There won't be anything like the Nissan GT-R (R35) again

Last August 26, 2025, the final Nissan GT-R (R35) rolled off the line at Nissan's Tochigi plant.

- Words and photos by Sam Surla

A small farewell ceremony was held for that Midnight Purple T-Spec model, destined for a lucky customer in Japan.

This marks the end of an era for the R35 GT-R's history, after 18 long years, multiple success stories in motorsports, records set, and around 48,000 units produced for the world. It's not every day that a single car model stays in production that long. Calling it Jurassic is an understatement, as the car has been in production through a global recession, multiple international conflicts, a global pandemic, and even the death of one of the world's most iconic monarchs.

The first iteration of the GT-R, the CBA-R35, next to its legendary predecessors.

I was still in grade school when I came across the first release of the GT-R (the CBA-R35) on display at a fair. I was lucky enough to be able to sit in that one (as the owner had let me in), and with a deadly combination of exposure to the car from media, video games, and various forums online, the GT-R has earned a lifelong fan, even if there are better and far more emotionally moving cars out there.

The third and final facelift of the R35. In fact, by the time I entered the industry, the R35 was in production with several updates under its belt. These range from heavy visual updates to power- and handling modifications, but at its core, the R35 had always remained "stuck in time", for better or worse.