Rare 1993 HKS Zero-R R32 Skyline in Melbourne

UPDATE:

The HKS Zero-R has now been living with V-Spec Performance since late 2019, and made its debut to the public locally at the V-Spec Performance open day on 30th November 2019!

MOTOR Magazine Associate Editor Scott Newman attended and filmed a walkaround of the event, which you can watch below.

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ORIGINAL STORY:

One of only four HKS Zero-R R32 Nissan Skyline GT-Rs has sold at the BH Auction sale during the 2019 Tokyo Auto Salon.

And there’s good news in this for Aussies who hope to spot one in person one day – it’s coming to Australia. Melbourne-based workshop V-Spec Performance has secured the car with a winning bid upwards around AUD$191,000 leading to a final sale price of AUD$212,000 (or 16.5 million yen).

The HKS car has had modifications to the extent that there are no longer Nissan badges visible, and that there was enough interest in the work HKS carried out that the Sultan of Brunei ordered one of the four – which we’d expect is sitting idly in his extensive garage.

While work on the four HKS Zero-R cars originally began in the 1990s, the project was abandoned until the mid-2000s when it became easier to have them approved and registered as road-legal cars.

Much of the car has been altered or replaced with HKS’s own parts, with the engine having been upgraded to a 2.8-litre bored-out RB26DETT that produces upwards of 441kW.

In addition, the R32 Zero-R is now a two-seater with the fuel tank located where the rear seats were, while the front of the cabin is a custom interior.

The car was part of a list of 50 cars that went under the hammer for the sale, of which many are still yet to have their sale confirmed.

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Of the cars that sold, the most expensive were the 1990 Ferrari F40 which fetched 121,000,000 yen (AUD$1,557,000), a Ferrari Testarossa tuned by Koenig sold for 31,350,000 yen (AUD$403,000), and another Skyline, this one an R34 V-Spec II Nur for 24,200,000 yen (AUD$311,000).

Honourable mentions should go to the AMG-tuned 300SL Gullwing of which only 11 exist (and only two in RHD), the Group A R32 racer, the HKS-built ‘Kamikaze’ R35 (with more than 745kW!), and the Caparo T1 for all being almost equally rare and impressive.