Hard Parking with Jhae Pfenning Nov 24, 2025

Jake Johnson's STUNNING Nissan GT-R Collection | R32, R33, R34, & More

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Car

Nissan GT-R

The Nissan GT-R is a fast sports car that many car enthusiasts love. It's known for being very powerful and has a lot of technology that helps it perform well on the road and track.

Car

Ford Mustangs

The Ford Mustang is a classic American car that is known for being powerful and stylish. Many people love it for its speed and cool design.

Car

Lotus Esprit

The Lotus Esprit is a fast and stylish sports car from Britain. It was made for many years and is known for being fun to drive and looking great.

Car

De Tomaso Pantera

The De Tomaso Pantera is a sports car that has a powerful engine and a unique design. It was made in the 1970s and 1980s and is still admired by car lovers today.

Car

The Ford Bronco is a tough SUV that people love for driving off-road and exploring nature. It has a long history and is known for being adventurous and fun to drive. Recently, Ford brought it back, making it popular again.

Car

Chrysler LeBaron

The Chrysler LeBaron is a type of car that was popular in the past. It was known for being comfortable and came in different styles, including a convertible that you could drive with the top down.

Car

Ford Gt Mustang

The Ford Mustang GTD is a super-fast version of the classic Mustang that is made for racing and high performance. It has special features to help it go faster and handle better on the track. People talk about it because it shows how Ford is making the Mustang even more exciting.

Term

Foxbody Mustang

The Foxbody Mustang is a specific version of the Ford Mustang made between 1979 and 1993. It's known for being lightweight and is often modified by car fans to improve performance.

Car

Ferrari F40

The Ferrari F40 is a famous sports car made by Ferrari. It was built to be very fast and lightweight, and it has a powerful engine. Many car enthusiasts dream of owning one because of its unique design and performance.

Car

Mustang GT

The Mustang GT is a sporty car made by Ford. It's known for having a strong engine and being fun to drive, making it popular among car lovers.

Car

Acura Integra

The Acura Integra is a small car that many people love for its fun driving experience. It's known for being sporty and is often modified to make it even faster.

Car

Toyota Supras

The Toyota Supra is a fast sports car that many people love for its speed and ability to be customized.

Term

turbo technology

Turbo technology helps cars go faster by pushing more air into the engine, making it stronger without needing a bigger engine.

Car

Mitsubishi Eclipses

Car

Eagle Talons

The Eagle Talon is a small car from the 90s that was similar to the Mitsubishi Eclipse. It was popular for its speed and was often modified by car enthusiasts.

Car

Nissan 300 ZX

The Nissan 300 ZX is a fast sports car from the 90s that many people liked for its looks and speed. It’s part of a famous line of cars called Z-cars.

Term

RB engine

The RB engine is a type of engine made by Nissan that is popular in sports cars. It's known for being powerful and can be modified to produce even more speed.

Concept

restoration

Restoration is when you fix up an old car to make it look and work like it did when it was new. This can include fixing the engine, body, and interior to bring it back to its original state.

Car

Nissan Maxima

The Nissan Maxima is a big car that is comfortable to drive and has a lot of space inside. It’s known for being a good mix of a family car and a sporty car, making it fun to drive. People talk about it because it offers a lot of features for the price.

Car

BMW M5

The BMW M5 is a fast and luxurious car that looks like a regular sedan but drives like a sports car. It's designed for people who want a comfortable ride but also love speed and excitement. Many car fans talk about it because it's one of the best in its class.

Car

Nissan Skylines

The Nissan Skyline is a famous sports car that many people admire for its speed and performance. It's especially known for its racing versions, which are really powerful. Car fans often talk about it because it's a big part of car culture and has a cool design.

Car

Ford Mustang Cobra R

The Ford Mustang Cobra R is a special version of the Mustang that is built for speed and performance, making it a favorite among racing fans.

Car

Shelby Cobra

The Shelby Cobra is a super-fast sports car from the 1960s that many people dream of owning. It’s known for being lightweight and having a powerful engine, making it very exciting to drive. Car enthusiasts talk about it because it’s a classic and has a lot of history.

Part

airbag module

The airbag module is a part of the car that helps the airbags work. It senses when there's an accident and makes sure the airbags inflate to keep people safe.

Company

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer is a website where people can buy and sell special cars. It's popular for finding unique and classic vehicles that you might not see elsewhere.

Term

Cobra R

The Cobra R is a special type of Mustang that is made for racing and has better features than regular Mustangs. It's made in limited numbers, making it special.

Car

Shelby GT500

The Shelby GT500 is a really powerful version of the Ford Mustang that is built for speed and excitement. It has a big engine that makes it one of the fastest Mustangs ever. People talk about it because it’s a symbol of American muscle cars and is a lot of fun to drive.

Company

Hagerty

Hagerty is a company that helps people insure classic cars and also tells them how much their cars are worth. They are popular among car lovers.

Car

Nissan R33

The Nissan R33 is a model of the Skyline series, which is known for being a good mix of speed and comfort. It's a favorite among car fans for its performance on the road.

Car

Greddy RX SROC

The Greddy RX SROC is a special version of a Nissan car that has been upgraded for better performance. Greddy is a company that makes parts to make cars faster and more powerful.

Company

HKS

HKS is a company that makes parts to make cars go faster and perform better. They are popular among car enthusiasts who like to modify their vehicles.

Company

Gretti

Gretti is a brand that makes parts and upgrades for cars to make them perform better. They sometimes have demo cars that show off what their products can do.

Part

ECU

An ECU is like the brain of the car's engine. It helps control how the engine runs by making adjustments based on information from different parts of the car.

