How is this car legal?

nocones wrote: So wait.. They align Stance cars?

Yeah, gotta make sure they're running an equal -6deg camber on both sides or it would look hellawonky

GameboyRMH wrote:

nocones wrote: So wait.. They align Stance cars?

Yeah, gotta make sure they're running an equal -6deg camber on both sides or it would look hellawonky

Yeah...or you'll get funky tire wear.

Does he live in New Hampshire?

kanaric wrote: IDK the story behind the Escort Cosworths but I do know all the imported ones were LHD models and none of them were crushed and you see them for sale occasionally for exorbitant sums. Like $20k-$30k. In a couple years you could buy one from the UK for like $8k and have it imported lol.

No idea on old Datsuns, but Escort Cosworths are near and dear to my heart. There may have been a time long long a go in a galaxy far far away where you prices were correct, but that era is as long gone as cassette tape and Betamax. I can't remember the last time I saw an Escort Cosworth for sale here in the US, but if you find one for $20-30k in good condition let me know and I will buy it to send back to the UK. Good ones (not beat to E36 M3 and riced out) start at £15-20K and go up to £40k+. Yes that’s GB pounds. In US$ we are talking $25k at the bottom of the market going up to well over $60K. These are a car that never full depreciated. They got cheaper, but then skyrocketed.

The import laws are berkeleying retard anyway.

BTW, if you are willing to play fast and loose with the rules you can import and title just about anything and get away with it, especially here in Michigan. Just don't be a dick and make it look like something special, don't post it all over the internet and don't get it put in magazines. I've seen a Mitsu Evo VI Tommy MAkinen edition here in Michigan driving around and I'm sure as hell that's not 100% legit.

I got all excited earlier in the year finding out about the exception on Defender 110's and looked into bringing one of those in legally. It's not that easy to do, and the legal years are known in the UK and you will see them advertised on e-bay as 'legal for exportation to the USA' and have the price hiked accordingly.

Javelin wrote:

mndsm wrote: Here's how it works. MotoRex- The dopes that got busted and got all the skylines squished- actually Federalized several r33s. The reason they got BUSTED is they started fudging a lot of paperwork and didn't fed them all. Likely that car has either been blue vinned in MN, or it came in from florida as parts. I think Montana could do it at one point too. I almost bought one out of Vancouver the same way.

Close, but no cigar. We've been over this before with links to the DMV And NHTSA sites. MotoRex fully and legally got the R33 GT-R Skyline Federalized for importation. The bust, shut down, and car crushings were because they imported R32 and R34's as well, with no federalization, claiming that they were essentially identical, which they are not. Any importer can bring in an R33 free and clear.

BZZZZZZZTTTT! wrong.

The importation process requires an RI to do modifications. In the case of Motorex, they claimed business confidentiality on some of the process to import Skylines. Motorex got their ticket yanked for the fraud mentioned. They never gave up the confidential parts of the process, they are the only ones who retain the rights to import it under their process. If someone else wants to LEGALLY import one, they have to repetition to have their process approved (unless they can work with whoever has the rights to Motorex's process to get that information). The process of re-petitioning will include costly lab testing, as petitioned vehicles are either "Substantially similar" or "Capable" capable (which this would be)requires extensive modifications and lab testing.

The ones you see running around are either one of the rare ones that were legally imported by motorex (there are a few) OR (more likely) ones that were smuggled into the country through shady processes. Those cars could be seized by customs and either crushed or shipped out of the country, being that they are smuggled. That said, customs has other things on their plate than to run around after those cars. They do on occasion catch and crush some to make an example though. In reality, they focus on policing at the ports of entry.

Who says you have to go through the import process anyway? I have a neighbor from Wisconsin who moved up here to B.C. after university in his car. He just went to the insurance agent and bought insurance for it and continued to drive it. No one ever asked. Eventually he sold it and bought a new one. I guess the new owner had no problems because that was the end of it.

I don't understand why anyone likes those Skylines. Driving the zillions of variations of them in Gran Turismo is enough to make me think they are heavy and unresponsive cars that would be not much fun to drive.

bearmtnmartin wrote: Who says you have to go through the import process anyway?

The federal government? (in the case of having one in the US, in Canada you have the 15 year exemption. Ours is 25 years)

Just bringing the car in and hoping someone who dosent know better puts the papers through is smuggling and technically fraud.

there are problems... Good luck insuring it, and even better luck if there is an accident involving the car and an injured party that goes to any court setting.

Import laws are one of those things I don't understand. Who are they protecting? Like dealer laws It sure isn't protecting the consumer.

Apexcarver wrote: Good luck insuring it, and even better luck if there is an accident involving the car and an injured party that goes to any court setting.

This is a good point. When I was investigating (legally) bringing in a Land Rover, I came across a case where a guy had brought in a 110 illegally and Vin swapped for an older legal vehicle. I know that's done all the time in the Mini world too. The vehicle was involved in an accident and while the Vin on the body matched up OK, apparently the insurance adjuster knew something was amiss and checked the frame and discovered it was a much newer vehicle. Claim denied. Owner up serious E36 M3 creek without a canoe, let alone a paddle.

