Nismo 270R Owner Sues Fire Chief for Dumping Rocks on His Car

The phrase “it’s only original once” may decide whether the chief of a volunteer fire department in New Jersey owes the owner of a rare 1995 Nismo 270R half a million dollars in damages. The chief paid $7,973 in restitution after pleading guilty to throwing buckets of rocks and debris on the car, but the owner has filed a lawsuit asking for $500,000 because the car, once restored, will no longer be original.

Mark Bahna says he parked the 270R, which is one of approximately 30 examples built, in his driveway on May 4, 2024. He found the car covered in rocks, dirt, and other debris later that day, and footage captured by his security cameras shows Josh Scolnick, the chief of the volunteer Arbor Hose Firehouse, emptying buckets of waste on the coupe. Bahna lives right next to the fire station, according to MyCentralJersey, and Scolnick reportedly admitted to police that he vandalized the 270R because he didn’t like the way water drained from Bahna’s property onto the fire station’s.

The debris caused “extensive damage” to the car such as chips, scratches, and dents, according to the lawsuit, and it also left blemishes on the lights, the decals, and the glass. The nearly $8,000 that Scolnick has already paid in restitution should cover at least part of the repairs, but the lawsuit focuses on the 270R’s originality. Bahna claims the coupe was a matching-numbers example in “mint condition” that was still wearing its original paint and decals. He adds that it now needs to be professionally restored, which will significantly reduce its value as an “all-original collector’s specimen,” and that a deal to sell the car for $500,000 fell through following the incident. He claims that he’s been unable to sell it since.

Details about the transaction aren’t available. The 270R—a version of the S14 Silvia tuned in-house by Nismo—is undeniably rare and particularly desirable, and this example was reportedly owned by Japanese racing legend and “Drift King” Keiichi Tsuchiya, but the few that have traded hands in recent years moved for far less. Collecting Cars sold one for HK$785,000 (about $101,000 at the current conversion rate) in July 2024. Bring a Trailer has never listed one, and neither has Cars & Bids.

We’re not here to take sides or provide legal advice, but we’re guessing that the lawsuit’s outcome will depend on whether the restoration truly lowers the 270R’s value and, crucially, whether Bahna can prove that the car was entirely original. That might be easier said than done, unless the coupe is spectacularly well-documented. We’re talking about a 30-year-old Japanese-market sports car, after all. Are paint meter readings considered reliable evidence? Would, say, a touched-up chip on one of the rear wheel arches make the paint not original?

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