Concept

car culture

Car culture is all about the love for cars and everything related to them. This includes people who enjoy showing their cars, racing, or just talking about them with others who share the same interest.

Part

bucket seat

A bucket seat is a special type of car seat that hugs you more tightly, making it easier to stay in place when driving fast or turning sharply.

Car

Nissan Gtr

The Nissan GT-R is a super-fast sports car that is famous for its amazing performance and technology. It has a strong engine and can handle really well on the road. Car fans often talk about it because it's one of the best cars for speed and racing.

Term

Nismo

Nismo is a special part of Nissan that makes cars faster and sportier. They take regular Nissan cars and add cool features to make them more unique and fun to drive.

Company

Stillin

Stillin is a company that makes special parts for cars to make them faster or look better. If you want to upgrade your car, they might have what you need.

Car

Mazda Rx7

The Mazda RX-7 is a cool sports car that uses a special type of engine called a rotary engine, which makes it different from most cars. It's light and handles really well, making it fun to drive. Many car fans love it for its unique style and performance.

Car

Nissan Z

The Nissan Z is a sporty car that people love for its speed and cool looks. It's been around for a long time and has a reputation for being fun to drive. Car enthusiasts often talk about it because it's a classic sports car with a modern twist.

Car

Acura NSX

The Acura NSX is a fancy sports car that is really fast and fun to drive. It was one of the first cars to use a lot of new technology to make it better. People talk about it because it's a special car that many dream of owning.

Car

Chevrolet Corvettes

The Chevrolet Corvette is a classic sports car that looks cool and goes really fast. It's been around for a long time and is loved by many for its great performance and style. People often talk about it because it's one of the most famous American cars.

Car

Chevrolet Camaros

The Chevrolet Camaro is a powerful car that looks really sporty and is fun to drive fast. It has been around for many years and is known for competing with other famous cars like the Ford Mustang. People talk about it because it's a symbol of American muscle cars.

LIVE

And he said, I'm going to plug it back in.

I said, well, it's on you if that airbag goes off.

And he fixed it.

I'm like, OK, this guy's next level stuff.

This is Heart Park and brought to you by right Honda

and right Toyota out of Scottsdale, Arizona.

I'm your host, J.P.

Recording from my home studio here in Gilbert, Arizona.

It's funny.

I always pause.

I feel like I want to say Glendale, which is actually

on the other side of the city.

But anyway, coming up on today's show,

I traveled to Johnson Collectibles

to see Mr. Jake Johnson and check out his GTR collection,

including some of his other vehicles.

So if you're listening to this, you

may want to switch over to the YouTube,

so you can check out some really cool cars.

Jake Johnson, he looks like somebody famous.

So if you're watching this, tell me in the comments

who you think Jake looks like.

As a reminder, you can watch this on Spotify and YouTube.

Speaking of GTRs going on this week,

if you're in the Phoenix area, make

sure you head over to the warehouse

and check out the GTR display.

It's called Code R. Rebecca and her crew

are putting this thing on from November 22,

which was just a couple days ago, through November 29.

All these incredible, great GTRs on display.

They have different events every day capped off

by Mr. Larry Chin, famous car photographer and GTR owner.

We'll be in town, so you can meet Larry Chin on November 29.

So make sure if you're in the Phoenix area,

go over there to the warehouse.

More information at thewarehouse.az.

And you can also check it on Instagram

and it's also in my main bio.

Coming up after this word from Arcus Foundry, Jake Johnson.

So quick story for you, a listener lost a big job,

missed the call, never saw the DM,

probably because he's listening to this podcast.

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Jake Johnson, thank you for allowing me to come over

to your top secret layer here.

Absolutely.

It's one of the most awesome cars.

Absolutely.

And get on hard parking, so I appreciate that.

Thanks for having me.

Of course, all right, that's it, we're done here.

All right, let's go.

You know what's funny is,

I always introduce you as Jake Johnson, not Jake.

Yeah, right.

No, not Mr. Johnson, you know.

But do you know where that's from?

We were just talking about it a little bit.

Peter Cunningham, right?

Oh, right, right.

So I figured with him, I go,

anytime that he introduces somebody with their full name,

they're probably a really cool person

or somebody really important or maybe both.

Well, I don't know about either.

Yeah, but I appreciate it.

Of course, my middle name is Jonathan.

So there you go.

Now triple J.

Yeah, triple J.

Jake, Jonathan, Johnson.

I don't think I could say that five times really fast

to be completely fair.

I figured if I named my son that and he was junior,

he'd probably leave an early age.

So I didn't do that.

I didn't do that.

What a guy.

What a dad.

So he made that introduction,

I don't know, three or four years ago maybe now?

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, and it was after Barrett Jackson.

Yep.

So it was actually here.

Yeah, it was actually my warehouse next door.

And your warehouse next door.

And then once we saw that you have an NSX, obviously.

Then I became more interested.

Then you became a lot more interesting.

And it's funny that Calcars just kind of

bring us all together.

Yeah, oh for sure.

But we're sitting here because of these cars

you have behind you, not because of you, of course.

Right, of course.

Yeah, but the cars, it's the GTR obsession,

but we don't just have GTRs.

We have a couple of Mustangs behind me

that go way back.

Where did your obsession come from from all this?

Yeah, it started, so I grew up in a town

called Agora Hills, California.

And so Agora is Camarillo,

Agora, Newberry Park, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village.

It was a nice area to grow up.

And my neighbor was Tom Nelson.

So if you've ever seen Nelson racing motors

out of California.

And so Tom's dad had a Pantera and a Lotus Esprit.

And you could hear that car start up from a long way away.

And so Tom got me into cars

and like going to San Fernando Valley and street racing.

And so when I finally was of age

where I could have my own car.

