Listen Here!

Are you going to start delivering mail?

JDM classics, there’s a few forms of these cars that have been popping up in the US, the good, the bad and the ugly. Unless you’re a millionaire or have a lot of time on your hands to pop over to Japan and car shop, importing one of these cars is a crap shoot. Without seeing the car and knowing the history plenty of Americans throw down a premium price for their dream car to show up on a boat 6 months later in hopes they have purchased “the one.” For Nick Rearick he chose an alternate route by putting his eyes on a Skyline that had already been imported and quite possibly was cheapest R32 in the US at the time. He then embarked on a journey over three winters to restore, upgrade and customize the car similar to an old school classic. The 1990 Skyline R32 was completely torn apart, gutted and put back together painstakingly all by Nick until it came out as his dream car.

Nick has always been into Skylines as he was just a kid during the height of the Fast and Furious movies. Seeing it for the first time flying around on the silver screen, his dream car was always this Japanese icon and like many of us patiently waited for the 25 year importing rule to kick in. Importing a car into the United States can be a complex process that involves complying with various regulations set by the U.S. government. The Skyline has been sought after since the early Gran Truismo video games and has been shrouded in mystery and people who have evaded authorities, the federal government and regulators. Nissan produced three versions of the hallowed Skyline sports car, the ‘Holy Trinity’ R32, R33 and R34 that became cultural phenomenons.

Nick bought the R32 during COVID from a guy locally in Pittsburgh, and while the previous owner took care of the car, Nick explains it as a, “pile of crap.” It’s an old JDM car that had been drifted and wrecked and overall had a hard life. Nick is an auto body tech by day and was not intimidated by the project. He immediately started grinding the layers of paint and bondo draped all over the car. The bumper and hood were “atrocious,” fenders, doors and both quarters were terrible, presumably from sliding around the drift track. He spent and entire winter stripping the car, doing all of the body work and painting to get it up to his standards.

The front bumper is hand made, a one off piece created by Nick himself from a mould that resembles a Skyline from the video game Need for Speed. If you have an R32 and wondering if he’d make one for you, no, he is not creating another. The painstaking process of creating a mould, fiber glass work and fitting is something Nick does not want to do again! The car is now covered in a one off color created by Nick himself called, “Douchebag Silver.” The color started life from a GM silver and added in black and ultra fine metallic to give it a chrome look. The gold accents, Nick initially was not a big fan of, came from the lack of gold cars at shows and the need for the car to stand out and be different. The powder coated parts that you see under the hood, stripes and graphics are a retro gold with a heavy flake to give it a “disco look,” when the sun hits it. In the rear is an original GTR wing that is a small accent that sets off the look of the car.

The interior was just as bad as the exterior, again think used drift car, with the carpet torn to shreds and in need of a total restoration. He started by changing out the carpet and working his way up, with Planted Technologies racing brackets for the Bride seats and Sypher harnesses to keep him locked down. The IC-7 Dash Cluster, and as bad as the interior was trash was fully intact, a miracle as Nissans are notorious for this.

Under the hood is the original RB20 motor which is the reliable quick option in the Nissan motor line up. The block was torn all the way down to the pistons and measured everything from the crank up to ensure the tolerances were well within spec. As Nick puts it, “there’s no sense in making it pretty if it doesn’t run.” Once everything was out all of the components were gone over and as anyone with a rare older car knows the restoration of the parts is critical especially if you cannot find them any longer. Nick reports that almost all of the components under the hood left from the factory 34 years ago with the car. He did find though that many of the parts that were broken were often used on other models in the Nissan line up. The aforementioned gold makes the motor look like a piece of jewelry inside of a box. My favorite part of the build a plaque that sits on top that reads the motor code of, “Gallo24.” If you know the reference in the 2 Fast 2 Furious movie you’ll find this hidden Easter egg on the car hilarious. The Kinugawa turbo is top mounted show it off, along with a custom manifold so it would not hit the strut towner during those hard launches at full boost. The front facing intake completes the clean flow of air and aesthetics under the hood.

Wheels and tires came with the car and are original MB Battles a timeless JDM wheel. This is the area where Nick would like to do all of his future work with new suspension and potentially wheels.

What is it like to drive a RHD car in America? Well a few things, you have to get used to seeing extremely close mailboxes fly by you, avoiding drive thrus, unless you want to go in reverse and opening the drivers (passenger) door for ladies. Nick says its actually the worst experience for the passenger as you’re the one close to traffic with no steering wheel or control. If you are not a social person do not get a car like this. Whether it’s at a car show or just filling up for gas the car attracts attention and conjures up a lengthy discussion and questions galore. The weirdest question Nick has received, “did you buy it to deliver mail?”

Nick enjoys driving the car and showing it off. “I didn’t build it to be a paper weight, I like to use it, I built it reliably.” He has taken it up and down the Eastern seaboard from Pittsburgh to Myrtle Beach. By day Nick is a body man for a Honda dealership in Monroeville however has started his own business painting and restoring cars. His saying is “quality over quantity,” and in the business of restoring cars its the mindset you want your builder to have. The Skyline represents his work and is a rolling advertisement for what he is capable of in the shop .

Big thank you to Nick for allowing me talk about the R32 during the World of Wheels show. Go follow his journey restoring these Japanese classics on instagram @Nick_Buster and Nick Rearick on Facebook. Be on the look out for Nick all around the Pittsburgh area as he loves cruising this car everywhere and to events all year long.