License plates of legendary Nissan GT-R sold in Vladivostok

Two license plates from the legendary Nissan GT-R R35, which broke records of the fastest supercars in 2007, are being sold in Vladivostok on the Farpost website. The seller claims they are original and is willing to part with them for 200,000 rubles (about $2,200).

«Removed from this car at a scrap yard in Japan,» the ad says.

A scrap yard — from the English word «scrap» meaning junk — is a lot where damaged, old, or written-off cars are sent for dismantling. From such yards, spare parts, engines, transmissions, and body panels removed from Japanese cars come to Russia.

That very Nissan GT-R R35 was called «Godzilla» for 18 years due to its success on the Nürburgring track. On 17 April 2008, the Nissan test team set a record — the car completed the Nordschleife in 7 minutes 29 seconds. This time was achieved multiple times and was faster than the best Porsche GT2 and 911 Turbo of the time.

After that, the «Japanese» car enjoyed stunning success: a simple production model was very fast and affordable for the average driver. Porsche, of course, did not believe it, accusing Nissan of manipulating results or inaccurate conditions. They conducted their own experiment and bought a GT-R R35 for it.

They concluded that the «supercar killer» had special tyres for the record — sport semi-slicks. So they ran the same track on standard tyres, and instead of a Formula 1 driver, they used their own engineer under the same conditions as on record day. The best time for the GT2 was 7:34, the 911 Turbo 7:38, and the GT-R 7:54.

In response, Nissan stated that during the GT-R testing at the Nürburgring, when the records of 7:38 and 7:29 were set, Dunlop tyres were used. The tyres are designed for sporty high-performance driving on dry or wet surfaces, and the tests used exactly the same tyres offered to GT-R buyers. They were also available for purchase with the car.

After its success, this example was used for testing and modifications, and later became part of Nissan«s historical collections. It likely ended its life at a scrapyard. The ad includes photos indicating this.

In August 2025, the last Nissan GT-R R35 rolled off the assembly line — 48,000 cars were built over 18 years. The farewell example was not sent to a museum, as it is a production car built for a private customer in Japan. Production was halted due to stricter environmental regulations, noise standards, and difficulties in ensuring component supplies.

Sports prototypes based on the R35 have brought numerous awards: they won five times in the GT500 class and three times in GT300 at the Super GT circuit championship. There were also victories in the Blancpain GT Series Pro-Am in 2013, the Bathurst 12 Hour in 2015, and five wins in the Super Taikyu series. In 2016, a specially modified GT-R set a drifting speed record: a controlled 30-degree drift was performed at 304.96 km/h.