So like, I first drove a Bronco, that was my first car.

And then as I was graduating high school,

I was very fortunate, my father, I had decent grades,

but he said, look, I'm gonna get you one car,

which one you want.

And he wanted to get me a Chrysler LeBaron.

And I said, no, I think I'd like really,

I said, really like a Mustang.

And he said, well, what do you think?

And I showed him this thing.

And in Thousand Oaks at Kemp Ford,

which is still there might not be called Kemp Ford anymore.

There was this green Foxbody GT Mustang on display there.

I said, well, that's the one.

And I did all the homework on it,

explain why it was better than this and that

and the safety and whatever.

And finally I convinced him to get me that Mustang,

which I still have.

So that Foxbody Mustang was awesome.

And then of course I went to Tom

and then we started, he started showing me

how to quarter miles, you know, that car.

But I never modified it heavily.

So that's why I still have it, I think.

But that really kind of set it off.

And living in that area, let's see, in 1990,

I graduated in 91, so that'll age me a little,

but I want to say in 89, I was driving down

Thousand Oaks Boulevard in this Ferrari

I'd never seen before drives by me.

I immediately go to a magazine, right?

There was no internet and it was a Ferrari F40.

I'm like, you know what, that's awesome.

One day I'm gonna own one of those, which I don't have yet.

But I was so into cars, like I bought a go-kart

and I wanted to convert it to like a Ferrari F40 frame.

I had it all designed, I never did it.

But I've always been like into cars.

I think the Ferrari F40 kind of set me off.

Tom Nelson was a big inspiration.

And then when I got my Mustang GT, like I just, yeah,

I was into cars then.

Did you want a green Mustang or did you not care?

I've always been into, as you'll see out of my cars,

I've always been into something different than what you see.

So back in the 80s and 90s, like late 80s, early 90s,

the Foxbody GT you saw was the blue with the gray trim.

That was kind of your typical,

that's the one you always knew.

When I saw the green one, I'm like, well, that's,

you don't see many of those.

I didn't know what it was that I got me into it.

And I've realized now, I just like the uniqueness of things.

You know, that you don't see them much,

that people don't know what it is,

that it's kind of a sleeper, you know?

So that's what got me into it.

Now, of course, I like green cars.

So, of course it's the only green one I have so far

until the future.

We're a similar age, a few years apart at that.

And so you're also from a time,

and I've talked about this before on the podcast,

but it's very few of my guests are in that pocket of time.

It's five or six year window where so much stuff has changed.

But the poster cars, you know,

going to the store and going through,

you know, what were your poster cars?

Yeah, well, a Ferrari F40 for sure.

I was into Mustangs early on at that point.

But then when I would go to San Fernando Valley,

like when I go to the Valley,

and everybody would stage themselves at Tommy's Burgers,

that was a big thing for me then.

And from there, you headed to some place

that you waited for the police to show up,

or they never showed up or whatever.

And so.

Chiffing and street races.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it was incredible.

And it was, you know, I just, I enjoyed it so much,

like I had no problem losing and I lost.

Like, you know, cause I,

that's where I got introduced to like accurate integras

and what those things could do.

And then Supras and 300 ZXs.

Like what the, you know, I thought I had the big engine

and that's what made a difference.

And then this turbo technology came out like,

and that's what really got me into a lot of it.

So as far as poster cars, I started, you know,

I always thought, well, those would be cool cars someday,

but the Mustang always stuck with me.

I mean, I daily drove my Mustang from 91 until 2002,

about there.

And what's amazing is you still have it.

Yeah. Yeah, I love the car.

I can drive that thing blindfolded in reverse.

Please don't.

Unless I can film it and go viral.

Of course.

I've been waiting for that viral, you know.

That one would be good.

You have a 300 Z special one behind you.

And that makes me wonder, because we're, again,

we're from the same general era.

Were you ever into the Talons and the Eclipses?

No, I always thought they were cool.

I didn't know enough about them.

Those are like the import Kings at the time.

Yeah, they were.

Yeah, affordable cars.

Yeah. And the thing that the reason for this 300 ZX

on top of it being nineties, I have a lot of nineties stuff

was I was, in fact, Tom Nelson was in the car with me

where this 300 ZX pulls up next to us

and he's like, try to take this guy, let's take him.

And that thing blew me, I mean, it wasn't even close.

I'm like, holy cow, what is in that car?

You know, and of course he asked the guy

and he wouldn't tell us, but that's what I learned

about how fast these things could be.

Probably wasn't stock back then,

because it was racing.

Yeah, yeah.

But that's a special one.

Yep, so that one is I bought from a single owner

out of Florida and he did every modification.

He just kind of like me with my Mustang,

except I didn't modify mine like he did.

Just about anything you could find in the magazines

at the time where they say the three tunes you do

and then there was a new one, whatever.

He did about everything you could do on that.

And then the big upgrade he did,

which is very cool in that car,

is taking that still in GTZ body kit

and wrapping into that.

And you don't see a lot of the GTZ,

they didn't make many of them, number one.

And it's not a real GTZ, but it looks like one.

But the other guy has one, does he know?

Yeah, yeah.

When are you gonna get that from him?

Don't know.

Yeah.

I almost bought an SMZ, those SMZs are cool.

Yeah, that's what he has in SMZ, right?

Yeah.

Talking about Randy, of course.

Yeah, there was a black SMZ that,

actually we were the high bidder on,

but it didn't meet reserve.

And I just refused to go too much higher on it.

So, I don't know.

I have a quote I use in business a lot,

but I'll use it in that.

And that's where it's an art of sunsuit, art of war.

Says, stand by the river long enough

and wait for the bodies to float by.

So I'm just kind of standing by the river right now.

