There’s gold in them hills, someone apparently thought while looking at Mount Panorama. The gold they had their eyes on was the R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R, one of Nissan’s all-time performance icons. Specifically, the well-preserved example kept in Nissan Australia’s heritage collection, which was the target of an unfortunately successful heist.
The theft was reported in Australia’s Drive and The Canberra Times, which write that the car was the very first of around 100 R32 GT-Rs sold new in Australia. The 1991 Skyline (registration GTR 091) was later repurchased by Nissan in 2015 for inclusion in its heritage collection, and is reported to be a completely stock example. That’s probably the main reason why thieves targeted Nissan’s headquarters in Melbourne and made off with the minty motorsport icon.
“Unfortunately our original R32 GT-R has been stolen and is now subject to a police investigation,” a Nissan spokesperson told multiple media outlets. The theft is currently the subject of an investigation by the Victoria Police, though little information is available about its status.
It’s exceedingly unlikely that the GT-R will remain in Australia, as it’d be easily recognized within the Skyline community. When the R34 GT-R rented by Lewis Hamilton in Japan was later stolen, it was recovered at the last minute from a shipping container on its way abroad. In all likelihood, this car is also already in a container on its way to some far-flung destination—probably somewhere that Nissan would struggle to recover it from. Here’s hoping it’s saved soon.
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