- A fire chief vandalized a rare Nismo 270R, pleaded guilty, and paid some restitution.
- Now, the owner is suing the vandal for $500,000, claiming a pending car sale fell through.
- It’s unclear whether the owner has legal grounds to demand such high-value damages.
Rare Japanese sports cars tend to attract attention, whether it’s from collectors, fans, or, apparently, disgruntled fire chiefs with a grudge. And the Nissan 270R Nismo is one of the rarest cars on earth. Based on the S14 Silvia, only 30 were ever made, and none were officially sold in the USA. That makes the one owned by Mark Bahna in Piscataway, NJ, just that much more valuable.
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Unfortunately, it’s a bit less desirable after the local fire chief, threw buckets of rocks on the sports car. Now, Bahna is suing for a cool $500,000.
The incident happened on May 4, 2024. Upset about how rainwater drained between the firehouse and Bahna’s property, fire chief Josh Scolnick decided the best solution was to gather up rocks and dump multiple buckets on Bahna’s parked Nissan. According to reports, Scolnick later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was ordered to pay $7,973 in restitution.
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Of course, what he didn’t know was that Bahna was allegedly in the midst of selling the car. In fact, he was going to let it go for $500,000 according to MyCentralJersey. After the rock-dumping incident, the deal fell through, and Bahna is still trying to offload the car. He says that to bring it back to its value, it needs a complete restoration, so he’s suing for half a million.
Is It Really Worth Half a Million?
It’s worth noting here that $500,000 is a ton of money for one of these. Yes, they’re very rare, but examples of it going for anywhere near that much are basically non-existent. In fact, the most recent public sale we could find happened back in July of 2024. That car had aftermarket modifications and a little over 82,000 miles (131966 km) on it.
It sold for HK$785,000, which works out to around US$107,000 at current exchange rates. Another one reportedly sold years ago in Australia for AU$84,000, or about US$52,690 at the time. Of course, importing and registering a 270R in the US isn’t exactly simple, so a stateside example like Bahna’s could fetch more—assuming it’s in pristine condition. Hopefully, the owner is made whole after all.
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