Big bucks for Paul Walker’s cars and rare Datsun
IF $3.5 MILLION FOR A COLLECTION SOUNDS A LOT, HOW ABOUT $1.2M FOR AN OLD DATSUN Z?
The late Paul Walker’s personal collection of 21 cars that went to auction included a number of extremely rare BMW E36 M3 Lightweight models.
Five of Walker’s M3 LTWs crossed the block in the United States last weekend, where the most expensive and lowest mileage (7000km) example sold for a staggering $530,000.
The remainder of these LTW models ranged between $355,000 and $300,000. Interestingly, the highest mileage M3 to sell at this auction still only had 55,000km. BMW built only around 120 M3 LTW models through the course of E36 production.
If you’re wondering why Walker was such a fan of these cars, and why they sold for so much, it’s thought that the Fast
and Furious star was holding onto these cars as a retirement fund for when he finished acting. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to live out this plans.
Other notable cars from his collection included two E30 M3s, a Nissan R32 GT-R, and a silver
370Z that briefly appeared in
Fast Five.
Multiple cars were retained by Paul’s daughter Meadow Rain Walker, who won a $10 million dollar payment from the estate of Roger Rodas, the man who was driving the Porsche Carrera GT during the double fatal crash. The sale of Walker’s car collection raised $3.5 million. Halfway around the world in Japan, another Japanese model had set a record, with a $1m Datsun.
In its racing days, Datsun built a spiced-up version of the 240Z called the Z432 using an S20 inline-six from the original Skyline GT-R, with
118kW, 177Nm and four-speed manual.
Named for its four valves percylinder, three carburettors and two camshafts; around 420 Z432s were built for road use to comply with the homologation racing rules of the time. Over the years, Z432 examples have fetched prices in excess of $500,000 at auction.
But this model was one up: Datsun also built the Z432R, that lost its radio and heating systems, a fibreglass bonnet with thinner windows and body panels that lost
100kg, scored a racing seat and a
98-litre endurance fuel tank. About
50 were built.
And last week, a Z432R (left) with only 98,000km sold for $1.2 million in Japan.