Nice, I like that.

Yeah, very positive.

I'm gonna get a bumper sticker on it.

You're right, there you go.

So where does your GTR obsession come from?

Yeah, so it's a good question.

I mean, Fast and Furious had a little bit to do with it,

but I think that was the start of my curiosity,

but not my obsession with the car.

So the curiosity was, what is this RB engine?

What's up?

I already knew the 306, how the turbo technology

in these Japanese cars.

So I looked into it and then, of course, the R34,

this would have been in, I'm sorry, 2014 or something,

15, somewhere around there.

Like, wow, this is a cool car,

but you couldn't get an R34.

Correct, yeah.

And so the R32 was already available.

That was kind of date the year,

I'm trying to remember the right year,

but the R33 I had like one more year

and then you could bring it.

And so I researched, what do they like stock?

And they're kind of, it's cool to have an all stock,

low mileage car, but if it's not gonna be that,

I mean, they're actually a lot more fun tuned.

So I found this black matte one

and did a lot of homework on it,

asked around and did my first delve

into buying a car sight unseen

and sending money and then crossing your fingers.

Was it a little scary?

It was, yeah.

You know, I had a lot of conversations.

I mean, my job is in deal negotiation and reading people.

So I had a lot of discussions over the phone

with this guy in Japan and it got to a point

where I felt like it was legit, I was comfortable.

And so I pulled the trigger on it.

And then while I was sitting there,

you know, there wasn't a lot of places I felt like

I could go to, you know, maintenance the car modified.

So I asked them, you know, do a full inspection on it,

you know, and tell me what you can do with it.

And I don't want to modify it,

but I want to make sure when it gets here,

I can just drive it.

And so they did a lot for me there

in the form of maintenance, which I'm glad I had that done.

And then it got here.

And then like any car I've ordered,

unless it was a new one or my car, my green Mustang,

you know, I found all these things

that needed to be fixed on it.

So that became the first delve into restoration for me,

which has become kind of this big thing for me

and every car I've bought since then.

Yeah, cause you go through everything

and your Instagram is new screw or new this and new that.

And I'm like, I feel pretty bad

because the car I drove over here

could probably use that.

Yeah, I think about you.

I'm like, God, I need to be like Jake.

Well, I'll tell you what, it's been a fun hobby

and it's like anything else.

You have to have the right resources and tools to do it.

Otherwise, I mean, I don't have that much time for it.

So the resources and tools are the rotary lifts I have,

the guys that work on my cars,

the attention to detail,

finding a good wiring guy, which I did, you know,

and everything else that goes along with that.

So it makes it fun and achievable.

Then it just takes money.

Yeah, there's that part.

So you have your little team of SMEs

that can work alongside you.

So everyone has a specialty

because I think most people hate wirings.

You need to find a wiring guy.

Right, yeah.

Well, you know, you say SME,

so we use that in my company,

subject matter expert, right?

And so you're right, you know,

and that's been very helpful.

So I've got like paint protection

or paint film correction, you know,

things like that and dry ice.

And then I've got Luca who's, you know,

the wiring guy and most mechanicals.

And then if I get deep into mechanicals, you know,

Eric has been a big help on the veil side of the car.

So yeah, finding the right people, you know.

So that was car number one.

That was, as far as this obsession,

I would say, let's think about that.

So I ordered that car,

but it took some time to get it.

And so quite frankly,

in the order of how things progressed.

So I had my green Mustang and I bought a Nissan 2,

what was that?

No, it was a 2000?

No, it was a 1998 Nissan Maxima.

Like where they just came out with a new body style,

I think right around there.

And it was great, it was a great car.

I've always, every car I've ever had

is that either a big engine or it goes fast.

And that's what I like.

So that Maxima, I was, in my career,

I've always been very careful to saving money

and not overspend and what have you,

which has allowed me to then do this kind of stuff.

And the Maxima, I woke up one day,

and I'm like, you know what, I'm working my ass off.

And I'd like to upgrade a little.

It was kind of this aha moment

that it's okay to maybe indulge a little.

Because everything I had up to that point was very fee,

like it was almost like a feasibility study

or something for me.

So actually the first one was the M5.

So I bought the M5,

I was looking for the right color, the right combination.

I wish I'd gotten a manual, you know, as an SMG,

but that M5 I got, and that was fun.

Cause I could have like a kind of a powerful sedan,

but still take the kids around.

Cause I had young kids at the time, you know,

so it was the M5, I had that for a while.

And then I got in this obsession with the Skylines.

I found the R33 and I had to wait for that.

So one of the worst friends to have is one who knows

how to find cars and buy them for you.

And so Randy, you know, Randy's, you know,

was as a Mustang guy.

And so he said, hey, look, you know,

we were talking about Fox bodies one day.

He's like, I think I can find you like a Cobra R.

You keep talking about a Cobra R

cause you like your Fox body.

I said, well, I mean, I would consider that

if you found the right one.

And so Colin Comer, so of course Randy's friends with Colin

and Randy said, well, I think I found you one with low miles.

So it's 2,200 miles is sitting right behind you.

It's very low miles.

Yeah. So they, so we struck a deal.

And of course there was not many things

when it comes from Colin, but there was a few things

we needed to fix the airbag light would come on and off.

And so that's where I learned Luca's skills

because he took that airbags module off the car safely

and opened it up and went through the board

and fixed the runs on the board with a microscope.

And he said, I'm going to plug it back in.

And I said, well, it's on you if that airbag goes off.

And he fixed it.

I'm like, okay, this guy's next level stuff.

So yeah.

So that was that.

So I bought that car, this car, this R33

is getting worked on in Japan.

And then Randy said, Randy had all three of the Cobra R's.

