alright guys wether you like me or not and stuff, I have a actual serious question for once. I'm thinking about getting a skyline from australia, and well, I wanted to see if any nopistons guys KNOW the actual laws and procedures for bringing a car from overseas to America.



Can anyone lists the steps and money amounts for doing such? Thanks guys appreciate it. You might have seen the thread on the 3rd gen section of RXghey club about this as well , its a r33 gts-t white mmm thanks guys

Motorex's site has some factual information on what it actually takes to legalize one here. Its not worth it. Say you pay $25k for the car, you're looking at a MINIMUM, additional $25k to be legal in the states with it.

[quote name='sweet7' date='Sep 11 2005, 03:15 PM']Motorex's site has some factual information on what it actually takes to legalize one here. Its not worth it. Say you pay $25k for the car, you're looking at a MINIMUM, additional $25k to be legal in the states with it.


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yea and ur stil drivin like a mailman.



kevin.

i think motorex is a bunch of BS ******s honestly. Im going to call a few government offices tomorrow and check on some actual facts, but the car itself im not buying, im trading it for something that I own.

motorex went out of buisness for shady operations and not legalizing the cars completley.



It's actually pretty hard to get one in the states now, prolly better off finding one for sale here and buying it.

All you need is to get a safety inspection that passes with the registrar of imported vehicles.. So you buy it, bring it over, then find someone to go over the thing with a fine tooth comb to report to the registrar and say if it's safe or not.





I know Canada is different, but our heavy haul company (who runs out of Canada/USA) has imported brand new trailers from overseas before, basically they give you a new door sticker (on a trailer you just slap it on the side) that has information about the vehicle weight, who manufactured the car and where, and who (registered inspection station) inspected it and says its to par with rules and regs of the country it was imported to.



I thought it was alot of trouble to get it done, but it's not really



With the way we have been issued new stickers for our trailers that we imported, it's damn easy it would seem.



Theres no ******* way its another 25,000 dollars to bring it up to snuff safety wise







What's the worst you need to do, reinforce the front bumper support or something? That's not 25K... Safety regs country to country aren't THAT far off of eachother.

[quote name='ColinRX7' date='Sep 11 2005, 04:39 PM']All you need is to get a safety inspection that passes with the registrar of imported vehicles.. So you buy it, bring it over, then find someone to go over the thing with a fine tooth comb to report to the registrar and say if it's safe or not.

I know Canada is different, but our heavy haul company (who runs out of Canada/USA) has imported brand new trailers from overseas before, basically they give you a new door sticker (on a trailer you just slap it on the side) that has information about the vehicle weight, who manufactured the car and where, and who (registered inspection station) inspected it and says its to par with rules and regs of the country it was imported to.



I thought it was alot of trouble to get it done, but it's not really



With the way we have been issued new stickers for our trailers that we imported, it's damn easy it would seem.



Theres no ******* way its another 25,000 dollars to bring it up to snuff safety wise

What's the worst you need to do, reinforce the front bumper support or something? That's not 25K... Safety regs country to country aren't THAT far off of eachother.


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very insightful information colin, thanks for some positive info for once. Im going to make a few calls tomorrow and see where that gets me

All you do is buy th car, get it here, then go to a junkyard and buy a 240SX shell. Little cutting on the firewall and VIOLA! Special Edition 240. I believe that what they get insured as anyway.



You could also try having the engine and chassis sent seperately, then call it a kit car and get it registered with a new VIN.



I've also heard of builder's titles and manufacturer titles. Might look into those.

Yeah a VIN chop isn't exactly the most legit way to do it, but it works





Like taking the restrictor plate off.. Give the Red Dragon a little more juice.. let's keep that one on the down low though it's not exactly street legal

Apply for a business license and Dealer License. Then you can have the car legally for 2 years in the states. After that i think you are required to destroy it or use it for OFFROAD use only.

I rode in a '91, I think it was, RHD cosmo the other day, the 3 rotor one, I was told that he lucked out and bought it from a diplomat that had spent his time over here and just sold the car before he left.