Apexcarver wrote:

bearmtnmartin wrote: Who says you have to go through the import process anyway?

The federal government? (in the case of having one in the US, in Canada you have the 15 year exemption. Ours is 25 years) Just bringing the car in and hoping someone who dosent know better puts the papers through is smuggling and technically fraud. there are problems... Good luck insuring it, and even better luck if there is an accident involving the car and an injured party that goes to any court setting.

This guy is not a crook. He just didn't know any better. And there was obviously no process in place to flag the vehicle when he went to insure it because it never came up. And there is no fraud involved because thanks to free trade it does not cost anything to import a vehicle other than the processing fees. And since he eventually sold the vehicle to a Canadian the tax would have changed hands then when the name on the registration changed. Really, why should importing a used car be any different from importing a used TV? As long as it meets the safety standards and the government gets their tax, the rest is just politics.

bearmtnmartin wrote:

Apexcarver wrote:

bearmtnmartin wrote: Who says you have to go through the import process anyway?

The federal government? (in the case of having one in the US, in Canada you have the 15 year exemption. Ours is 25 years) Just bringing the car in and hoping someone who dosent know better puts the papers through is smuggling and technically fraud. there are problems... Good luck insuring it, and even better luck if there is an accident involving the car and an injured party that goes to any court setting.

This guy is not a crook. He just didn't know any better. And there was obviously no process in place to flag the vehicle when he went to insure it because it never came up. And there is no fraud involved because thanks to free trade it does not cost anything to import a vehicle other than the processing fees. And since he eventually sold the vehicle to a Canadian the tax would have changed hands then when the name on the registration changed. Really, why should importing a used car be any different from importing a used TV? As long as it meets the safety standards and the government gets their tax, the rest is just politics.

As you said, "as long as it meets the safety standards".

They dont.

Here are the standards (link below). Not all of them are met. As I mentioned before, Motorex petitioned and have/had a modification plan to make them legal. There were problems and they were found guilty of fraud. Their modifications were considered confidential business information, so no-one else has access to them. Any new modification plan would then have to be petitioned with a fresh burden of proof (lab testing) in order to be able to be brought in legally.

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=e00b198a1775fb7cc41fb4b475e0e4eb&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title49/49cfr571_main_02.tpl

nocones wrote: Import laws are one of those things I don't understand. Who are they protecting? Like dealer laws It sure isn't protecting the consumer.

It is about protecting consumers. You are hitting a roadblock because you are most likely only thinking about enthusiast vehicles. Think about it from a "used Chinese POS" point of view (come on, we have all seen the crash test footage there!) and you will start to understand better. Do you want to open the floodgates for something akin to a Trablant to be sold to Mary Jane Bumbleberkeley (who doesn't know any better) to drive her children around in?

Granted, you and I likely understand some of the risks involved with some of those vehicles, but we are the exception.

That said, if you read through the standards I linked earlier, they are more in depth than you likely realize.

T.J. wrote: I don't understand why anyone likes those Skylines. Driving the zillions of variations of them in Gran Turismo is enough to make me think they are heavy and unresponsive cars that would be not much fun to drive.

They are big, and they're fairly heavy but I wouldn't call them unresponsive. They handle pretty well and can be made to go stupidly fast. Just keep in mind you're not dancing around the track in one of them like you would in Miata, it's more like MMA style racing .

BTW, this is first hand experience - I owned an R32 GT-T for a while, obviously not in the US, and I wouldn't mind running an R32 GT-R as a time trials car.

Slightly OT, but I remember a few years ago one of the contributing writers in EVO magazine sold his R32/33 whatever MinoZilla thing and bought a used Ferrari F355 as he couldn't afford the running costs for the alphanumeric soup Datsun! YEs you read that right. Now he did admit the Skyfall R-watchamacallit was far from stock, but he said he was probably the first person in history to buy a Ferrari for reduced running costs. Once the current generation GT-leadballon-R came out in 07 he got one of those instead.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

Fair enough. I realize I am only speaking from ignorance on the issue. I just see nothing about those cars to make me want to legally or otherwise import and own one.

T.J. wrote: I don't understand why anyone likes those Skylines. Driving the zillions of variations of them in Gran Turismo is enough to make me think they are heavy and unresponsive cars that would be not much fun to drive.

If you like brutal hammers and are willing to do a little work, there aren't many hammers that can be much more brutal than a done-up Skyline.

Myself, i prefer my brutal hammers to come in German flavor with four rings, but Skylines appeal to me.

If i were to own and build one for myself, it'd be older than R32, though. (Even though i find the R33 to be gorgeous.)

So lets say one of these shady illegal cars fell into your lap. Would there still be problems later on if you stuffed it in a storage unit and waited until it was legal to import? I mean, it's already here. You're still not going through customs or getting a waiver or anything like what a car fresh off the boat would get. But being over the 25 year limit, would it still matter?