He's like, well, I think, you know, there's a 2,000 R

that came, you know, again, Randy again, right?

He said, I think there's a 2,000 R that came up

that you ought to look at on bring a trailer.

And so I ended up buying that and that's right up there.

A few things we found on it, not too many.

It's low miles, 1,600 miles.

I mean, nice little miles to do.

It's probably the most popular of the Cobra R's, I think.

Anyway, I'm doing that.

And I don't know if it's necessarily in that order,

but the GT500 was coming out.

And I had not bought a new Mustang

since my 91 Fox body Mustang.

And so the new GT500, the body style, the whatever,

I had seen a 350R like 2020 or what would that have been

by 2019 or 2018, like, holy cow.

I mean, it sounds good.

It doesn't like, I like buying cars where

there's not much you have to do to it.

It's built, looks good and sounds great and whatever.

So the GT500 was coming out.

I went through a whole scenario on how to get that car.

That's like a long story

because there was dealer markup

and then I found a lesser dealer markup

and then I found one with no markup.

And that's how I bought the GT500.

And of course, during COVID

that took forever to get that car.

You have one up there?

So I have two GT500s now.

So the blue GT500, I got that.

It took a while from COVID to get that.

And of course, another Randy story.

Randy's like, well, you know why you're waiting for that?

I've got a 350R and that car is awesome.

You really should drive it.

And I specifically remember driving that car

to like a car show down in Paradise,

or the mall down in Old Town,

fashion show, I always get that messed up

with the one in California.

Anyway, I drive that down there.

I'm like, holy cow.

Yeah.

And that was like 2019.

And so the last year of the 350s were coming out.

And so the 2020 350R heritage came out.

Like, all right, I got it.

Okay, enough.

So I found one in California, bought that

and had that shipped out.

In fact, Colin did a Hagerty appraiser series on it.

Oh yeah, I remember that.

And that's probably my, as much as I would not say it loud

around my green Mustang, my 350R heritage

is probably my favorite driving Mustang.

That thing's awesome.

So I bought one of those.

And while that's going on,

then a white Cobra came up online and it was local.

Randy's like, dude, you have the other two Cobras.

Just get the third one.

Have we decided, is Randy a friend?

I know, I turned out.

Making me spend all this money.

Well, I'm a bit happy about it.

So I guess there you go.

So I found a Cobra local that had 1,600 miles and 95.

So, you know, and then I stack them like on the poster I have.

And so that's been kind of fun.

So that's all going on.

And the R33 is going through a big restoration.

And now I'm going to shows though.

And I'm seeing people with their R32s and I'm asking around

and it's clear the R32 is original Godzilla.

And that's like the car.

And so I go back to my broker, back to my broker.

And ironically, I was looking at R32s

and they had a yellow R34 there.

And so he said, well, I've got an R32,

but you ought to look at this yellow R34

because there's not many of those.

And it's kind of been sitting here and we did a restoration.

So I did a lot of homework on that.

And I kind of battled around with the price that it was, you know.

And I pulled the trigger on that.

Of course, then I had to wait.

They said, now you want R32, right?

So I found the R32 and bought that

because that could get shipped.

And that one was a big, that was a big,

that was like a big restoration project,

not because it was in bad shape, but because I wanted it.

After I got spoiled with what we did the R33.

So we just did the same thing with the R32.

And that one, we pulled everything.

I mean, I have pictures on my Instagram

that there's nothing inside, like no dash, no steering wheel.

You know, and that's all credit to Luca.

But I would say during that time,

if he got hit by a bus, I would have been,

I'd still have an R32 with nothing in it.

Right.

No progress.

Yeah.

What about this blue right here?

Oh yeah.

All right.

So the Gretti RX SROC, you know, that car.

Looking at a blue R33.

So another friend of mine would be Jordan,

at Lowballer, you know.

And Jordan is a great guy.

We all know, those who know Jordan,

I mean, he's a true car enthusiast

and he's very generous with his time

and with sharing his passion.

And so I had seen Jordan's R33,

his HKS T-002.

And he said, hey, look, you know, it's,

I don't know if it was because it's not black.

If you know anything about him,

he needs all black cars.

All black, yeah.

He said, this Gretti demo car is available.

I know where it's at.

And if you had that, man,

we would have the two cars from Yatobi days.

And like, I want you to consider that.

He's like, I'm not putting any pressure on you.

And so I went back and forth on it

and then pulled the trigger,

you know, bought that car, brought that out here.

We had started to really establish

how we would like restore cars.

And so we brought it in here

and we knew exactly what needed to be done.

It really is one of those rabbit holes though.

Initially, I wanted to fix some of the issues.

I didn't want to touch the hair, you know,

the nature of the car.

But as we got into it, then you saw one thing

and then you saw another and whatever and so,

but always the objective was to keep the restoration

to the original builder.

So we put a new ECU in to keep it safe,

but outside of that, I mean,

the thing is exactly as it was

when it was sitting in the museum and went to Paraguay.

It looks amazing.

Yeah, that was a full,

everything's color, everything's amazing.

It was, if you know, Brian from a top rank,

when I had this GTR, he's got a video,

he's going around it and he said, he didn't know me,

but he said, this was a no expense, you know,

no expense rebuild and he was right.

You know, if you were adding it up, it just,

it didn't make sense.

What made sense was the value,

the importance of that car to the culture

and then it would be restored appropriately

and that's what we did.

It was a lot of fun.

How much do you think you have into that rebuild?

I have probably 80 to 100 grand in the restoration,

I would say somewhere around there.

And it was worth it.

Absolutely.

Really, you know, it's just the history of the car.

It was fun to be able to restore it safely

and then safely drive it, quite frankly.