Apparently diplomats don't have to jump through the same hoops as American citizens do when importing automobiles, registering the car wasn't a problem at all, and once it's here in the States, nobody really checks up on it again.



I realize this isn't what you are asking about exactly, but it sure would be nice to fall into a deal like that.

Just walk into the DMV with the keys to your new skyline and tell them you are a diplomat, lol

Import it and use it for race/show only. No real need to worry about legalities, is there? (Please, correct me if I'm wrong.) I don't care how "cool" it would look, I would not go through that much trouble getting a Skyline over here and even think of it touching road outside of a trailer or race track.

I'd drive it on the road because nobody else out there is really rolling around in one

RHD too





bring the car to your girlfriends house, then hand her the keys and say youre driving!







then when she gets in on the "driver" side, shes in the passenger seat.. she will be all "wtf" and you can say "haha bitch thats your seat like usual, gimme the keys!"

Afterwards, road head will be required.

[quote name='ColinRX7' date='Sep 11 2005, 12:39 PM']



Theres no ******* way its another 25,000 dollars to bring it up to snuff safety wise

What's the worst you need to do, reinforce the front bumper support or something? That's not 25K... Safety regs country to country aren't THAT far off of eachother.


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Yeah, bullshit. There are loopholes in everything. But, im telling you right now, if you go on e-bay, and buy a Skyline in Japan, the Uk, Australia, whatever you're looking at huge money to get it legal over here.



And no, safety regs. arent that far off, but is that what US customs is gonna say? No the car will be gone completely through for safety as well as emissions.



I've looked into, done the research, etc etc etc.



If you wanna buy one without the headache. Find one in the US, that has already been imported. And yes, Motorex, was the only licencensed importer in the country. If its not a Motorex car, someone paid alot of money to get that car legalized, or its not legal...real simple. I can put you in touch with a guy that used to work for Motorex if you like. If you find a car, get in touch with this guy and ask him if its one of their cars. It will have a funky VIN# like 00000314. If its one of their cars, it might be fucked up, if its not a Motorex car, its PROBABLY fucked up.

The high price of legalizing cars is to offset the costs of the cars that have to be wrecked to prove the modified bumper meets US crash minimums set by the government.

at your age joe..

keep the fd and invest the money you have plans on for the skyline..

Skyline...biggest waste of $$$. Sure they make 1200 hp AWD...and it'll cost you $50,000+ to do it.

[quote name='jspecracer7' date='Sep 12 2005, 03:36 AM']Skyline...biggest waste of $$$. Sure they make 1200 hp AWD...and it'll cost you $50,000+ to do it.


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Actually, I've seen them make 1800hp, and it took around $200,000 (but that included the car).

You can get a used GT-R VspecII for cheap here in Japan...proly less than $35k. Why not put that kind of money into buying a house?

[quote name='sweet7' date='Sep 12 2005, 12:57 AM']Yeah, bullshit. There are loopholes in everything. But, im telling you right now, if you go on e-bay, and buy a Skyline in Japan, the Uk, Australia, whatever you're looking at huge money to get it legal over here.



And no, safety regs. arent that far off, but is that what US customs is gonna say? No the car will be gone completely through for safety as well as emissions.


[/quote]





Cost of the car isn't even 25,000, let alone the 'fees' that you said is another 25,000





I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm saying just be realistic about it, especially if you have done research



You can import 89 skylines and **** for 3000 to 6000 dollars on some Japan to Canada import sites I have seen. That's just cost of car.



http://www.japanperformancedirect.co...n_skyline2.htm



Here's a link to a site that lists even their most expensive skyline, as being 21,000 dollars INCLUDING shipping, GST, duty, all the little details..

I know it's a 96 but still it's a skyline



If you're going to get an R33 or whatever the **** the really new high trim model is then yeah it will probably be over 25,000 for the car









I looked up stuff on this for an older skyline.. I like the older bodystyle

A house would be a much better investment. That **** appreciates in value, a skyline is like another car, just depreciates.



