The story written by the owner Jags:
I’d previously owned one of the three Lightning Yellow (EV1) UK spec R34 GTR V-Spec’s approximately ten years ago and always had a great fondness for the car- one of the factors being the colour. After owning and enjoying it for a year, I ended up selling it. That was a mistake! Fast forward a few years and another yellow R34 GTR popped up for sale. It instantly caught my eye so I arranged a viewing. It turns out it was a JDM car and had been imported to the UK in 2003 while it was still relatively new. It had a comprehensive history file and had been looked after well by the owner. Production numbers confirm that it was one of only 68 made in EV1, and of those 68, only 19 were the base model GTR’s- which this is.
I struck a deal and made it mine! The car was in excellent condition considering it had been in the UK for so long- this was probably down to the fact it was driven sparingly. I myself didn’t really use the car much either but knew I wanted to tidy the underside up to ensure it stayed solid for many years to come- the challenge was finding someone who could do it to my required standards. After doing a lot of research, I noticed that Tonis R34 GTR was being restored by Auto Torque. Having seen the pictures I decided to contact Chris and the team to see if they’d like to take my car on as a project “just to tidy up the underside.” The car was booked in and stripped down in no time at all. After inspecting the shell, it became evident that it really was very solid and needed only one very minor bit of welding. The sills were arrow straight; there was no real rust on the floor pan or any of the other usual areas that blight these cars (I had already had the strut tops fixed to a very high standard previously). I was very happy. A plan was formulated, and I decided that the underside would be cleaned up, subframes powder-coated, engine bay painted and we’d call it a day. I didn’t stick to my original plan. Having seen the incredible level of detail and workmanship on Toni’s car and an Evo that had been restored I quickly realised I wanted a similar finish, i.e. a nut & bolt restoration, however, as I wanted to drive my car on a more regular basis I decided I wanted a more robust solution for the floor pan. We agreed on cleaning the underside, removing any surface corrosion, primer, Upol Gravitex then apply a two-pack paint over the top of that. All the arms were powder coated, nuts and bolts zinc plated, steering rack refurbished, attesa pump refurbished, diff rebuilt and refurbished, new wheel bearings, the list goes on. Ignore the state of the exhaust for the time being as I’m still trying to source the exact one I want, but I’ll let the pictures do the talking now……
Below is a selection of photos from the restoration process, before, during and after.
I will let the photos do the talking…..