So that's what made it worth it.

So how many of these?

One, two, three, four, five?

Yup.

You need two more to complete the seven.

I know, so I want the Ken marrying the Hakusuka.

There's a Hakusuka in town that is restored

to what I would consider Jake Johnson,

Jacob Jonathan Johnson specification.

Triple J status.

Triple J standards.

J award.

There you go, I like that.

And then Ken Mary, I just have to shop around for one.

I think the Ken Mary is a freaking cool car,

especially, you know, kind of tuned up right, you know.

How different are they?

Cause you have different generations.

Yeah, I mean, so I have just the RB ones.

So, but the, they still have to drive

and feel a little different.

Yeah, the, I would say the R32 is the funnest one to drive.

It's my son's favorite.

So I let him drive my cars and he loves that one the best.

The R33 is just modified appropriately.

It's not overly modified, but it's, you know,

it's about five, 60 to the wheel,

which I think is perfect for a skyline.

And the suspension, the bucket seat that's in it,

that thing, that R33 is a fun car to drive.

But the R32 drives probably the best.

I think the wheelbase with the engine specifications,

whatever.

And then the R34 is just, just just a, you know,

it kind of mirrored up the performance

with the look and everything.

So are we allowed to count the Nismo 35

or is it like two new tech?

Good question.

Yeah, that one hasn't gotten any love yet

in this conversation.

It hasn't, right.

I love the car.

So originally my G, so quite frankly,

my GTR fantasies came from owning a Nissan GTR.

And I never pulled the trigger on one.

I never really felt like I should buy one.

I don't know.

It just didn't, like,

I was trying to find something unique about it

because they made them for how many years?

15, 16 year, whatever.

And they were everywhere.

They were everywhere.

And so I thought, well, first of all, you don't,

again, going back to my green Mustang,

I like uniqueness, right?

So I'm like, well, a Nismo would probably fit

more uniqueness.

And then when they came out with the SE,

with a stealth gray paint job, Nismo,

only 13 sold in the US.

Like, all right, that kind of fits right there.

Then I had to find one.

And so I found this one in Cerritos, California,

Cerritos Nissan, and pulled the trigger on it.

And that was kind of my big purchase.

Quite frankly, that was my big purchase at the time.

Brand new car, the sales, everything that goes with it,

you know, and I haven't regretted it.

I drove it yesterday.

The car's awesome.

I don't drive it too much.

So it's a 2021 and a half Nismo special edition.

And so ironically, again, you run into your friends, right?

So I saw Jordan yet just yesterday, actually,

we both pulled in the gas station,

unknowingly, I get out and look over,

we're talking and he's got his RWB with him.

And he said, I love that car.

You got to get the in attack package on it.

Oh, no.

I'm like, what do you mean?

And I've heard an in attack package.

So honestly, two days since, well, that was yesterday.

So all last night and this morning,

I'm looking at in attack packages for this car.

And I don't know if they make them,

they made them for 2017 and you get it through Stillin,

is the research I found.

And of course, Jordan helped me find that research.

But so I've thought about that,

which would make it a little even more unique.

Trying to wonder now if it's Jordan a friend too.

You're Jordan Randy, man.

These guys, guys.

Yeah, with friends like these who need to.

Yeah.

I don't remember if it was you or someone else

that was talking about these skylines

that you have to be very careful when you buy them

because they're just falling apart on the inside.

Maybe all that.

You have to be careful.

You know, the strut towers are in the engine bay

or an obvious one always.

And then is it just their choice of when they were building

them or they're just on the island?

Well, I think it's on the island

and not many are getting in a garage

and it's very, a lot of water, moisture.

And I think the other thing too is when you buy them,

if it has a cool Nismo aftermarket cluster,

then it doesn't have the right mileage on it, most likely.

Hmm.

We were talking earlier on your Veilside RX-7 over here.

Yeah.

Yeah, same thing.

And so then you've got to see what's the documentation like

on the mileage transfer because it's,

there's a lot of people trying to get away with, you know,

the Nismo clusters are cool,

but they never were like brought up to the right kilometers

when they switched it over.

So someone wanted to buy,

what is something they should look for?

Yeah, I think the, it's always look for the rust.

How much rust is there?

Cause it's not going to be probably rust free, most likely.

So how much rust is there in this,

in the usual spots like the strut towers and the engine bay?

What's the instrument cluster like?

If it's been switched over,

then can they show you the documentation

on the kilometer transition?

And then for me, like just what's the engine bay

and the interior look like?

You know, what's the,

how has this person taken care of the car?

Is it modified tastefully?

Or is it like an absolute monster that just is,

you know, finicky, you know?

Cause the car like this, the R34,

I don't have many modifications to that.

You know, I've got Nismo R3 turbos,

which was a nice upgrade as my turbos went out on it.

When I got brought the car here

and just some other Nismo upgrades

and the car is fun to drive and what have you.

And I think it was a valuable lesson for me

with my green Mustang.

You know, that thing still exists

because I didn't overly modify it.

You know, a few bolt-ons,

but I always drove it, you know, responsibly

unless I was in the valley, you know, street racing,

but it was always in a, you know, blocked off area.

But yeah, that was fun.

The 300ZX I didn't talk about, I'll tell you what.

So the R33 is getting the restoration

somewhere in there, Randy.

Of course.

Because he had the SMZ.

He said, look, it's not an SMZ,

but let me tell you about the GTZ

and he explained it to me.

He's like, this thing is awesome.

It's a one owner.

For Randy, you always said, look,

if the owner's like a, was a pilot

or you know, there's certain specifications

even out of the owner you're buying from

if they were engineer or pilot.

Like there's somebody that really took care of things.