I don't know why you guys like Skylines so much, I think they are really really boring.

look at evolutionimports.com



their prices are so low that it seems that the cars may not have been legalized yet, but you never know. you can also look on autotrader under nissan- unspecified nissan and find a few of them.

a friend of mine here in NY has a shop full of r32's and r33's for sale. he legalizes all the cars himself, if you want to buy that particular car in aus, im sure he can import it and legalize it for a fee. or u can come out and test drive/buy one that he already has legalized



call emperium at 631 588 8359

ask for shawn or mike. tell them Roan sent you

[quote name='SPEED_NYC' date='Sep 12 2005, 11:07 AM']a friend of mine here in NY has a shop full of r32's and r33's for sale. he legalizes all the cars himself, if you want to buy that particular car in aus, im sure he can import it and legalize it for a fee. or u can come out and test drive/buy one that he already has legalized



call emperium at 631 588 8359

ask for shawn or mike. tell them Roan sent you


[/quote]



about how much do those go for?

[quote name='SPEED_NYC' date='Sep 12 2005, 01:07 PM']a friend of mine here in NY has a shop full of r32's and r33's for sale. he legalizes all the cars himself, if you want to buy that particular car in aus, im sure he can import it and legalize it for a fee. or u can come out and test drive/buy one that he already has legalized



call emperium at 631 588 8359

ask for shawn or mike. tell them Roan sent you


[/quote]

Ya see the thing was i was trading my fd for it. ill call the guy up and see what he says maybe hes interested in that as well.i dont want to go through the problem of selling my car tho

whats wrong with your fd

I had looked, a while ago, into sending cars to Australia from the states, I remember there being some crazy tax, like 90%, all the other costs, etc, so I can actually see the price to import it and get it registered LEGALLY being about what it costs.



I think the ONLY way to do it is through someone who knows the right people and knows the system, you calling the local DMV isnt going to get you anywhere and next thing you know the car will be sitting somewhere collecting storage fees in a lot somewhere, maybe thats the key- rack up storage fees and put a lien on it, lol



go with Roan's guy, but I dont think he will take your FD on trade



I remember reading a story about a guy who imported a bunch of Porsche 959's and had them sitting for like 10 years while he cleared them from customs, finally I think he actually got 2 cleared.



sometimes its not what you know but who you know

yea rob I heard the tax issue as well which is obviously retarted and im not going to do that.



dkid, nothings wrong with my FD its perfect cept for it needs new motor mounts (of course) and i Just want some more power

Bring it over disassembled as a kit car. Later model mini guys either know someone at customs, take the engine out, and then revin it later.

[quote name='Shane.Trammell' date='Sep 12 2005, 11:08 AM']about how much do those go for?


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More than you can afford pal, Nissan.

[quote name='nopistons94' date='Sep 13 2005, 06:53 AM']yea rob I heard the tax issue as well which is obviously retarted and im not going to do that.



dkid, nothings wrong with my FD its perfect cept for it needs new motor mounts (of course) and i Just want some more power


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Has this Nissan you have in mind had much done to it?

[quote name='Battyboy' date='Sep 12 2005, 07:48 PM']Has this Nissan you have in mind had much done to it?


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nope stock basically but the deal wont work properly so it doesn't matter

[quote name='nopistons94' date='Sep 13 2005, 11:58 AM']nope stock basically but the deal wont work properly so it doesn't matter


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Oh ok. I was going to say not to bother anyway. I see these everyday and they are nothing special, your FD would walk all over it. Mine does.

[quote name='Battyboy' date='Sep 12 2005, 04:54 PM']Oh ok. I was going to say not to bother anyway. I see these everyday and they are nothing special, your FD would walk all over it. Mine does.


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That's part of what makes them special over here. Exclusivity.



Well, that and 1800 horsepower potential.

[quote name='SilverSeven' date='Sep 13 2005, 01:10 PM']That's part of what makes them special over here. Exclusivity.



Well, that and 1800 horsepower potential.


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I wonder how much you would have to spend to get that amount of power?

a lot if you live in the USA