A warehouse fire in Ontario, California put a tear in the eye of automobile enthusiasts, destroying a dozen rare, Japanese sports cars - including nine Nissan Skylines. And it might have been caused by an illegal marijuana growing operation in the space next door. 

The Nissan Skyline is one of the greatest cars ever to come out of Japan, and Aussie car enthusiasts (and hoons) have enjoyed it for years.  But it was never made with left-hand drive for the American market, and therefore Nissan didn't spec it out to satisfy the minutia in US regulations.  Despite this, the US allows people to import foreign cars after 25 years.  The rule officially exists to keep out cars that supposedly don't meet US pollution and safety standards, but the not-so-secret ulterior motive is to protect US car companies and dealers.  BTW, that means that all of those Skylines in the first four "Fast and Furious" movies were technically not street-legal.

With the quarter century benchmark achieved, gray market importers have been bringing over used R32 Skylines, the most recent classic version allowed (Nissan now markets the new R35 GT-R, but that doesn't carry the Skyline badge anymore).  International Vehicle Importers of California had nine R32 Skylines from the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) waiting for North American members of the cult of the Skyline.  But a note on the company's Facebook page suggests that the ganja growers next door overloaded the building's electrical circuitry with their grow lights, starting the fire that consumed the cars.

The Ontario Fire Department will not confirm that the fire started in the grow room.  But cops indirectly confirmed that it was there, noting that "26 ripe marijuana plants" and "300 immature marijuana plants" were discovered at the location.  Somehow, they escaped being burned up.