This guy had an incredible logbook as pilots do.

Right.

You know, on the car.

And so I bought it.

And it was, it had year,

it was kind of like the Skylines,

which I'll get into that comment,

but it had lots of years of modifications done to it.

He was the only owner, but like as, you know,

as he got busier doing other things,

you know, when I got the car,

he had some things on it that were,

in hindsight to him even probably were just,

he would have switched back.

Like it had an incredibly touchy clutch on it.

I kept stalling the car and stalling the car.

And so once I kind of fixed some of the things

that were noticeable.

And then after we finished the R33, the black R33,

the guys looked at me like,

can we have a crack at that 300 ZX?

I'm like, yeah, do it.

So that was probably the most extensive restoration.

Actually. No kidding.

Yeah. And believe it or not,

as much as it doesn't, the same look on the outside,

it had a full clear bra on it that was failing.

So we've removed all the clear bra

without damaging the paint.

It had a small dent

that most would have probably left there,

but you could see it, I could see it.

And so we had to fix it and then had the paint.

So it was kind of overkill,

but then we clear brought it right.

The clear bra was kind of, like I said, it was failing.

So that was big.

And then restoring the wheels

and then the restoring the engine maintenance,

they had some issues on it, not too bad.

Then the clutch.

And I would say the biggest thing though,

was the wiring in my Instagram.

I've got like a stack of wires

that weren't doing anything on that car.

Yeah. So we pulled them all out, cleaned it up.

We fixed and tested every light in the instrument cluster.

Sounds fun.

Then put it back on.

That's what Luga loves to do.

So that was fun.

And then fixed all the exterior weather trim.

I mean, that car is in great shape now.

A part's pretty easy to come by

for a lot of this stuff.

Yeah.

I thought for sure Concept Z

would have sent me like Christmas cards and happy birthday.

They haven't done that, but not yet, not yet.

But that's a great place and it's a local resource.

So I bought a lot of stuff for the R33

and the Nissan Z from Concept Z.

And then the other place was Ningen, Japan.

I mean, that place was,

I bought a lot of stuff from Ningen for the R33,

including a new gearbox.

So I was getting crunchy fourth gear on this R33.

And so I ordered a new gear.

I mean, they shipped it from Japan.

Wow. Yeah.

So the product support, the part support is still there.

It's still there.

Yeah. You know, maybe I was lucky

because I got on it early on before there was a lot.

But the nice part about Ningen is you get on that site

and they have the parts diagram for everything.

And so sometimes we would just use the parts diagram

to order from other places

because Ningen didn't have it or whatever.

So that was pretty cool.

Yeah, I've done that before.

It's kind of funny.

You zoom in and you're like, okay, I need this.

Yeah.

What do you think or do you think?

It seems like the 300Z's

and then the forgotten 3000 GT,

they're just not really getting the love yet.

No, right?

I think the 300Z maybe getting more.

I mean, I was driving this weekend and saw one.

I think it's a great looking car, you know?

It was a must have in my 90s inspirations for cars, so.

Yeah, I was thinking that too,

like the 3000 GT VR4.

Yeah. And Randy had one in here at one point.

Everyone wanted one.

That was a cool car.

You never see them.

So true.

I haven't talked about my super much,

but that was like the car, you know?

And that one, again, I think I was looking

or Randy helped me find it.

Of course.

And we found the right Supra.

It's a 94 Targa, annual, white, you know,

great low 50,000 miles on it.

Just pretty good shape of we, again,

we got it ripped out the whole inside and restored it.

So it's basically restored factory-esque.

Yeah, a little bolt-ons on it.

It was all built.

They were kind of like boats.

I drove one.

Yeah. It's fun.

That one's like tuned to like a 410 to the wheel.

So it's perfect.

Yeah, no longer a boat.

Yeah.

All of them were that 275, right?

And then you had variation in there.

But I think these cars at 400, about it, perfect.

You know, it's great.

The yellow ones that way, the Supras that way,

the 300 is 410 to the wheel, which is really not,

I'm sorry, the 300 ZX.

So, yeah, that's a good to the wheel number.

Not a lot of yellow skylines, period.

No.

And you have the 34, of course, being different,

but cool and different part right next to this blue.

So it really pops in here.

Are all of these original colored?

Yeah.

Believe it or not.

And I get that a lot for that.

This yellow, the yellow R34, there's two things

that everybody asks, is that the original color

and is that a GTR?

Because it's, you know, you can get yellow GTTs

and convert them pretty convincingly.

But to have a yellow 34 V-spec, ironically,

they made more V-specs than regular yellow GTRs.

Interesting.

So I think there's 68 total, 44 V-spec and like 18,

whatever that comes to, 18, 19 or so are the,

or 20, what would that be?

You gotta do my math, 24.

So maybe there's 48 of those

and then the rest are like just regular GTRs.

And if you go to like the San Clemente car and coffee,

you ever heard of that?

I heard it's like the legendary one there.

Insane.

So here, this is the irony.

This is why I feel like I was just meant to be

kind of involved in cars.

So wife and I get tired of like the way

the summers are here, like anybody else.

So we were going back and forth to California,

staying places, we grew up there.

So a buddy of mine says, you know, you ought to check out

like South Laguna Beach, Dana Point.

You know, I'd heard of Dana Point growing up,

but never really explored it.

So I go to Dana Point, we find a town home there

and this community in Dana Point and it's beautiful.

Dana Point, if you've ever been there,

you can see the ocean from about every home

in town home in Dana Point.

Sounds terrible.

Yeah, yeah.

So we buy this town home in 2015.

And I thought it was a lot then,

of course it's like three times as much now,

but the one thing I had no idea was like

the two exits south was the San Clemente car show.

