Six years ago I met a guy down at the Charlotte Auto Fair who had just taken delivery of his 2009 GTR, one of the first to be delivered to the United States. Matt was his name, a long time Nissan and Nismo enthusiast, we became friends in the years to follow as he continued to let this beginner take pictures of his new car. A few years later Matt sold this GTR and purchased a 2012 GTR Black Edition, the first one to be produced, by chance. While he enjoyed it thoroughly, after the announcement of the GTR Nismo he decided he would do anything he could to get one.
Earlier this year Matt called me, "I'm getting a Nismo!! I'm getting one!!" He was so excited. He insisted that I plan to be there the day it arrived to take pictures that day. Well as the year progressed the car was built late in June and we anticipated a late July delivery. Time dragged on and the car sat at Tochigi, where it was built along side the other Z's and GTR's, for months waiting for a few more Nismo's to be built to have an official "launch" of this new product line in the US.
A few weeks ago, Nissan contacted me about being available to possibly take a few pictures of this momentous occasion and I happily agreed to be there, I had already planned on it since Matt had insisted so long ago.
Last Thursday I drove up to Matt's house and met him and Robert, another former GTR owner who's own GTR Nismo is currently in country and about to be delivered. We couldn't sleep, we stayed up playing Gran Tursimo 6 on Matt's stunning dedicated PS3/tv/wheel&pedals/racing chair setup all hours of the night. I think I managed a few hours of sleep before waking up way before dawn to get ready and head to the dealership.
Once everyone arrived, they unloaded the car off the truck. It was a sight to behold. The complicated angles, the stunning heavy metal flake of the paint, the subtle exposed carbon fiber accents... This car was special, it bled it's uniqueness from every seam of it's chiseled form.
Once on the ground, the car was rolled into the dealership for it's PDI, done by their GTR Master Tech Jesse. While up on the lift we discovered a lot of subtle differences between the regular GTR and the Nismo variant. For instance, the undertrays are different utilizing NACA ducts to channel air towards the brakes front and rear.
Matt had ordered the optional, and quite pricey, Nismo Titanium exhaust because why wouldn't you for a GTR Nismo? Everyone marveled at it's design features that include heat extracting fins.
After Jesse had finished the PDI it was off to be cleaned up for delivery.
Matt sat down with the dealership GM and signed his paperwork then we had a key and plaque ceremony on the red carpet.
Little did Matt know that while he was at the dealership, representatives from Nissan were at his home completely transforming his garage into a Nismo heaven. When we arrived home they had furnished all kinds of Craftsman tool cabinets, work benches and power tools along with some other garage must haves like a Bluetooth stereo and mini fridge. He couldn't believe it. When he opened the garage door he just sat there for about a minute trying to figure out if what he was even seeing was real.
After catching our breath, we headed to a local park where a group of 9 other GTR's from the area met us for a quick photoshoot to celebrate this occasion and then went to dinner.
Exhausted from such a long day, we headed back to Matt's house to pass out for the evening. Since the sun was down, I got out my strobes and went to work on a few detail shots...
The next morning we headed up towards Pilot Mountain, a state park about 30 miles to the north. Once there we found that everyone else had decided to be there as well and promptly left a parking lot full of drooling observers, many who seemed to know there was something special about this particular car. We headed out into the country, found a nice mountain view and a road leading to it. Stopped there for a few moments, I grabbed a few more shots of this magnificent Gundam warrior.
The car is truly amazing, a car worthy of the term "halo car" for Nissan without a doubt. Nismo developed GTR's have always been a pipedream for Nissan enthusiasts here in the United States, myself included. Matt will forever be a part of Nismo history now as he took delivery of the first GTR Nismo built for the United States... "The One".
Please check my album to see all of my pictures of this amazing car and it's delivery:
Matt's GTR Nismo Delivery - 10/14 - JPMcG Photography
Also, stop in on Nissan's social media if you are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc and find this story. Show support for Nissan giving back to one of it's greatest enthusiasts!
There is also an article on NissanNews about it, as well:
VIDEO REPORT: Long awaited 2015 Nissan GT-R NISMO at home in N.C. - Nissan Online Newsroom