Code R: An All GT-R Exhibit

 

Even with Japanese cars rising in prominence nowadays in terms of collector value, prestige, and cost, exhibitions that are specific to JDM vehicles are few and far between in the US. Outside of Japanese Classic Car Show, the occasional car museum special exhibit, or a few marque-specific gatherings like R’s Day or Sevenstock, it’s rare to find events that are primarily for imports instead of mostly domestic metal. It’s no surprise then that when my friends informed me about a GT-R-specific exhibit being put on in my own home state of Arizona that my interest was well and truly piqued.

This particular exhibit was called Code R and it was held last November at a place that was new to me: The Warehouse in Mesa, Arizona. When you first hear the name “The Warehouse” you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s either a dusty storage building in a sketchy part of town where the druggies and gangbangers play, or maybe some trendy, hipster-centric hangout for people too busy aura-farming and influencing to do something as gauche as work on their own cars. Luckily the actual “The Warehouse” is neither of those – it IS a storage building but it’s a 100-year old one that’s been renovated to add some nice meeting rooms, offices, lighting, and other amenities without losing the old-timey charm of the vintage brick structure. Oh, and any druggies and gangbangers were politely shooed away in the process.

It’s ALSO a hangout but instead of aiming to cater just to aura-farmers and influencers, normy gearheads like you or I are welcome too. It’s basically a place for car nuts with one too many vehicles to store their toys, have some light servicing or detailing done, and meet up with fellow car nuts (or non-car nuts too, we won't judge) at small gatherings or the occasional exhibit like the one I’m mentioning today.

In exchange for the above benefits, you pay a monthly fee which can either be for storage of a vehicle plus membership in a social club the facility runs, or you can opt for just membership in the club if you don’t need the storage. Club membership allows you to use the on-site facilities during business hours. So TL:DR, basically it’s like a country club mixed with a self-storage facility. Hope you got that, because we’re moving on.

According to The Warehouse, the Code R exhibit was a celebration of the GT-R’s heritage now that the R35 has finally wound down production. If you’re reading this blog then you’re probably very familiar with the long history of the Nissan GT-R and Skyline so you’d probably agree that the latest version driving off into the sunset is an event worthy of a tribute.

To that end The Warehouse put together a collection of very tasty vehicles from a variety of sources including celebrities in the car enthusiast community as well as local owners. 

Before I could check out the cars though I had to find the location. Coming off of the highway The Warehouse was a bit hard to find and at first glance it's a bit of a nondescript building. Finally though I spotted the sign for the exhibit and knew I was in the right place.

There was ample parking inside. Naturally I couldn't go to a GT-R-focused exhibit and not take one of my own so I found a spot for the R35 and sized up the venue.

From the outside there's little to imply that The Warehouse is no longer the mundane storage facility it once was. Other than some nicer greenery than you'd expect for an industrial area there wasn't anything indicating this site was playing host to a bevy of sexy automobiles.

Once inside though I was greeted by a cozy lobby area with a meeting room on one side fronted by this tasty R35 show car from Phoenix local shop Concept Z Performance, adorned with a beefy Aimgain widebody kit.

In front of that R35 was the reception table where I paid the $20 entrance fee and got a quick intro to the facility. Before I could enter the main hall though I spied a car that I have a real soft spot for - the Daihatsu Midget II. If you've never heard of this adorable oddball then you need to play more Gran Turismo. It's a kei pickup truck  with only 30 to 40 tiny Japanese horses under the hood but it's a single seater - yes, just like an F1 car, only much much slower. Well, some versions do get a tiny extension for a passenger but they'd have to be the size of Tyrion Lannister and be someone you wouldn't mind having skinship with for how small it is. I didn't ask what the Midget was doing there but I certainly wasn't about to complain.

While the little Daihatsu was interesting, it was the vehicles in the main exhibit hall that I really came to The Warehouse for. Gratifyingly Code R had managed to bring together some fine examples of the Skyline and GT-R family tree.

First up to check out was Cody Walker's personal R35 T-Spec Takumi Edition. As you probably know Cody is the younger brother of Paul Walker of Fast and the Furious fame. With GT-Rs being keenly associated with his Brian O' Conner character it's no surprise that the Walker family maintains a close link to the model and to the car enthusiast community.

This particular R35 is one of a limited run of just 50 built in 2024 as part of the final sendoff for that generation of GT-R. Midnight Purple paint is combined with gold Rays wheels, special badging, and an exclusive Mori Green interior trim to make for a very rare sight.

Occupying the opposite corner of the exhibit hall was another R35 - this time a tasty 2017 Nismo. Ever since it debuted in 2015 with unique aerodynamics, an uprated engine, special chassis and suspension tuning, and enough carbon fiber to build a space shuttle with, the Nismo has been the top dog of the R35 lineup so it's only obligatory that one should be included in an show commemorating the end of its production run.

The R35 might be the finale for the GT-R story (for now at least) but the Hakosuka was its genesis and symbolically one was placed between the two examples mentioned above. While Skylines had already existed since 1957, it was only with the 1969 debut of the Hakosuka generation that a GT-R version first became available. The Hako was also important for being the first actual Nissan Skyline, since a separate car manufacturer, Prince Motors, had originally created the model but then they merged with Nissan and it became part of the bigger company's portfolio. After rampaging to 50 wins in domestic racing series, the Hakosuka birthed the legend behind the hallowed GT-R nameplate.