Wow, right, right there.

I had no idea.

So I go to check it out and I'm like,

okay, this is not a regular car show.

This is like every Saturday, big time cars, like whatever.

So I headed there and that was like,

it just blew me away with like, you know,

having cars and seeing what the car culture was like.

So yeah, that got me really into it.

Comparing that to maybe like Highline,

is it like Highline on steroids or just-

Oh, Highline on steroids, yeah.

It's, you know, Highline is the right cadence.

I think, you know, it's one Saturday of the month.

There's a lot of car stuff going on.

What's amazing in San Clemente is it's every Saturday

and it's like that every Saturday.

And so you have one row, which is high-end super exotics.

And then you've got your classic car section

and JDM section and motor, I mean, it's everything.

And it sets up well because it's in an outlet-like area

and so there's a great start.

You know, it's got everything you need.

You know, it's just a-

Easy to get to.

Yeah.

It's not like-

And if you've driven, so I drove this,

I shipped my R33 to California to drive for the summer.

I put my son in the car, we drive north on PCH,

we get to Laguna Beach and I get a noise ticket immediately.

And that ticket, you know, requires you to fix whatever,

you know, is causing the ticket.

And of course there's no, I mean,

where am I gonna find a stock exhaust for that

or am I even gonna put it on?

So immediately ship the car back and pay the ticket

and that was the end of it.

But that's just kind of, it was fun to drive that car

out there and it's just a cool car culture.

It seems like it's kind of difficult to have anything,

like visually cool is great,

but sounding cool in California seems to be hard and hard.

Yeah, well, so my point was in San Clemente,

they don't give you a hard time about that.

They understand.

Dana Point's cool, San Clemente's cool.

But you go, even Laguna Beach until you get in Laguna Beach.

So Laguna's fine, then you get to Laguna Beach

and they don't want any of it.

They don't want it at all.

And they'll pull over as many people as they can.

I wasn't going fast or anything.

The problem is this is before I had this thing retuned.

I mean, it was spitting flames and like just popping a lot

and which sounded cool, but it's not really great.

And so I couldn't help it.

I immediately got pulled over.

I figured what was going on.

I turned the car off and it was too late.

He knew.

Yeah, that's wild.

So you have this Veilside project over here.

RX-7, want to talk about that a little?

Sure, yeah.

So, again, my quest for 90s car,

it's not a quest.

It was just I'm buying the cars I like, right?

And so I think like everybody else,

you follow like Fast & Furious

and then you see this Tokyo drift car.

You're like, what in the heck was that car?

And I didn't know for the longest time, really.

I just kind of moved on.

I'm like, well, it was just some crazy car

or whatever in Japan.

And then I realized it's actually an obtainable car

you can get.

It's called a Veilside Fortune RX-7.

And so I always told Harlow.

So Harlow Jap ended up becoming like my source,

my new friend, another friend, right?

So Oz at Harlow Jap, he's like,

hey, I know you said one day if you could find a Veilside,

About this episode

Jake Johnson shares his impressive collection of Nissan GT-Rs, including R32, R33, and R34 models, and discusses his journey into car collecting. He recounts his early automotive influences, including street racing and iconic cars like the Ferrari F40. The conversation dives into the restoration process of his vehicles, the importance of finding the right experts for maintenance, and the unique characteristics of each GT-R generation. Johnson also touches on his passion for other cars, including Mustangs and an NSX, and his aspirations for future acquisitions.

airbag module Bring a Trailer bucket seats car culture Cobra R ECU Fox body Mustang Gretti Hagerty HKS

Original notes

EP303

Inside a Stunning Private Nissan GT-R Collection | R32, R33, R34, Veilside RX-7 & More w/ Jake Johnson | Hard Parking Podcast

In this episode Jhae Pfenning steps inside Jake Johnson’s incredible private collection in the Phoenix area. Jake walks us through his journey from a green 1991 Foxbody Mustang GT (that he still owns!) to building one of the cleanest Nissan Skyline GT-R lineups in the country: an R32, black R33, legendary blue GReddy R33 demo car, ultra-rare yellow R34 V-Spec, and a 2021.5 GT-R NISMO Special Edition in Stealth Gray.We also dive into his triple Cobra R Mustang set, Shelby GT350R Heritage, restored 300ZX, ’94 Supra, Veilside Fortune RX-7 project straight out of Tokyo Drift, and even his ex-press 2005 Acura NSX. Jake shares stories of street racing in the San Fernando Valley, buying cars sight-unseen from Japan, and the full-restoration rabbit hole that keeps every car in concours-level condition. PLUS – Jake gives a shout-out to the massive Code R GT-R event happening right now at The Warehouse in Phoenix (Nov 22–29) with daily events and Larry Chen appearing on the 29th.

Chapters

01:39 – Code R GT-R event at The Warehouse (Nov 22-29) + Larry Chen appearance

02:35 – How Jake got into cars (Tom Nelson, street racing, green Foxbody Mustang)

05:03 – First car: 1991 green Mustang GT (still owns it!)

08:52 – The 300ZX that smoked him & the Stillen GTZ look

11:17 – How the GT-R obsession actually started

17:52 – The Cobra R trilogy (’93, ’95, 2000R)

21:09 – Buying Skylines sight-unseen from Japan

22:31 – The legendary GReddy blue R33 demo car

26:57 – The ultra-rare Stealth Gray 2021.5 GT-R NISMO Special Edition

28:13 – Buying tips for imported Skylines (rust, clusters, documentation)

36:41 – Yellow R34 V-Spec rarity explained

40:52 – Veilside Fortune RX-7 project (Tokyo Drift vibes)

43:50 – How Jake finally scored his 2005 Acura NSX press car

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