The HR31 was Nissan’s Group A weapon of choice from 1988 through to the mid-1990 introduction of the R32 GT-R.
Succeeding the DR30, the HR31s endured early teething issues and were out-gunned by their lighter and more powerful Ford Sierra RS500 opposition.
However, an increase in minimum weight for turbo cars in 1990 tipped the balance in the Nissan’s favour, setting up Jim Richards’ history-making ATCC title.
The car now on the market was part of the Gibson team’s stable in 1988 and ’89 and is presented as it finished fourth in the 1989 Bathurst 1000 with George Fury and Anders Ololfsson behind the wheel.
Fury earlier drove this car to victory in the Winton round of that year’s ATCC, which marked the first ATCC triumph for an HR31 and the last of Fury’s career.
He shared the car in that December’s Wellington 500 with Brit Win Percy, who crashed heavily while leading.
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Richards reportedly bought the shell and running gear from Gibson in the mid-1990s with the intention of restoring it.
However, the four-time champion eventually sold the project to a friend of Gibson, John Smallman, who took up the project.
“I saw the shell and told Richo I’d buy it but then I changed my mind; there was too much work to be done,” Smallman reflected to Carsales in 2012.
“When I told Fred, he told me I did want it!”
The restoration included tracking down one of the team’s original RB20DET-R, turbocharged 2.0 litre DOHC inline six engines.
“When I picked it up there was no engine but someone had heard of a motor in Thomastown,” Smallman added.
“I took $3500 and met this guy at his storage shed that was full of motors. Sure enough, it was one of the original motors and I bought it.”
Smallman had Richards shake the car down at Calder Park in December of 2012.
Richards reportedly considered buying the restored car back before his own 1990 machine came up for sale, which he pounced on instead.
Remarkably considering some of the incidents endured by them, all four of the Gibson HR31s remain in existence.
The Fury/Ololfsson Skyline spent recent years in the Muscle Car Warehouse collection.
It appeared alongside Richards’ car at the 2023 Phillip Island Classic, participating in a recreation of the 1989 Bathurst 3-4 finish with Greg Murphy at the wheel.
The car was included in the sale of MCW’s V8 Supercars collection earlier this year and is now being on-sold through Young Timers Garage.
A Jim Richards 996 Porsche included in the MCW sale is also being on-sold.
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