While the R35 is the latest, and the Hakosuka was the beginning, a lot of enthusiasts would likely agree that the R34 exudes the most drip among GT-R generations. Thanks to the twin influences of Fast and The Furious and Gran Turismo, entire generations of kids grew up lusting after Nissan's most coveted model, your author included. Between its uniquely aggressive styling (that one magazine described as "ballistic refrigerator"), stupefying speed, precise handling, ubergeek technology, and most importantly of all "Only in Japan" availability, the R34 became the personal unicorn of millions of budding car enthusiasts - a true "Eleanor" for JDM fans.

This particular example at Code R is significant because it's a) owned by car photog extraordinaire Larry Chen, and b) it's been meticulously fettled by the elite Japanese shop Garage Yoshida. Not only did they disassemble the entire car to peruse every component, they returned the chassis to precise OEM specs using laser scanning, then upgraded select bits, followed by applying a fresh coat of shiny Bayside Blue paint for one of the cleanest R34 GT-Rs outside of a museum.

Being an example of the GT-R's most notorious generation combined with the quality work done to it, Larry Chen's R34 was literally the centerpiece of the whole exhibition. For those lucky enough to attend, a meet-and-greet with the owner had been scheduled for later that week. I wasn't fortunate enough to go but happily I'd just met Mr. Chen a few weeks earlier at JCCS and got an autographed copy of his beautiful photobook "Life At Shutter Speed". It's a pricey book at 125 bucks but the gorgeous photography more than justifies its place in any car enthusiast's collection.

Mr. Chen's R34 wasn't the only one on display. A couple of others were mixed in with the rest of the exhibit, including a sibling of my 1999 Midnight Purple II car.

The GT-R didn't just become desirable of course because of pop culture. Before video games and the internet, racing was the main way manufacturers promoted their performance cars. As I mentioned with the Hakosuka earlier, racing has been in the GT-R's DNA since day 1 so any proper exhibit needs to have at least some race cars.

In Code R's case a couple of GT3-spec examples made their appearance. According to the info sheet this particular 2018 version is now owned by a couple from Arizona but previously saw action at such major races as the 12 hours of Bathurst and the Spa 24 hours.

Behind the display for Larry Chen's R34 lurked another GT3 R35. This one didn't have any info sheet to go with it but it's clearly an earlier version than the other one and seems to have been actively campaigned in the US including at NASA events (that's the National Auto Sport Association, not the other NASA that gave us freeze-dried ice cream and ballpoint pens that can write upside down).

In between the initial racing success of the Hakosuka GT-R and the more recent accomplishments of the R35 GT-R in races as varied as Super GT, Bathurst, Super Taikyu, FIA GT1 and GT3, and so on, the R32 generation of GT-R did a lot of heavy lifting when it came to making sure people knew the R in the GT-R name stood for "Racing" and not Ricer. With its unbeatable dominance in Group A competition in the 199o's the R32 was THE GT-R that the press first dubbed "Godzilla". 

Of course, several nice examples were part of the exhibit including the one above.

One of the keys to the success of the R32 GT-R was the RB26DETT inline six motor that gave it plenty of horsepower to take on rivals, but the RB series debuted years earlier in the previous generation of Skyline, the R31. The GTS-X model above was included in the exhibit. While its RB20DET was about a hundred horsepower down from the factory on the later RB26, the basic formula that would give rise to the almighty R32 GT-R was starting to form here. 

The upgraded R31 GTS-R that came out in 1987 was like a prototype for the later GT-Rs. It didn't have the phenomenal ATTESA all-wheel drive system yet that's now a key part of the GT-R identity, but it had a stronger RB20DET-R motor with 207 horsepower thanks to a bigger turbo, and also had the HICAS all-wheel steering that the R32, R33, and R34 would all benefit from.

Speaking of the R33, a few nice examples also made an appearance. Yes, the R33 suffers from "middle-child syndrome" and always seems to be perennially playing second-fiddle to the hype monster that is the R34 and the racing legend that is the R32 but it's a formidable performance car in its own right that definitely deserves to be at a GT-R exhibit like this one.

While the cars were understandably the stars of the Code R exhibit, tucked away back in the lobby was one other little display that was easy to miss but still very connected to the show's theme.

Inside that case was one of only 200 Grand Seiko Nissan GT-R 50th Anniversary chronographs. If you're not a watch nerd and haven't heard of Grand Seiko, they're basically Japan's answer to the high-end Swiss watchmakers that you have heard of like Rolex and Omega. Grand Seiko's watches are every bit as exquisitely made - and expensive - as their European rivals and this particular timepiece retailed for an eye-watering $21,000 when released. Besides having a titanium and ceramic case and a crocodile leather strap, it features Grand Seiko's unique and highly precise Spring Drive movement, accentuated by an 18 karat gold GT-R emblem set into the mechanism. Yes, it's very pretty and no, I can't afford one so I'll stick to my cheap Casios instead.

That pretty much sums up The Warehouse's Code R exhibit. Sadly it only ran for a week but the facility has more events lined up for the future so I would keep an eye out if you happen to be in Arizona. Until next time, drive safe everybody!