and I needed to find my starting block. That's when I ran into my first car, a 1993 Subaru Impreza 1.8L FWD. I drove that for a little bit, than I traded it for a Corrado that didn't run well. I fixed that up and traded the corrado for a mk3 Jetta GLX. Then that Jetta for a boosted and swapped 1995 civic. I played with this Honda for awhile, traded shells for a 1995 si hatch, then traded that entire car for a late 70's nova with a built 383 stroker. My father and I did some tweaking to that, then I traded that for a 2002 RSX-S. This Acura was probably the longest I ever had a car, but it was traded for a 300zx twin turbo putting down around 500hp. This is where I really fell in love with Nissan. But obviously, I traded it lol. I swapped it for an 05 low mileage SRT-4 with a blown turbo. I fixed that up and traded it for a beautiful limited edition 1000rr with a minty EG hatchback. After playing with them for the summer I decided to trade both for a mk5 GLI, then that to a MK4 GTI with a semi built VRT. I stanced that out, bagged it, then swapped that for a kouki with a built 408 stroker LS2. This thing had a lot of issues with it, but with a little time and love I got that beast running fantastic. I kept that car for god knows how long, but one day I found this skyline of my dreams. We were able to settle on a deal, and I traded that for my GTR. A black, low mileage, R32 GTR.

With every one of these trades I got a vehicle that had some sort of un-diagnosed issue, but I knew I could repair it for free or next to nothing, and eventually trade it for something of more value. There was a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but with persistence and my eyes on the goal, I was able to push through.

Did this take awhile? YES! It took me 9 years of swapping to get my dream car.But well worth it.

How much did I spend on my GTR? My initial $1,800 I invested in my Subaru. I did buy various other cars through this 9 years, but only to sell quickly and invest in other cars (example: bought a mk2 jetta coupe with a ton of mods for $1,000, fixed a headgaskted, sold it for $5,000 lol).

Enough of my babble, now on to the pics....

Here is my first pic of her. Picked it up while moving from Charlotte to Williamsport



Then I cleaned her up and took a few pics.









And a little roller from one of my first cruises



Is this everyone's dream car? Absolutely not, but it is mine. I'm just posting this to show everyone that with a little starter cash, a lot of hard work, and even more dedication, anyone can get their dream car! I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and hopefully it will inspire someone to do the same! Please keep an eye on the updates as this will be a complete tear down monster of a build