Our GT-R's sordid history in Japan

The mystery behind our cars and the lives they lived before we got them is fascinating, and even moreso when they've travelled halfway around the world to get to our grubby, kebab-flavoured mitts. Who owned them? Where did they live and drive? How were they built and maintained?

Our R32 GT-R is going through a loving rebuild right now (which is celebrated HERE WITH AN ALL-NEW POSTER), but it's obvious it spent many years being treated like a complete nugget. The GT-R is such a storied, legendary machine it's hard to believe these were just cheap cars to hack into fast track sleds, but that's definitely what happened to ours at some point. 

Thankfully, a follower reached out with a small slice of the Skyline's history in Japan...

Read on below to see the trail of history one reader uncovered, with accompanying auction reports. Have you ever traced the history of a car you've imported?

2018/Nov KMAA "First record I found is from November 2018. KMAA auction is now Mirive-Osaka. You can tell it seems to have been sitting outside with the bad paint all around and moss around the bumper. Here it was still missing the dashboard but running."

2018/Nov Osaka (KMAA) "Second attempt of selling the car. They actually requested the auction exterior and interior wash... and the car got sold for 899,000JPY"

2019/Dec JU Nara "Car was auctioned again with 10km difference but now on plates. This means someone got the car through the 2-year inspection but I have a feeling that [the inspection may have been generous]."

2020/Jan Mirive Osaka (three attempts) "Finally the car showed up again in Osaka. Now repainted and with dashboard. Most likely the state in which you guys got the car. Car was removed from the auctions before selling. They tried to sell it three times in three weeks. One of the more detailed sheets.. People are often saying auction sheets are useless and should not be trusted... while they should be taken as guideline, I feel this is a good example for a very detailed inspection."